About the Book
A family memoir told in the voices of ancestors, this book is
about oppression and survival and sometimes triumph as "any book
about a Mexican American family must be." Mora’s house of houses
is large, imagined, traditional, a refuge from the desert’s heat,
where the generations of her family, living and dead, mingle
through the months of a single year.
Questions for Exploration - Questions for your personal reflection or to enjoy with your book group or class.
You can also consult the following online interview for more information:
Oliver-Rotger, Maria Antónia, “An Interview with Pat Mora,” Soundings: Voices from the Gaps [Read the interview.]
Highlighted Reviews
"In [House of Houses] a twist on the Day of the Dead tradition … it is the cemetery dwellers who feed the author, a woman
ravenous for every crumb of her past … The men of the
household are adored, feared, and revered, but it is the women who
hold things together; their worries, quarrels, prayers, recipes,
gardens and fierce love for the children lend House of Houses its
rich texture."
—Edie Jarolim, The New York Times Book Review
"Pat Mora’s richly sensual family memoir, House of Houses, is a
textual feast designed to summon her ancestors’ spirits to an
imagined house hovering over the Southwestern desert between El Paso
and Santa Fe--a conflation of memory and wish blending, the
microscopic sensuality of Diane Ackerman’s work with the Jungian
approach of Clarissa Pinkola Estes … House of Houses is [a] kind
of regenerative act, a summoning of the powerful and necessary
spirits, and an eloquent bearer of the old truth that it is through
the senses that we apprehend love."—Janet Peery, The Washington
Post Book World
"[T]he rich blend of narrative styles make
"House of Houses" more than a singular family saga. It’s a
celebration of spirit, a testament to the power of memory to evoke
the past."—Hector A. Torres, Albuquerque Journal
"The memoir is almost seamless, moving in and
out of life and death, English and Spanish, the kitchen and the
garden, then and now … This is a must-read for all interested in
Chicano literature."—Ellen Shull, San Antonio Express-News
"A magical biographical recreation of her
family’s history...Having established herself as one of the
most significant Chicana poets of our time … Mora employs her
word artistry, turning flowery and surreal observations into a
colorful, often dreamy journey through her family’s history."
—Antonio López, The New Mexican
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