Morena En Rojo / Qu' Raro Que Me Llamen Guadalupe

Argentine-born and a long-time resident of Mexico, Laurini explores the current state of Mexican society in its most crude settings in two independent novels. Morena en rojo's protagonist is la Morena, a young Mexican woman of African American descent whose father arrived in Mexico as a consultant. Perhaps because of her unusual racial makeup in the rather monolithic Mexican society, she becomes interested in researching the social ills afflicting Mexico. As a newspaper reporter who has not always been successful or taken seriously, she finds herself investigating the booming market of kidnapped Mexican children sent to the United States. In this action novel, Morena's research takes her to several Mexican cities, where she meets colorful characters and, in the process, seems to find her true love. In the second novel, a teenage prostitute named Berenice, or Bere, is accused of having murdered her newborn. The tragic Bere, the daughter of a prostitute and her pimp, grew up in a low-class house of ill repute. In an interview with her lawyer, Bere finds out that her legal name is Guadalupe. In a picaresque-like narrative style, Bere crudely tells her story of living in poverty with her mother and several prostitutes, a slave to drugs and misery. An interesting connection between the two novels, Morena makes an appearance here as an undercover investigator in Bere's place of employment. These novels read quickly and will keep readers attentive to plots that often change gears unexpectedly. Highly recommended for collections of contemporary literature.-Rafael Ocasio, Agnes Scott Coll., Decatur, GA