9780062293152
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Loteria audiobook

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Loteria Audiobook Summary

Prepare to be enthralled by this lyrical, achingly human debut novel about a young girl’s remarkable resilience in the face of loss. Struggling to cope as her family falls apart, eleven-year-old Luz Maria Castillo retreats into her beloved set of Loteria cards–a Mexican game featuring riddles and vibrant images. Each card represents a different memory, and as Luz shuffles through the deck, she weaves her recollections into a compelling story of love, loyalty, tragedy, and hope.

By turns affecting and inspiring, Loteria is a powerful novel that heralds the arrival of an outstanding new writer, one who reminds us of the importance of remembering, even when we are trying to forget.

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Loteria Audiobook Narrator

Maria Cabezas is the narrator of Loteria audiobook that was written by Mario Alberto Zambrano

Mario Alberto Zambrano published his debut novel Lotería in 2013 with Harper. He’s the recipient of a Presidential Scholar Award, Princess Grace Award, NEA Fellowship in Literature, Alice Hoffman Prize for Fiction, along with multiple residencies across the globe including Hawthornden Castle in Scotland, England. He has served as Lecturer in Theater, Dance & Media at Harvard University and is currently the Associate Director of Dance at The Juilliard School.

About the Author(s) of Loteria

Mario Alberto Zambrano is the author of Loteria

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Loteria Full Details

Narrator Maria Cabezas
Length 3 hours 24 minutes
Author Mario Alberto Zambrano
Category
Publisher HarperAudio
Release date July 02, 2013
ISBN 9780062293152

Subjects

The publisher of the Loteria is HarperAudio. includes the following subjects: The BISAC Subject Code is Coming of Age, Fiction

Additional info

The publisher of the Loteria is HarperAudio. The imprint is HarperAudio. It is supplied by HarperAudio. The ISBN-13 is 9780062293152.

Global Availability

This book is only available in the United States.

Goodreads Reviews

Barbara

August 20, 2013

This wee little novel has an immense dramatic affect. The story is told from an 11 year old Mexican-American girl’s(Luz) point of view. She’s writing in a journal to God. Her Aunt gave Luz a deck of Loteria cards and suggested to Luz to use the cards for inspiration to her write in her journal. Loteria is a Mexican game of chance, similar to our Bingo games. There are 54 cards with images of a riddle. The novel begins with an image of a spider. Through the first card we learn that Luz is in a Government facility where she is supposed to “cooperate” with counselors about an event that involves her father being in jail. Each “chapter” is a new image. Through the images, Zmbrano has Luz narrating her life. The reader learns of the dysfunctional environment in which Luz was raised. Not only was Luz raised in a physically dangerous environment, but an emotionally disturbing one too. Each card gives the reader a deeper understanding of her life. I really liked that idea, to tell a story based upon images and what that provokes in memory. The reader learns that Luz’s older sister, Estrella is in the ICU. There is also the mystery of her Mother, who plays a prominent roll in Luz’s life, but is curiously missing at the time of the important event. Ultimately, the reader learns what transpired that fateful night and what lead to her sister being in the ICU and her father being in jail. This is a sad tale of the underprivileged and the poor. It’s a moving story. Zambrano is a gifted storyteller.

Licha

July 20, 2013

I absolutely loved this book. It made me so nostalgic for many of the things mentioned in the book. It felt like an old friend reminiscing with me about the past. I thrilled at things that the author mentioned within the story that made me want to say outloud "I remember that!" "I used to do that too!" Here too was another memorable protagonist that will live in my heart for a very long time. The book is beautifully presented with each chapter showing an actual picture of a card from the Loteria. This made me want to go look for my own game set. The story is told through the eyes of an 11 year old who's just been taken into custody of the state for some bad stuff that's happened in her family. Luz tells the story through a series of snippets of memories that are evoked by each card in a famous Mexican card game, Loteria. But this is not what I would call children's fiction. It is written for adults. It is very straightforward, but Luz never loses her child's voice. You don't for one minute forget that this is an 11 year telling us about some bad events that happened to her and her family. For all the bad things that may have happened to her though, you also read about many tender and funny moments that her family has gone through. You see a family who loves each other but also has a hard time expressing it; a family who has many flaws to work through but ultimately falls victim to them.The story is read-between-the-lines at times but I was actually glad for this. I fell in love with Luz and I suppose my maternal instincts took over. I didn't want to read in explicit detail what could have happened in her family. I just wanted to protect her and hope that in the end everything would turn out ok for her.I cannot recommend this book enough and I look forward to reading more books by this author. This is a book that will stay with me for a long time.

