Ghosts of El Grullo

In her sequel to the Chicano/Latino Literary Prize-winning Motorcycle Ride on the Sea of Tranquility, novelist Santana follows Yolanda Sahagun, now a young woman struggling to find an identity of her own within her Mexican-American community while uncovering the secrets left behind by her oddly secretive, recently deceased mother: ""What I knew of my mother was like looking at movie previews, teasers."" Lost almost equally amidst peers and her tight-knit immigrant family, Yolanda faces off against her father, whose temper and need for control repeatedly spin family gatherings out of control, and eventually makes her way to her parents' hometown of El Grullo, Mexico. While Yolanda's search has rich potential, the novel ultimately lacks enough complexity to overcome redundancy. Santana's obvious talent lies in the engaging, revealing anecdotes that gracefully cross-section the Sahagun family dynamic; unfortunately, these narrative morsels prove more delectable than the meat of the story.