Thirteen Senses: A Memoir Download Free (EPUB, PDF)
A daring memoir of love, magic, adventure, and miracles, Victor Villaseñor's Thirteen Senses continues the exhilarating family saga that began in the widely acclaimed bestseller Rain of Gold, delivering a stunning story of passion, family, and the forgotten mystical senses that stir within us all. Thirteen Senses begins with the fiftieth wedding anniversary of the aging former bootlegger Salvador and his elegant wife, Lupe. When asked by a young priest to repeat the sacred ceremonial phrase "to honor and obey," Lupe surprises herself and says. "No, I will not say 'obey'. How dare you! You don't talk to me like this after fifty years of marriage and I now knowing what I know!" After the hilarious shock of Lupe's rejection of the ceremony, the Villaseñor family is forced to examine the love that Lupe and Salvador have shared for so many years -- a universal, gut-honest love that will eventually energize and inspire the couple into old age.
Paperback: 544 pages
Publisher: Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (October 5, 2004)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0060935677
ISBN-13: 978-0060935672
Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 1.2 x 8 inches
Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (50 customer reviews)
Best Sellers Rank: #393,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #229 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Regional U.S. > West #354 in Books > Literature & Fiction > United States > Hispanic #670 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Specific Demographics > Minority Studies
Victor Villasenor writes like the very re-incarnation of the Muse itself. A classicist who knows his plot, knows his characters, knows the very stars from which we all come because he writes the truth that is stranger and more mysterious than fiction. His publisher says he writes about his own family. We know better. We know he writes about us, about us as family, about who we want to be and how we settle for who we are. And how, at the very moment of doom, we can and must demand justice from our God in order to get it. Lupe is the heroine of this fantastic saga of human adventure. You will love Lupe. You will learn what it really means to be a beautiful woman from Lupe. You will learn what it really means to love a man from Lupe. You will learn what it really means to love life from Lupe. You will learn what it means to wake up one morning, as a new bride, and realize you have just made the biggest mistake of your life from Lupe. You will learn what it really means to honor the major commitments of your life from Lupe. You will learn how to be practically and deliciously wicked from Lupe. But most of all you will love Lupe.
I am an avid reader. There are few books that can lead me into a matrix of wisdom and forever change my world. Villasenor has a universe of wisdom to share through his captivating stories. I have read Rain of Gold which is superb and now Thirteen Senses which is every bit as marvelous. I just found out about Wild Steps of Heaven andplan on partaking in yet another masterpiece. Everyone I have loaned one of his books to has become a true fan. I would highly reccommend Thirteen Senses! For that matter you can't go wrong with any of his books.
I too was moved to read "13 Senses" by a PBS radio interview. What a great story. I apreciated the fact that Victor Villasenor did not list the thirteen senses but uses the story to illustrate what they are. An extremely mature writing style that I enjoyed.After reading "13 Senses" I then read "Rain of Gold". Thirteen Senses is to me by far the better book. It is not just reporting facts and dates; it is reporting life and feelings. Victor Villasenor in this book believes, not just reports. The many years between the two books reflexes his attained maturity and sureness.
I think the sequence where Lupe is talking with her mother-in-law an Idigeneous Mexican Indian was very moving. Finished the book on our way to San Francisco were we visited our daughter-in-love" and our son and grandchild. Have been struggleing with the "Thirteenth Sense" all my life, and if I can't make it on a beautiful barrier island on the Gulf of Mexico, with my husband of 37 years, there is no hope for the rest of us. Buying the book for Christmas gifts to give all the people who give meaning to my life. Beautifully written and with such sensitivity it makes you want to invite Victor for dinner.
Victor Villasenor has done it again. He brings the gift of his family's continuing history once again. We meet up again with Lupe and Salvador on their journey through life together. I can say that this book along with Rain of Gold has touched me like no other. I have finished the book and already miss the characters. I applaude and thank the author for his wonderful gift...
I am a big fan of Victor Villasenor's literature. He has such a style that is serious but can make you laugh out loud. In Thirteen Senses, it starts where Rain of Gold left off. The boo chronicles the first few years of Lupe and Juan Salvadors marriage. This book is very intertaining and a delight to know that these events actually took place. I would recommend this book to anyone!
I really enjoyed the "13 Senses" though not as much as some of Villasenor's other books. It is a great story about the author's parents when they were in the first years of marriage. I really enjoyed the descriptions of the time period and how things have both changed and not changed through the years. This book actually gives me some real hope during this time of economic manipulation by the powers that be. It sounds like the Great Depression was similar in its cause and manipulation by the rich. The reason for the 4 stars for a book I really enjoyed was the bothersome exclamation points and capitalization used to such a degree!!! I picked a page and counted 33 exclamation points on just this one page with some capitalized words thrown in. If you enjoy history, study of religion, study of Mexico or California or a good love story, this is your book.
I would suggest reading "Rain of Gold" first as it lays the background for Thirteen Senses and I, personally, thought Rain of Gold was the better story which pointed out the meaning of LOVE in a myriad of ways that was better than most other descriptions I have ever read.The weakness of this story is the overuse of the Almighty's powers and Salvador's mother's retelling her philosophy of life page after page after page. If 50 to 75 pages of this type dissertation was edited out, it would be a much better story. The religious nature of both primary familys' is very important to the story, however, it is overdone. While reading I was comparing the American Indian's religious beliefs (which I love) along with the Mexican Indian's outlook. Quite the same in many ways, particularly when actually changing from human to animal form and then back to human. Fascinating.I read this book out loud to my wife and she also enjoyed it and would most certainly recommend this being a fine reading experience, however, she also agrees there is too much philosophy given by Dona Guadalupe, Salvador's mother. Her meanderings are important to the story, but you can pass by many paragraphs when she gets too wound up.
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