A Little Love
by C. C. Medina
List Price: $7.50
Pages: 432
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 0446609765
Publisher: Time Warner Books
FOUR UNFORGETTABLE WOMEN ONE EXTRAORDINARY FRIENDSHIP
Set to the distinctly Latin
beat of Miami, C. C. Medina's debut novel introduces four Hispanic women,
their lives, loves, and, most of all, their friendship. From the bedrooms
to the bars, from the dance floors to their kitchen tables, follow these
amigas—Isabel Landon is a successful engineer reeling from a tough divorce
who meets a free-spirited writer who will shake her to the core. María
Mercedes Virtudes, aka Mercy, careens through life with a zest for fun
and men until her mamá urges her toward el matrimonio. Lucinda Portes
de Colón had a charmed existence but is forced by her husband's betrayal
to survive for the first time on her own. Julia Velásquez is a writer
facing a moral crossroads, yet even her dearest friends may not stand
beside her.
Over tapas and Cointreau, these
four amigas laugh and shed bittersweet tears at the absurdity of life.
In the end, their values are universal. Amistad y amor. Or, in other words,
friendship and A LITTLE LOVE.
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1. How do each of the main characters reflect a different aspect or attribute of the modern urban woman?
2. How do the lives of these women reinforce or contradict your expectations of Latina women? How and why so?
3. How does the novel explore the burgeoning economic power of the Latina woman in American society?
4. How does the title of the book reveal a common thread in the lives of the four main characters?
5. How does the novel reveal values common to the Latino culture such as the importance of family, friendship, and education? Can you relate to these? Why or why not?
6. In particular, where do you see the value of the multi-generational extended family revealed?
7. In Lucinda's case, do you believe her way of dealing with her husband's infidelity was effective?
8. How does Mercy transform herself by the end of the novel? or does she?
9. What is Isabel's conflict? What is stopping her from embracing relationships with men in general, with Orlando in particular?
10. How does Julia's experience offer an alternative perspective on Latinas in general, and specifically on lesbians?
11. How do the other friends react to Julia's relationship with Beatriz? Which of the three friends reacts in a more predictable way in your mind?
12. How do the lives of these women explore the search for identity, especially in a bi-cultural world? Do you see these characters as searching? or as grounded in their culture or cultures?
13. How do you see the conflicts between cultures and generations manifested in the plot?
14. How does the use of Spanish play a part in depicting the cultural reality of the environment in which these women live?
15. How does Lucinda's predicament help to depict the conflict between upper class Latin American society and the more egalitarian American values, regardless of class?
16. What role does humor play in the novel, particularly in dealing with sensitive topics such as class conflicts, adultery, promiscuity, homosexuality, politics, and even religion?
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