
Malas
A Novel
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Narrated by:
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Christine Avila
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Victoria Villarreal
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By:
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Marcela Fuentes
About this listen
A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK
A Bookpage Best Historical Fiction Book of 2024
“A vivacious, page-turning novel of rebellion and rebirth.”—Xochitl Gonzalez, New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming and Anita de Monte Laughs Last
A story full of passion and revenge, following one family living on the Texas Mexico border and a curse that reverberates across generations—"Fuentes has achieved something rare and indelible with this story of complex women.” (Erika L. Sánchez)
In 1951, a mysterious old woman confronts Pilar Aguirre in the small border town of La Cienega, Texas. The old woman is sure Pilar stole her husband and, in a heated outburst, lays a curse on Pilar and her family.
More than forty years later, Lulu Muñoz is dodging chaos at every turn: her troubled father’s moods, his rules, her secret life as singer in a punk band, but most of all her upcoming quinceañera. When her beloved grandmother passes away, Lulu finds herself drawn to the glamorous stranger who crashed the funeral and who lives alone and shunned on the edge of town.
Their unexpected kinship picks at the secrets of Lulu’s family’s past. As the quinceañera looms—and we move between these two strong, irascible female voices—one woman must make peace with the past, and one girl pushes to embrace her future.
Rich with cinematic details—from dusty rodeos to the excitement of a Selena concert and the comfort of conjunto ballads played at family gatherings—this memorable debut is a love letter to the Tejano culture and community that sustain both of these women as they discover what family means.
©2024 Marcela Fuentes (P)2024 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“Malas is an antidote for the hard-line essentialism that has made this world an intolerant, violent place. Fuentes humanizes seemingly insoluble conflicts, both generational and cultural, with imperfect characters who are just doing their best, even when they know they are screwing up. She gives them something that many of us nonfictional people living and messing up in the world could use, and give back—grace.”—The New York Times Book Review
“Malas is a machete: sharp, terrifying, and beautiful. Each character feels dynamic, familiar, and so utterly human in their glorious messiness. Fuentes has achieved something rare and indelible with this story of complex women.”—Erika L. Sánchez, New York Times bestseller author of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter and Crying in the Bathroom
Set in a border town on the Texas side of the Rio Grande, Fuentes’s lively novel explores the intergenerational connection between two strong women. Lulu Muñoz is trying to keep her punk rock band a secret from her substance-abusing father while avoiding thoughts of her garish upcoming quinceañera celebration. When the enigmatic Pilar makes a surprise appearance at a funeral, she and Lulu form a friendship that leads to unexpected discoveries.—Washington Post
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Catalina
- A Novel
- By: Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
- Narrated by: Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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When Catalina is admitted to Harvard, it feels like the fulfillment of destiny: a miracle child escapes death in Latin America, moves to Queens to be raised by her undocumented grandparents, and becomes one of the chosen. But nothing is simple for Catalina, least of all her own complicated, contradictory, ruthlessly probing mind. Now a senior, she faces graduation to a world that has no place for the undocumented; her sense of doom intensifies her curiosities and desires. She infiltrates the school’s elite subcultures—internships and literary journals, posh parties and secret societies.
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Monotone delivery
- By Patricia M Hart on 11-01-24
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Violeta
- A Novel
- By: Isabel Allende, Frances Riddle
- Narrated by: Yareli Arizmendi
- Length: 11 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Violeta comes into the world on a stormy day in 1920, the first girl in a family with five boisterous sons. From the start, her life is marked by extraordinary events, for the ripples of the Great War are still being felt, even as the Spanish flu arrives on the shores of her South American homeland almost at the moment of her birth.
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Not my favorite....
- By Pat Brett on 02-14-22
By: Isabel Allende, and others
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The Hacienda
- By: Isabel Cañas
- Narrated by: Victoria Villarreal, Lee Osorio
- Length: 11 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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During the overthrow of the Mexican government, Beatriz’s father was executed and her home destroyed. When handsome Don Rodolfo Solórzano proposes, Beatriz ignores the rumors surrounding his first wife’s sudden demise, choosing instead to seize the security that his estate in the countryside provides. She will have her own home again, no matter the cost. But Hacienda San Isidro is not the sanctuary she imagined. Something is wrong with the hacienda. And no one there will save her. Far from a refuge, San Isidro may be Beatriz’s doom.
