Alex Espinoza's Still Water Saints - Book Report/Review Example

In doing so, I will reference two chapters specifically, "Taking Stock" and "Feast of Saint Francis of Assisi," though I will also make mention of other characters and other plot elements contained in Espinoza's vignettes. The first theme is well emblematized by the chapter title "Taking Stock," a number of the characters including Perla herself are forced to take stock of the circumstances that have brought them to where they are. Of course, the play on words in that chapter is also recognized as the central scheme in that chapter revolves around taking stock from the store that Shawn works at.

In a number of the character's lives, a specific event triggers this taking stock, and often times the results that follow are unexpected and emotionally traumatic for the characters. Take, for example, Juan Sandoval whose father died of Emphysema in the chapter entitled, "Relics." It opens with him stating that he did not cry when his father died. This is of course not to say that he did not mourn his father's passing, but that the manner in which he responded did not correspond to what we normally expect-or more to the point, what his girlfriend Deborah thinks should happen.

Deborah wishes for Juan to take some time and to have some space to sort things out. Juan is nonplussed and does not understand the insistence, but in the end, has to acquiesce. Arguably, his mother's obsession with Elvis Presley is borderline pathological and his initial response after having been separated from Deborah and forced to take stock of the situation is vitriolic. His father, his mother's husband just died, and she is busy building an intense shrine to Elvis on the Day of the Dead.

At this point, Juan is angered by her mother's seeming obliviousness to the ridiculousness of the situation. The lashing out at his mother represents to some degree the emotional release that was not there at the beginning when he failed to cry. But he realizes from some remembered advice from his father that this is how people hold on to life and go on with it, they do the things they have always done. It is clear from Deborah's comments that in the six months since his father's death he has failed to be himself, and watching his mother dance in a poodle-skirt while watching an Elvis impersonator is what makes him realize that "This is how we hold on.

" In the chapter "Taking Stock," Shawn recognizes the temporary nature of his setup. "Around me, there's shit that's unsettled." Though he acknowledges, that his life is basically strewn around him, he has resigned himself to that situation for now. His primary concern throughout the chapter is the appearance of Daisy, the bad-news girlfriend of his roommate Beady. Unfortunately, Beady cannot see the trouble that she causes and it is up to Shawn to get her to leave, even resorting to purchasing a special candle from the Botanica Oshun to aid in his quest.

The appearance of Daisy forces him to take stock of his relationship with Beady and the current state of his life. In looking for a tattoo, half-jokingly he suggests that he might be looking for something religious in order to change his ways.