Throw by Rubén Degollado Buy the Book • Goodreads
"Llorona was no harmless little pigeon. She was the lechuza, the owl you see just before someone is about to die, the one that haunts you in your dreams and you never want to see in real life because it means you are about to lose someone you love."
Llorona is the only girl Guero has ever loved. A wounded soul, she has adopted the name of a ghost from Mexican folklore. True to her namesake, Llorona cast Guero away with the coldness of the apparition she has become. But Guero--though he would never admit it to his friends--still wants to get back together with her.
Guero spends time with his friends Angel and Smiley--members of the HCP (Hispanics Causing Panic) gang--roaming the streets of the South Texas border towns they inhabit, trying to forget Llorona even as she seems to appear around every corner.
Over three days Guero's increasingly violent confrontations with Llorona's current boyfriend will jeopardize the lives of Angel and Smiley and the love he hopes to regain.
As events begin to accelerate toward their conclusion--and gang signs are thrown as both threats and claims of identity--the question arises: will Guero throw the HCP sign, or will he throw off that life? Guero's life will be irrevocably changed by violence and loss, but who will he lose, and will he--somewhere along the way--lose himself?
Sometimes you read a story that resonates in you so powerfully, it feels as if it is part of your soul, Throw was that kind of story for me. I am a sucker for coming of age stories, The Outsiders was my favorite book growing and to this day still holds a special place in my heart. Throw gives you that same feel, the longing to be loved and belong. Take a trip down memory lane with Guero and his gang to the RGV circa 1990, reminisce, fall in love, and experience life at this time as only a young person could. This book was tragic, yet hopeful and had me entranced and invested in the lives of these characters that while reading I forgot where I was. Told in beautiful prose, it was both realistic and heart-wrenching, Throw will move you, haunt you and complete you. Thank you Ruben for telling our stories, with the heart and soul only the way a true Valleyite could. It was wonderful.