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Latine Gothic Horror
- By Mary Rodriguez on 03-07-23
By: Isabel Cañas
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A Thousand Times Before
- A Novel
- By: Asha Thanki
- Narrated by: Priya Ayyar
- Length: 11 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Ayukta is finally sitting down with her wife Nadya to respond to a question she’s long avoided: Should they have a child? The decision is complicated by a secret her family has kept for centuries, one that Ayukta will be the first to share with someone outside their bloodline: the women in her family inherit a mysterious tapestry, through which each generation can experience the memories of those who came before her. Ayukta invites Nadya into this lineage, carrying her through its past.
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The performance was an unpleasant listen for me.
- By Ms. Esq. on 03-10-25
By: Asha Thanki
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What Happened to Ruthy Ramirez
- By: Claire Jimenez
- Narrated by: Claire Jimenez
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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The Ramirez women of Staten Island orbit around absence. When thirteen‑year‑old middle child Ruthy disappeared after track practice without a trace, it left the family scarred and scrambling. One night, twelve years later, oldest sister Jessica spots a woman on her TV screen in Catfight, a raunchy reality show. She rushes to tell her younger sister, Nina: This woman's hair is dyed red, and she calls herself Ruby, but the beauty mark under her left eye is instantly recognizable. Could it be Ruthy, after all this time?
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Relatable
- By Yuri on 03-12-23
By: Claire Jimenez
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Greenwood
- A Novel
- By: Michael Christie
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
- Length: 18 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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It's 2038 and Jacinda (Jake) Greenwood is a storyteller and a liar, an overqualified tour guide babysitting ultra-rich vacationers in one of the world's last remaining forests. It's 2008 and Liam Greenwood is a carpenter, sprawled on his back after a workplace fall, calling out from the concrete floor of an empty mansion. It's 1974 and Willow Greenwood is out of jail, free after being locked up for one of her endless series of environmental protests: attempts at atonement for the sins of her father's once vast and violent timber empire.
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tedious boring trite
- By Marc Buchalter on 11-19-21
By: Michael Christie
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The Death of Vivek Oji
- A Novel
- By: Akwaeke Emezi
- Narrated by: Yetide Badaki, Chukwudi Iwuji
- Length: 7 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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One afternoon, in a town in Southeastern Nigeria, a mother opens her front door to discover her son's body, wrapped in colorful fabric, at her feet. What follows is the tumultuous, heart-wrenching story of one family’s struggle to understand a child whose spirit is both gentle and mysterious. Raised by a distant father and an understanding but overprotective mother, Vivek suffers disorienting blackouts, moments of disconnection between self and surroundings.
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an emotional story
- By Barbara S on 08-22-20
By: Akwaeke Emezi
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Dust Child
- By: Que Mai Phan Nguyen
- Narrated by: Quyen Ngo
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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From the internationally bestselling author of The Mountains Sing, a propulsive and moving tale of wartime love, family, and loss, as an American GI, two Vietnamese bargirls, and an Amerasian man are forced to make decisions during and after the Việt Nam War that will reverberate throughout each other’s lives.
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Beautiful and moving
- By TPT on 06-17-23
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Kala
- A Novel
- By: Colin Walsh
- Narrated by: Frank Blake, Moe Dunford, Seána Kerslake
- Length: 12 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In the seaside town of Kinlough, on Ireland’s west coast, three old friends are thrown together for the first time in years. They—Helen, Joe, and Mush—were part of an original group of six inseparable teenagers in the summer of 2003, with motherless, reckless Kala Lanann as their group’s white-hot center. Soon after that summer’s peak, Kala disappeared without a trace. Now it’s fifteen years later.
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Great writing, deeply depressing story
- By Amazon Customer on 01-14-24
By: Colin Walsh
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The House Is on Fire
- By: Rachel Beanland
- Narrated by: Joniece Abbott-Pratt, Andi Arndt, Michael Crouch, and others
- Length: 12 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Richmond, Virginia 1811. It’s the height of the winter social season, the General Assembly is in session, and many of Virginia’s gentleman planters, along with their wives and children, have made the journey to the capital. On the night after Christmas, the city's only theater is packed with holiday revelers. In the middle of a performance, the theater goes up in flames. Based on the true story of Richmond’s theater fire, The House Is on Fire offers proof that sometimes, in the midst of great tragedy, we are offered our most precious—and fleeting—chances at redemption.
