SOURCE: “Flicker, Flame, Butterfly Ablaze,” in Belles Lettres, Vol. 8, No. 3, Spring, 1993, pp. 19–20.

In the following positive review of The Mixquiahuala Letters, Carr examines the tragedy of Teresa, the protagonist, who is doomed to unhappiness because of social and personal beliefs.

Ana Castillo's first novel, The Mixquiahuala Letters, originally published by Bilingual Press in 1986, has reached the mainstream. A Chicana native to Chicago, Castillo has been well-known in the Latino academic community as a poet and writer. The recent and sudden “discovery” of Mexican American literature by critics and publishing houses is bringing greater visibility to Castillo and other Latina writers.

A well-crafted epistolary novel, Mixquiahuala [pronounced Mēxkēäwälä; indigenous name of a village in Mexico] relates the story of the long and intimate friendship of Teresa and Alicia. In the letters Teresa writes to Alicia, she reminisces about the critical moments in their lives. Each letter...