Book Review: Days of the Dead

Days of the Dead by Kersten Hamilton is a beautiful, complex story about family, tradition, and bravery.  Glorieta Magdalena Davis Espinoza doesn't want the memories of her mother to fade.  No one in her family speaks of her mother, since she is guilty of “mortal sin.”  Now that Glorieta’s father has remarried and her mother’s ashes tucked away, Glorieta decides that her mother deserves a rightful resting place in the town cemetery. 

But tradition prevents her mother from being laid to rest in a proper cemetery. And with Glorieta’s Tia Diosonita as the town’s La Patrona, the boss, there is no way Glorieta will be able to persuade her Tia to give her mother a proper burial.  To make things more problematic, the mounting “odio” (hate) Glorieta feels for her cruel stepsister, Lilith, helps fuel the fire for Glorieta to break tradition.  With the support of her best friend River and her cousin Matteo, Glorieta takes a stand to change the rigid old ways of her town.

I really enjoyed reading this book, even though there are some very heartbreaking parts to it.  It was like peeling away the layers of an onion.  The book touches on everything from grief and fear to religion, folk tales, and tradition.  You really feel for Glorieta because what she wants seems simple: to bury her mother with the rest of the Espinoza family.  It means a lot to her, especially with Dia de los Muertos coming soon.  As the layers of the onion shed, you find out more about Tia Diosonita and why she is so strict in her ways.  You peel even more layers and you find out why Lilith is such a bully.  Even the layers of Glorieta peel away when she experiences something so severe, that it changes the way she thinks about human life.  Once you get to the core of the story, you will find how all of this affects Glorieta and how she uses this new understanding of others to change the town’s deep-rooted ways.  I would recommend this book for grades 4-7.  A great read!

Thank you to Skyhorse Publishing,  Sky Pony Press, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this ARC!

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