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I learned a lot
- By Jane Perkins on 04-24-23
By: Rachel Beanland
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Blue Ruin
- A Novel
- By: Hari Kunzru
- Narrated by: Hari Kunzru
- Length: 8 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Once, Jay was an artist. Shortly after graduating from his London art school, he was tipped for greatness, a promising career already taking shape before him. Now, undocumented in the United States, he lives out of his car and makes a living as an essential worker, delivering groceries in a wealthy area of upstate New York. The pandemic is still at its height—the greater public panicked in quarantine—and though he has returned to work, Jay hasn’t recovered from the effects of a recent COVID case.
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An excellent dead ringer of the ridiculous depths of the art world
- By JLB on 11-15-24
By: Hari Kunzru
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Flights
- By: Olga Tokarczuk, Jennifer Croft - translator
- Narrated by: Julia Whelan
- Length: 12 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Chopin's heart is carried back to Warsaw in secret by his adoring sister. A woman must return to her native Poland in order to poison her terminally ill high school sweetheart, and a young man slowly descends into madness when his wife and child mysteriously vanish during a vacation and just as suddenly reappear. Through these brilliantly imagined characters and stories, interwoven with haunting, playful, and revelatory meditations, Flights explores what it means to be a traveler, a wanderer, a body in motion not only through space but through time.
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Curious and beautifully written
- By Alejandra on 10-24-18
By: Olga Tokarczuk, and others
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Cackle
- By: Rachel Harrison
- Narrated by: Dylan Moore
- Length: 10 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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All her life, Annie has played it nice and safe. After being unceremoniously dumped by her longtime boyfriend, Annie seeks a fresh start. She accepts a teaching position that moves her from Manhattan to a small village upstate. She’s stunned by how perfect and picturesque the town is. The people are all friendly and warm. Her new apartment is dreamy too, minus the oddly persistent spider infestation. Then Annie meets Sophie. Beautiful, charming, magnetic Sophie, who takes a special interest in Annie, who wants to be her friend.
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Enjoyed it so much, I bought it twice.
- By Shayla Williams on 10-08-21
By: Rachel Harrison
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If I Had Your Face
- A Novel
- By: Frances Cha
- Narrated by: Frances Cha, Sue Jean Kim, Ruthie Ann Miles, and others
- Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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If I Had Your Face is a riveting debut novel set in contemporary Seoul, South Korea, about four young women making their way in a world defined by impossible standards of beauty, after-hours room salons catering to wealthy men, ruthless social hierarchies, and K-pop mania. Together, their stories tell a gripping tale at once unfamiliar and unmistakably universal, in which their tentative friendships may turn out to be the thing that ultimately saves them.
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incredibly enlightening
- By Barbara S on 01-01-21
By: Frances Cha
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The Witches of El Paso
- A Novel
- By: Luis Jaramillo
- Narrated by: Raquel Beattie
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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In the present day, Nena’s grandniece, Marta, balances a struggling legal aid practice with motherhood and the care of the now ninety-three-year-old Nena. When Marta agrees to help search for a daughter Nena left in the past, the two forge a fierce connection. Marta’s own supernatural powers emerge, awakening her to new possibilities that threaten the life she has constructed.
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The beautiful woman of this world never cece to amaze me!
- By Anonymous User on 04-03-25
By: Luis Jaramillo
Unique and interesting
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I loved the way the "reader."
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Vivid characters, stunning prose
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Loveee!
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The Spanglish. Live it.
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Relationships and Secrets
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Great story!
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¡No mames!
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Fuentes skillfully weaves in references to a shared Mexican-American upbringing, enriched with music, traditions, and the vibrant nuances of our culture. This creates an authentic immersive experience, allowing readers with a similar upbringing to relive cherished memories and recognize the universal themes of identity, family, and belonging.
***SPOILER ALERT***
One of the most intriguing aspects of the novel is the element of mysticism surrounding Jose Alfredo's 'first wife.' Her enigmatic presence adds a layer of suspense and intrigue, suggesting that supernatural forces may be at play. However, this subplot ultimately leads to a significant plot hole. The resolution that dismisses her as "just a crazy old lady" feels so unsatisfying and abrupt. I was invested in the idea that Pilar's suffering (and subsequently Julio's) was influenced by this mysterious figure, only to be let down by an anticlimactic conclusion. While throughout the book, Lulu dismisses superstition and bad luck, this resolution diminishes the impact of Pilar's hardships and leaves a sense of incompleteness.
Despite this, Malas remains a compelling and poignant read. Fuentes’ ability to portray the struggles and joys of the Mexican-American experience is both touching and authentic. The book is a testament to the resilience and spirit of our community, even if some narrative threads are left hanging.
A Coming of Age Mexican-American Experience
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