A Santo in the Image of Cristobal Garcia
This final installment in a critically praised trilogy set in New Mexico follows one day in the life of Flavio Montoya, an old man living in small northern New Mexico village where the winters bring snow and the villagers all know each other’s secrets. His best friend from childhood, Felix, has been in a coma for several years. All Flavio has left of his family is his dead sister’s fields, which he arrives to tend daily, but ends up daydreaming the hours away instead. On this particular day, Felix, who stumbles out of the nearby woods, interrupts his mental wandering. Felix’s return to a non-vegetative state and the commotion caused by his actions cause the two to reminisce about a story concerning the founding of their town–and to engage in one final exploit.
Collignon’s simple writing style, spiced with Spanish, suits his rather unlikable characters, who seem to be incapable of doing anything to help themselves. For every happy second, there must be an unfortunate consequence and a disturbing conclusion. Flavio and his friends never catch any breaks or seem to command any respect. Several stories from Flavio’s youth are told concurrently in bits and pieces through flashbacks, and the sparse prose certainly evokes the intended emotions.
This story will appeal to those interested in life in a small southwestern village, wish to shed a few tears, and enjoy a book that is part coming-of-age story, part ghost story, part thriller, and part slice-of-life. This is not an uplifting tale, but it will lend itself well to literary analysis for a research article or a book club.
