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Book Summary and Reviews of Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea

Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea

Into the Beautiful North

A Novel

by Luis Alberto Urrea

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  • Published:
  • May 2009, 352 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Nineteen-year-old Nayeli works at a taco shop in her Mexican village and dreams about her father, who journeyed to the US to find work. Recently, it has dawned on her that he isn't the only man who has left town. In fact, there are almost no men in the village--they've all gone north. While watching The Magnificent Seven, Nayeli decides to go north herself and recruit seven men--her own "Siete Magníficos"--to repopulate her hometown and protect it from the bandidos who plan on taking it over.

Filled with unforgettable characters and prose as radiant as the Sinaloan sun, Into the Beautiful North is the story of an irresistible young woman's quest to find herself on both sides of the fence.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"The colorful characters, strong narrative and humor carry this surprisingly uplifting and very human story." - Publishers Weekly

"His fast-paced, accessible style has the crossover appeal of a John Steinbeck or Cormac McCarthy, while the politically charged undercurrent of the novel pulses with a compassionate vision of the future. Highly recommended." - Library Journal

"Minor work from a writer who has done much better." - Kirkus Reviews.

This information about Into the Beautiful North was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

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Alice

Into The Beautiful North
Reading this book was a bit like going home for me. I was born and raised on the Mexican border, so know the towns and cities. Urrea truly captures the minds and spirits of the Mexicans from towns like Tres Camerones. I was willing to slog through too much description, merely to follow the simplistic and predictable storyline. That was okay with me. I read Hummingbird's Daughter and found it to have more substance...still and all I enjoyed my journey through this story. There was a sweetness and graciousness that is so common in Mexico.

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Author Information

Luis Alberto Urrea Author Biography

photo: Joe Mazza Brave-Lux

Hailed by NPR as a "literary badass" and a "master storyteller with a rock and roll heart," Luis Alberto Urrea is a prolific and acclaimed writer who uses his dual-culture life experiences to explore greater themes of love, loss and triumph.

A 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist for nonfiction and a Guggenheim fellow, Urrea is the critically acclaimed and best-selling author of 19 books, winning numerous awards for his poetry, fiction and essays. Born in Tijuana to a Mexican father and American mother, Urrea is most recognized as a border writer, though he says, "I am more interested in bridges, not borders."

Urrea's book, Good Night, Irene, takes as inspiration his mother's own Red Cross service. With its affecting and uplifting portrait of friendship and valor in harrowing circumstances,...

... Full Biography
Author Interview
Link to Luis Alberto Urrea's Website

Name Pronunciation
Luis Alberto Urrea: oo-Ray-ah

Other books by Luis Alberto Urrea at BookBrowse
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