{"id":988,"date":"2018-12-31T15:06:18","date_gmt":"2018-12-31T15:06:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=988"},"modified":"2018-12-31T15:06:18","modified_gmt":"2018-12-31T15:06:18","slug":"1006","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/?p=988","title":{"rendered":"Lone Star Book Review: SHAME THE STARS"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Joaqu\u00edn and Dulce\u00f1a are teenagers in love. Joaqu\u00edn is the privileged, sensitive, traditional son of a distinguished ranching family in South Texas, Tejanos who have owned Las Moras since 1775. Dulce\u00f1a, daughter of the local printer, is a spirited, smart, modern, independent young woman who wants to be a journalist and travel the world. Due to a political falling-out between their parents, the childhood sweethearts keep their relationship on the down-low.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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In 1915 the Mexican Revolution spills across the border and into the couple\u2019s plans. Existing racial tensions, and abuses and vigilante actions of the Texas Rangers, are stoked by the Plan de San Diego and accusations of treason, sedition, and insurrection. When Joaqu\u00edn\u2019s father\u2019s relationship (\u201cIt\u2019s good to know where the snake likes to lay in the brush. It\u2019s the only way to survive\u201d) with Captain Munro of the Texas Rangers (\u201cMunro has no friends, only allies and pawns\u201d) is exposed for the sham it always was, Las Moras, lives, and freedom are threatened.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Shame the Stars<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/em> by <\/span>Guadalupe Garcia McCall<\/strong><\/span><\/a> is fine YA historical fiction. Think West Side Story<\/em>, think Romeo and Juliet<\/em>, complete with quincea\u00f1era masquerade party and a balcony scene. Inspired by her son\u2019s history lessons, McCall set out to learn a part of our history not frequently taught in Texas classrooms. The result is Shame the Stars<\/em>, a way for the novelist to contribute to our understanding of our shared past, and, hopefully, informing a brighter future.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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McCall affords her complex characters further development, especially Joaqu\u00edn. The eighteen-year-old\u2019s first-person narrative begins in the conservative, na\u00efve voice of a child, but develops into the nuanced voice of an adult over the course of the novel as he discovers the world, including his parents, no longer fits childhood conceptions.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Joaqu\u00edn fills his journal with the overwrought poetry of a teenager in love in historical times, as is appropriate. The dialogue sometimes seems stilted and formal, partly reflecting the era, and revolutionary jargon can seem melodramatic. In this example, as Munro\u2019s company of Rangers are approaching the ranch, McCall evidences a gift for the lyrical: \u201cThen, as the minutes ticked off, the devil grew bigger and bigger, gorging itself on dirt and debris, gaining momentum as it galloped toward us, until there was more than dust in its midst and there appeared before us a group of pale riders.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Shame the Stars<\/em> tackles big themes: justice (particularly the difference between the fickle goodwill of individuals versus the law and civil rights); issues of identity; factions and betrayal; the power of the written word and the vital importance of a free press. The action proceeds quickly and steadily, the plot developing organically but packing staggering plot twists. A couple of subplots involving land dispossession further illumine the period.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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A beautifully designed volume, Shame the Stars is a treat for the eyes with poems from Joaqu\u00edn\u2019s journal and actual newspaper articles from the time. McCall provides a necessary cast of characters, along with additional reading recommendations, and sources for the articles reproduced as artwork in the book.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Dividing friends and families no less than the U.S. Civil War did, the struggle for civil rights in South Texas confronts Joaqu\u00edn and Dulce\u00f1a with the first adult decisions of their lives, as they decide, individually and together, who they want to be.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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Review of Shame the Stars<\/em> by Guadalupe Garcia McCall<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[56,12,8,15,76],"class_list":["post-988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-historicalfiction","tag-lonestarreview","tag-lonestarliterarycom","tag-texasauthor","tag-yafiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=988"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/988\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.etypegoogle10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}