Wild Steps of Heaven: A Memoir |  | Author: Victor Villasenor
Publisher: Rayo
Category: Book
Buy Used: $29.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  6 reviews
Sales Rank: 4377873
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 304
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7
ISBN: 0061139033
Dewey Decimal Number: 920
EAN: 9780061139031
ASIN: 0061139033
Publication Date: September 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Condition: new
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Product Description
In his critically acclaimed bestseller Rain of Gold, Victor Villase-or brought his mother's family vividly to life. In Wild Steps Of Heaven, he turns to his father's family, the Villase-ors. Against a vivid backdrop of love and war, magic and heroism, the author breathes life into his father's people--and in particular, the Villase-or women*Margarita, the indomitable matriarch who was swept away by Don Juan Jesus Villase-or on the eve of the Mexican revolution*their beautiful daughters, who find strength and endurance in their mother's faith, and searing passion amidst the turmoil of war. But it is little Juan, the youngest son, through whose eyes this tumultuous saga unfolds. Juan would learn from his brother Jose, a hero of the revolution, how to be a man; and from his beloved mother, how to live and love con gusto y amor.
A story of madness and miracles, rage and redemption, In Wild Steps Of Heaven creates a riveting portrait of an extraordinary family and the country whose earth gave them roots.
From the Trade Paperback edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 1 more reviews...
 Wild Steps of Heaven January 3, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
It was a used book but was in good shape.
the book was send really fast.
a beautiful book. October 24, 2005
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I first read "Wild Steps of Heaven" while I was in college. I have never been one who was able to finish a full book, but I couldn't get enough of this one. And once I was through with it I had to go out and find more books by Victor Villasenor. He makes everything seem magical but at the same time believeable. It is like the ultimate adult fairy tale. Each character has so much life. The story is one that you just want to follow, you want it to keep going. Even the sad and painful stories shine with beauty as Villasenor tells them. This is my absolute favorite book and I highly recommend it. You won't understand until you read it.
Wild Steps of Heaven July 3, 2001
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
Read this book before you read "Rain of Gold". "Wild Steps of Heaven" is a short read and actually the paternal part of the family story. I wish Villasenor had included the info in Wild Steps of Heaven" in "Rain of Gold". Both books are a wonderful patchwork of history,and genuine family integrity. Excellent summer read!
Wild steps of heaven is magic July 10, 2000
6 out of 11 found this review helpful
This is a wonderful book. This book is about a family living during the Mexican Revolution.His writing just takes into this magical world and even though you know that he has made a little piece of history into this great big piece of fiction, he does it so as a matter-of -fact that you just can't believe that it's not true.
Epic Tale of Family Loyalty, Love, and Making of Heroes September 27, 1998
21 out of 22 found this review helpful
In times of hardship heroes are needed and none moreso than in Mexico as revolution rages. The Villasenor family patriarch, an exiled red-haired Spaniard, has married an Indian woman. The first ten years of the marriage are a time of great love and passion, and the children born first are fair and favor Don Juan Villasenor. Later children are dark like their mother. One of the dark ones, Jose, from age 12 must live in the barn because he defied his father and gentled a stallion to rescue his baby brother holding onto the leg rather than shoot the horse. In his exile and solitude a hero begins his training with Grandfather Don Pio Castro who knows Jose understands the power of love and gentleness. This will be the son who defends la familia during the revolution from the soldiers who time and again attach the village. The colonel commanding the troops more particularly desires Jose's true love Mariposa and destroys her. Ultimately, the younger brother Juan (author Villasenor's father) begins to show heroic tendencies himself and will be the one to defend his mother and the remaining family against the colonel. Villasenor moves the tale along with a powerful, songlike cadence. Notable characters are the giant cousins, Basilio and Agustin, who strip naked and race the lightning and then Halley's comet on January 17, 1910, a night of magic and love, the day before el colonel begins shooting up the home village, el paraiso de Los Altos de Jalisco. Each chapter begins with epigrams featuring "Great Father Sun" that provide a sense of power from above, as in "the heavens smile . . . as all around him the gods and serpents did battle." When the final epigram tells us "and out of these children of the earth and of the stars would now come a glorious new gente in all their wonder and fire," we realize that while we have been traveling through an exciting story with more twists and turns than fiction, we also have been participating in something approximating a creation myth. Highly recommended is Villasenor's first tale of the family Villasenor, Rain of Gold.
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