Patty

July 04, 2013

This is a powerful little book. I must admit that I think it was a bit over my head - it involves the slowly revealed tale of young Luz Castillo, currently in the custody of child protective services. Why? The reader doesn't know yet - Luz refuses to talk. The bits and pieces of her life with her father, mother, sister and aunt are slowly told through her journal entries with the use of Loteria cards - a Mexican bingo type game.Each chapter (and I use that term very loosely as some are mere paragraphs long) is introduced with one of the cards and Luz writes a bit about her life. The story is told through the eyes and thoughts of this 11 year old girl and the reader soon learns the horror of her life in a very abusive household. Her parents came to the US from Mexico to find a better life but they did not find it. The story Luz writes is rife with alcohol, tradition and her Catholic upbringing.There is a fair bit of Spanish used within the story - some can be gleaned from context but without a knowledge of the language (mine is minimal - I took it in college) there is some googling to do to try and maintain the storyline.The reader does feel a touch lost at first - at least I did as you just don't know what is going on. You are given bits of information that you need remember as each card is revealed. It all comes together in a very troubling story with an ending that I didn't see coming. Despite my feeling that a lot of things were over my head it was a book that caused me much thought and one I'll keep to perhaps read again. I suspect that I might sort more out upon a second reading when I'm knowledgeable of the outcome and I can then better understand the beginnings.It's not a long read by any stretch of the imagination but it is most assuredly a thought provoking one.4.5

Cait

August 08, 2013

I have to start by raving about how beautiful this book is. The feel of the book itself and its cover, the gorgeous illustrations by Jarrod Taylor, the thickness and heaviness of the pages, even its size - you can tell that this book was designed with the utmost care. It gives testament to just how much (so, so much) went into the crafting of the story itself, which is both heartbreaking and hopeful. I especially loved how the journal entries were written using the Loteria cards - entries written as the images on the cards evoked memories, rather than in the more perfunctory linear timeline. It muddies up the waters a bit, which is so much more true to the way life and memory work.

Aaron

August 26, 2019

The prose of this book, the lived-in language of calling someone “you stupid” and the Spanglish resonate so deeply and accurately in this story of a TexMex family. The story unfolds as each chapter is a journal entry inspired by a Lotería card. What originally seems like a gimmick quickly changes form. The journal entries are memories and snapshots and entire stories. The interplay between this Mexican family unit and the outside world, between cultura and America, between what we want family to be and what it actually is, between love and abuse - are devastatingly and beautifully unfolded through the eyes of an 11 year old girl. Both easy and tough to read, I highly recommend it.

