Sometimes the voices in a story draw you in so much, it’s like they’re asking you to keep reading, to keep listening to them. That’s the way I felt about this book. It felt different from what I usually read: slower, more atmospheric, almost mystical at times, and I might have put it down if not for the quality of writing, which was excellent. And to top it off, it’s based on a real story. I have a lot of appreciation for the research that Luis Alberto Urrea put into this novel, and for putting a spotlight on a specific time in history that I knew nothing about.