José Builds a Woman
by Jan Baross Baross writes with a big, beautiful new voice, exuberant and full of gritty earth and bright skies. Tortugina is a heroine for the ages. Her story is about a commitment to love and honor, and self-respect against all odds, and along the way it's a wild trip to the Mexico of our dark northern dreams. At the end, you not only want to cheer for Tortugina, you want to stay.—Joanna Rose, author of Little Miss Strange In a male-dominated culture, how does a fiercely independent woman contend with machismo and still find sexual and spiritual satisfaction? This is the question asked by author Jan Baross in her vibrant first novel, José Builds A Woman. Bringing her background as an artist to the written page, Baross paints a vivid portrait of Latin American culture with the brush of magical realism. Her writing celebrates the sensual, sexual, and supernatural as it challenges social and cultural taboos. It balances exaggerated masculinity with exhilarating feminine strength.
José Builds A Woman tells the story of Tortugina, a wild young woman who is destined to make her quiet family weep. Through the waters of the womb, Tortugina transfers her yearning for love and acceptance to her son, José, conceived during an otherworldly union with her drowned lover. It is José’s fate to also suffer the twining of flesh and spirit, earth and water, love and loss. In a melding of free spirits, earthly passions, and Latin American culture seasoned with irreverent humor, José Builds A Woman reminds us what means to be alive and in love.
If you would like to know more about this title:
ooligan.josebuildsawoman@pdx.edu
ISBN 13: 978-1-932010-14-5
ISBN 10: 1932010149
5 ½" x 8 ½", softcover
314 pages
$18.95