Amigoland

Last updated March 08, 2019

Amigoland is the first novel by American author Oscar Casares and a follow-up to his book of short stories, Brownsville. It was published in 2009 by Little Brown and Company. The plot centers on two estranged elderly brothers who reunite after many years to break the elder brother, Don Fidencio, out of his nursing home in Brownsville, Texas and head to Mexico on a quest to solve the mystery of how their family came to America.

Oscar Casares is an American writer and an associate professor of creative writing. He is the author of Brownsville: Stories and Amigoland. Casares teaches at the University of Texas at Austin where he is director of the Creative Writing Program.

Brownsville is a city in Cameron County in the U.S. state of Texas. It located on the western Gulf Coast in South Texas, adjacent to the border with Matamoros, Mexico. The city covers 81.528 square miles (211.157 km²) and has a population of 183,299 as of 2017. It is the 131st-largest city in the United States and 16th-largest in Texas. It is part of the Brownsville–Matamoros conurbation, with a population of 1,136,995 people. The city is known for its year-round subtropical climate, deep-water seaport and Hispanic culture.

Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost 2,000,000 square kilometres (770,000 sq mi), the nation is the fifth largest country in the Americas by total area and the 13th largest independent state in the world. With an estimated population of over 120 million people, the country is the eleventh most populous state and the most populous Spanish-speaking state in the world, while being the second most populous nation in Latin America after Brazil. Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states and Mexico City, a special federal entity that is also the capital city and its most populous city. Other metropolises in the state include Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Toluca, Tijuana and León.

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Austin is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. It is the 11th-most populous city in the United States and the 4th-most populous city in Texas. It is also the fastest growing large city in the United States, the second most populous state capital after Phoenix, Arizona, and the southernmost state capital in the contiguous United States. As of the U.S. Census Bureau's July 1, 2017 estimate, Austin had a population of 950,715 up from 790,491 at the 2010 census. The city is the cultural and economic center of the Austin–Round Rock metropolitan statistical area, which had an estimated population of 2,115,827 as of July 1, 2017. Located in Central Texas within the greater Texas Hill Country, it is home to numerous lakes, rivers, and waterways, including Lady Bird Lake and Lake Travis on the Colorado River, Barton Springs, McKinney Falls, and Lake Walter E. Long.

Important characters

Don Fidencio

Don Fidencio is a 91-year-old widower, a resident of Amigoland, a Brownsville nursing home, where he's been sent by his daughter and son-in-law. His body is failing him, and he's stuffed with pills – "pills for his heart ... his blood pressure ... his cholesterol ... his kidneys ... his heartburn ... the pain in his legs ... to make him [expletive] ... to make him sleep." He turns the name of the place into an irony: He feels so isolated, he cannot bother to even learn the names of those around him, opting instead for shorthand – "The Gringo With the Ugly Finger," "The One Who Likes to Kiss Your Forehead." He takes pleasure only from his cigarettes.

Don Celestino

Fidencio’s somewhat younger brother Celestino, also a widower, is now suffering from diabetes. In contrast to his brother, Celestino is still vital enough to start a Viagra-assisted affair with his housekeeper, Socorro.

Socorro

Socorro is Don Celestino's housekeeper. She is a childless widow three decades younger than Celestino who lives across the border in Matamoros. It's Socorro, seeking a deeper relationship with Celestino, who encourages him to visit his brother after years of estrangement.

Plot Synopsis

As Fidencio and Celestino catch up, Socorro learns that their falling out concerned a story the old men cannot agree on: Was it true that their "Papa Grande" saw his family killed by Indians and was then kidnapped and brought north? They decide to set out on a four-day bus trip to Linares to search for the truth about their grandfather and about each other.

Themes

The themes of aging, brotherhood, identity and memory figure prominently in Amigoland.

Casares said in an interview that growing up with two elderly parents influenced his work. Amigoland was written as his own father was dying in a nursing home in Brownsville.^[1]

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References

↑ Galehouse, Maggie (August 9, 2009). "Oscar Casares uses uncles' old tales as inspiration for first book". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 28 September 2011.

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[1] Galehouse, Maggie (August 9, 2009). "Oscar Casares uses uncles' old tales as inspiration for first book". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 28 September 2011.