Review by LeeleeByoma -- The Ordinary Doll by Mario Kiefer

[LeeleeByoma]

[Following is a volunteer review of "The Ordinary Doll" by Mario Kiefer.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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The Ordinary Doll is a story told, in flashback from 1949, about Luciana; a woman to whom life dealt many unkind hands. Our protagonist is born into a family of braceros - Mexican immigrants whose known skill is the harvesting of crops - working in the US, and like most people, she has a dream for her future. She wants to dance, she wants to find love and have her own family. However, an accident happens that threatens to shatter those dreams. Will Luciana find the will to overcome the challenges which have befallen her? Will she get the chance to live her dreams despite the odds?

Mario Kiefer sets the plot nicely and takes the time to fully describe the era, the geographical circumstances that had affected the livelihood of the workers in times past, the community of the braceros and the family dynamics of Luciana. The book reads like a movie; vividly establishing characters, keeping up an exciting pace and cutting from scene to scene with recurring nightmares to boot. It draws you into the story even before you realize that the story has begun. The book reads, also, like a lesson in Spanish which I absolutely did not mind at all seeing as I am trying to learn the language. It is also rooted in Mexican culture, folklore and traditions. In summary, there is quite a lot to love about it.

My favourite part of this book has to be the author’s description of the sensation and all the random thoughts that ran through a character’s mind when that character got shot but didn’t even know it. It was superb and I remember thinking “that might be exactly how I would feel”. I hope to never find out.

The author had overly long dialogue about certain topics. For example, there was an argument about homosexuality in the eyes of the Christian religion which I found to be excessive, albeit enjoyable. The author made valid points but I feel certain that those same points could have been made with fewer sentences. I found an alarming number of typos in the book, but they seemed more like an issue with my download than anything from the author’s end. Towards the last third of the book, there were several incomplete sentences, but again, I’m not inclined to believe that the book was published in that state.

I recommend this book to readers who enjoy a good story with a shocking conclusion while learning about cultures from other parts of the world. It would have given me great pleasure to give this book a perfect rating but for those typos which seemed like actual typos. I rate it 3 out of 4 stars for being such a delicious offering of literature.

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The Ordinary Doll
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Like LeeleeByoma's review? Post a comment saying so!

[rumik]

Thanks for the great review! Seems like a great realistic story, I love learning about other cultures so I might try this.

[Erin Painter Baker]

This book sounds like a great way to increase one's knowledge of Spanish and learn more about Mexican culture. The fact that it is a great story means that you get to learn without feeling like you're learning. Or perhaps to learn in spite of yourself.