“Given the private nature of Adiós to My Parents, you would think that the book would prohibit a readership beyond those with a personal attachment to the author, but, in fact, this is an astute and absorbing, deeply emotional family tale that can move, intrigue, and interest a far broader audience.”
First published in 2014 in Mexico as Adiós a los padres, distinguished Mexican author and historian, Héctor Aguilar Camín, offers up a bold and intimate account of his family’s checkered history in this powerful and uninhibited memoir, Adiós to My Parents, which has been translated into English for the first time. A recipient of numerous national literary awards, including the lifetime achievement award from Mexico’s Instituto de Bellas Artes—the country’s top cultural institution—Aguilar Camín is one of Mexico’s most revered writers. Although also a well-known novelist, with several of his works adapted to the screen, including Morir en el golfo, he is better known as a journalist and writer of Mexican history and politics.
Here, the emphasis of Aguilar Camín’s book is firmly on his ancestry and, in particular, his mother and father’s personal journey. Using a singular approach to chronicling his and their lives, Aguilar Camín jumps back and forth through the decades, offering a genealogical history, revisiting faded memories from youth, exposing ugly family secrets and painful truths, and sharing his parents’ candid stories.”
Published today in the Colorado Review is my review of Héctor Aguilar Camín’s memoir, Adiós to My Parents.