Eileen

August 27, 2021

4.5 starsWow, I wasn't sure about this book when I first started, partly because I thought the target audience was children and I thought the discussions were too complicated for children to fully appreciate. I've now realized this is considered young adult, although it doesn't really have the usual YA tropes, which is a good thing. There are two stories occurring in parallel. Catrina (Lady Death) and Life are playing a game of Loteria, which is a Mexican game of chance, similar to bingo. However, in this story, it is apparent that they meet once a year to play the game for a randomly chosen child's life. If Life wins, then the child is granted a long life, but if Death wins, then the child is taken. In this story, Clara is the one who is chosen. Lady Death and Life play one round until one of them places a marker, and whichever image is covered, that image plays a role in the next phase of the story. Initially, the story seemed to be slow-going, as Life and Death have philosophical discussions about Free Will vs. Determinism. As each round is played, you can see how the story addresses a part of what they're discussing. It could have been boring, but it really wasn't. I just felt drawn into the story. Magical realism is definitely the name of the game as Clara and her cousin Esteban are drawn into the world of Aztlan, the legendary homeland of the Aztec people. But this book draws not only on Aztec Mythology, but also on Mexican culture (I know there are overlaps). It also incorporates real places like Oaxaca City (where Clara is from), Las Grutas de Cacahuamilpa (inspired as La Gruta de Oro in this story), El Arbol del Tule (one of the largest and oldest trees in the world) and many other places. I love that the author tells us his inspiration for many of the things he included in his story. The story was definitely a slow burn, but as the story proceeded, I found myself more and more invested in what was happening with Clara. By the time I got near the end, I had tears streaming down my face. I loved how it ended, even if it had me weeping. It was such a beautiful ending. I am so glad I gave this story a chance! I also loved the illustrations, although my illustrations were not in color. I'm not sure if they were supposed to be in color, but I bet they would be even more stunning in color. If you are a reader who enjoys stories that share their culture and other world mythologies, you should definitely give this one a try. It's a pretty quick read, even if it's a slow burn.I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

Jordan

August 31, 2021

High quality writing with a brilliant exploration of form and structure. The gradual reveal of the main turning point was very well done. It reads like a series of free-writing exercises, which was exactly the author’s intention. I loved it.

Mandy

February 22, 2018

https://thewandererliteraryjournal.wo...

Violet

August 12, 2022

Such a good but sad book. I could not put it down. Man, I need a breather now.

Erica

May 21, 2017

I liked it a lot. A lot of the cultural things resonated immensely with what I grew up with and it made me feel like I was reading an alternative life I could have had, up until the violence started. And it also surprised me that it's set where I grew up and where I live now. That made everything more personal and realistic. The way the lotería drew the story was really unique and the initial reason I picked up this book at random at my library. I really enjoyed it.

Lori L

July 10, 2013

It is slowly revealed what has happened to eleven-year-old Luz María Castillo and her family through diary entries she makes based on Loteria cards she draws from a deck in Mario Alberto Zambrano's debut novel Loteria. This is a tragic story told through the memories and in the voice of a young girl. The 53 chapters all open with the picture of a different Lotaria card. Luz is talking to God in her diary entries, as she contemplates her memories of her family. She is in state custody and not talking to anyone about her family. Very slowly the dynamics of her violent, dysfunctional family are reveal and we learn what was happening.The chapters are short and the memories Luz shares are not all synchronous, but instead are recollected fragments of various family events and occasions from her lifetme. We learn about her father's drinking, the violence in her family, but the full extent of these occurrences isn’t revealed all at once. At the beginning we know something bad has happened, after all Luz is in state custody and not talking to anyone, but the total picture isn't revealed until much later. Luz says of a counselor "Then she looks at me like I'm one of those stories you hear about on the ten o’çlock news."(pg. 3)Later, when Luz writes, "She wouldn't know what it was like. We all fought. We all hit each other."(pg. 16) we begin to understand that this isn't going to be an easy story.At the beginning of the novel you may feel a bit of disconnect with the story simply because you don't have even a partial picture of what is going on, but stay with it. Luz lets us know that she's cautious and not speaking to anyone when she says,"I keep my mouth shut because I don't know the rules of the game."(pg. 17) As she deals out the Lotaria cards for her own private game and writes about her life in her diary/journal, we understand the environment of violence and alcoholism that gave birth to her cautious nature.The narrative, in English, also contains many Spanish phrases and sentences that are smoothly incorporated into the text. Since the Loteria cards are pictured in the book, it really is a much shorter novel than the page numbers would indicate. Zambrano has done an excellent job capturing the voice of this eleven year old girl in epistolary form while exploring the dark side of a very dysfunctional family.Highly recommendedDisclosure: I received an advanced reading copy of this book from the publisher and TLC for review purposes.

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