
Crux
A Cross-Border Memoir
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Narrated by:
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Jean Guerrero
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By:
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Jean Guerrero
About this listen
NEW YORK TIMES EDITORS’ CHOICE • A daughter’s quest to understand her charismatic and troubled father, an immigrant who crosses borders both real and illusory—between sanity and madness, science and spirituality, life and death
PEN America Literary Award Winner • “The kind of memoir that seems to redefine the genre.”—Los Angeles Review of Books
From renowned journalist Jean Guerrero, here is the haunting story of a daughter’s mission to save her father from his demons and to save herself from destruction. Marco Antonio was raised in Mexico, then migrated to California, where he met Jean’s mother, Jeannette, a Puerto Rican woman just out of med school. Marco is a self-taught genius at building things—including mythologies about himself and the hidden forces that drive us. When he goes on the run, Jean follows and embarks on an investigative journey between cultures and languages, the earthly and the mystical, truth and fiction.
A distinctive memoir about the search for an elusive parent, Crux is both a riveting adventure story and a profoundly original exploration of the mysteries of our world, our most intimate relationships, and ourselves.
“[Guerrero] writes poetically about borders as a metaphor for the boundary of identity between father and daughter and the porous connective tissues that bind them.”—The National Book Review
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Critic reviews
“Luminous . . . heartfelt and mystically charged.”—The Washington Post
“Expressive and affecting . . . deeply researched and tightly written . . . Crux, at its heart, is [Jean] Guerrero’s love letter to her dad.”—NPR
“The genius of Guerrero’s exquisite creation lies beyond her lyrical descriptions, and visceral phrases (e.g., “I had to learn to keep my sympathy zipped inside my stomach”). What truly makes this book extraordinary is the careful layering and connections. . . . It’s the kind of story you think about long after you’ve finished reading it, and the kind of memoir that seems to redefine the genre.”—Los Angeles Review of Books
What listeners say about Crux
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- CS Products
- 10-20-22
Acoustic Cinema
The stories told in this collection of life and lives are so vivid that they transcend feeling simply "real". This is not an experience of recount; but rather, as you complete each chapter, it's as if you were there. Crux is truly a memoir across borders, the borders of her life and yours.
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- Elaine Yuen
- 08-12-18
Mesmerizing
An adventure into culture, consciousness and family. So very personal at the same time accessible and descriptive. Bravo!
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- Janar J. Wasito
- 11-22-18
super San Diego memoir
captures cross border, real estate niche topics well. voice as a daughter perspective on father's technical items like apple computers compelling.
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