Too Soon for Adiós
By: Annette Chavez Macias / Narrated By: Luzma Ortiz
Length: 9 hrs and 7 mins
A high 3-starred >MEH<
Lemme just get the fairly decent narration outta the way: Luzma Ortiz, unknown to me prior to this Listen, does a really good job… but… she sounds young. Our heroine Gabby is no longer young, should know better, have a trifle bit o’ wisdom collected after some hard knocks… but… she does a lot of young(ish) foot stomping and bellowing. And Ortiz sounds really really young from the get-go. Which makes Gabby, upon initial introduction, truly annoying. The combination of young(ISH!) voice and all the stubborn anger-laden spiels kinda sorta rather indeed grated. on my. LAST nerve.
But then the story got rolling, and I forgave a lot. I mean, I forgave such a lot that whilst making my assessment for review I came up with the grand total of +s and -s with a resounding >MEH< when all was said and done. Because, you see, there’s some histrionic story-crafting here. But let’s get down to the story, shall we?
The day of Gabby’s mother’s funeral is a devastating one for our aging heroine. Theirs was a tumultuous relationship but one full of more love than strife as it was just the two of them for so long. Whilst looking at her mom in the coffin one last time, a gentleman also comes by and offers his condolences. Gabby is touched but then her Tías come by, see this guy, and they have hissy fits, or one of them does. It turns out that this is Gabby’s dad who quite simply wasn’t up to being a father whenst he knocked up Gabby’s teen-aged mom.
Even tho’ he’s been summarily driven away, he re-enters Gabby’s circle of awareness when she’s in dire straits, no job, little savings, credit card debt out the wazoo for medical bills. He offers her a house, she can fix it up, flip it, get some money. Do whatever she likes with it. The catch? It’s way the heck over in his town. She will be running into him a lot.
She has no choice, so she heads over and starts a new life, blah blah predictable blah.
So there’s aaaaallll those BLAHs to contend with, but then as author Annette Chavez Macias goes along, she gives EVERYbody fraught reasons for doing all the traumatic, traumatizing things they did. Boyfriend: Unable to save his murdered girlfriend. Raul, her dad, basically had his own wretched childhood before he got his act together… and became a felon… One of the tías—why, in love with Raul in her younger years and messed around with him… a LOT… behind Gabby’s mom’s back. Not to mention the reason for Gabby’s lack of a job. There’s just the most predictable kinda reasons for everything here, and they’re all eye-roll inducing and even yawn-worthy.
At least Gabby shows a modicum of growth as she’s challenged as the story progresses. But she still gets pretty danged shrill at times (Yikes, Ortiz! Ya hurt m’ eardrums…). And there’s a nice ending. So there’s that.
I’m glad I listened to it, cuz it was indeed a charming little valiant attempt at a Romantic Dramedy that was based on Latinx heroines, heroes, and folklore/history. TOTALLY relieved to find that the Adelita I was going to use in a story of mine has already Been Done.
So Phew!
And?
…>MEH<…
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