Synopses & Reviews
In a story told in part by ghosts, the author takes the reader through the Inframundo, the timeless underworld of the ancient peoples of Mexico, to find out how he came to be the scion of a now-childless family. His tale is inhabited by eclectic charactersa clairvoyant albino aunt; a great-grandfather stolen by the Kickapu Indians; an aunt who learned English from the young Lyndon Baines Johnson in exchange for cabbages and potatoes. Combining traditional memoir, ancient Mexican history and beliefs, personal sacramental journeys, and ghostly interviews, the author gallops through the personal transformation in his first published collection of poetry.
Review
"A voice at once familiar and mythic is telling these stories, singing these songs. For fans of John Phillip Santos' prose, here is where the writer learned to speak with so much wisdom, so much grace." —Sandra Cisneros, author, The House on Mango Street
Review
"[An] elegantly crafted chronicle . . . . One of the most insightful investigations into Mexican-American border culture available." —Publishers Weekly
Review
"This is an important book, both as memoir and because it helps us grasp the history of a people who are an integral part of the national identity. Highly recommended for academic and larger public libraries." —Library Journal on Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation
Synopsis
Long before John Phillip Santos was an award-winning documentary filmmaker, before he was a celebrated memoirist, he was a poet ? the recipient of the Academy of American Poets' Prize at Notre Dame, among other awards. Years came and went, Santos? poetry slowly evolving sans benefit of publication in book form. In this, his first book of poems, Santos delves into the same mythic space that gave produced the author's 1999 National Book Award nominated memoir, Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation. Rich in regional references, universal in its insight into the human soul, imagistic and narrative by turns, these poems inhabit ?a world / assembled from these tuileries / of words, a pageant of declensions / drawing us out to the open fields.?
About the Author
John Phillip Santos was the first Mexican-American Rhodes scholar to study at Oxford University. He is a recipient of the Academy of American Poets' Prize at Notre Dame and the Oxford Prize for fiction. Santos' 1999 family memoir, Places Left Unfinished at the Time of Creation, was a finalist for the National Book Award. A former executive producer and director for Thirteen/WNET, Santos also produced of more than 40 documentaries for CBS and PBS, two of which were nominated for Emmy Awards.