Tuesday, November 15, 2022

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Bindle Punk Bruja by Desideria Mesa

 




Bindle Punk Bruja is the debut novel from Mexican American author Desideria Mesa. The story is a historical fantasy, taking place in Prohibition-era Kansas City, and features as its first person protagonist a half-Mexican-American young woman who can and does pass for White, despite her magical Bruja heritage and minor powers, as she tries to become successful as an independent owner of a Speakeasy in a racist, sexist, and classist world.

And it's a story with a ton of elements - questions about identity, about being self-sufficient vs being supported by others, about dealing with prejudice from many angles, and more - that generally work pretty well. Significantly, its main character Luna/Rose is really excellent, as she finds herself in more and more trouble from outside forces wanting in on her success, to internal struggles over her identity and her need to protect those she cares about - her family and her staff. That said, this is a book that has so so so many elements - too many really for it to deal with, which weakens its power and plotting in the end because it tries to do too much. Still, it's a very good first novel and I do recommend it.

Trigger Warning: Homophobia, Racism, Sexism, overtly so due to the time period and the subject matter, as the story features multiple POC, women and LGBTQ characters. 
------------------------------Plot Summary--------------------------------

Luna was born to a no-good abandoning White father and her loving Mexican family, who live on the outskirts of Kansas City. Her Abuela is a Bruja, capable of using all three Bruja magics like Healing, Charm, and Curses (although she'd never), but Luna's mother has none of the three, and Luna only has the smallest talent in Charm, able to sense someone's intentions/wants while touching them and able to impart minor suggestions while kissing them. Luna's weakness doesn't change the fact that anyone knowing of her ability out of the family will want her dead for being what they consider a monster.

But Luna's other has taught her to embrace the fact that her mixed blood has left her with White-passing skin, and so she has used that appearance to become "Rose", the owner of a speakeasy in the lower class areas of Kansas City. Guided by her magic and some gifts from her Abuela, Luna/Rose has made her club a big success, where money comes in and fights stay limited, but Luna wants more - the chance to make bigger money and be completely independent by opening up a club in the richer Whiter areas of town.

Yet Luna's success has caught the attention of dangerous people: The Mob, who wants a cut of her business; the Klan, who would hate who she really is if the knew but hate plenty already the non-White/non-hetero talent she uses to staff her club; and others who can't quite stand to see a woman in charge and have plenty of power to do something about it. And as Luna/Rose tries to establish herself more and more, and begins to accumulate new potential friends and lovers, will she be able to hold onto it all when all her foes decide that they will do anything, including harm those she cares about, to take everything she has earned for herself?
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Bindle Punk Bruja tells the story of Luna/Rose, a young woman with a lot of balls in the air.  Her mom taught her to use her ability to pass as White to get ahead and to get into circles the rest of her Mexican family, like her beloved brother, can't, and Luna took that majorly to heart: working at a newspaper by day and then running a very successful speakeasy for lower class patrons at night, using a little bit of her magic - and her abuela's magic dirt - to try and prove that she can be as successful as any man.  She cares deeply for both her own family as well as the people she brings into her club, as well as any others who enter her orbit, but at the same time, she doesn't really let herself find love and romance for herself, with her using her charm to have occasional one-night stands...and using her influence to get guys to then leave her alone thereafter.  

And Luna's dreams of success in this time, where the mob always wants a cut, the Klan is back on the rise, and forces from the police to out of city all want a cut, lead her into greater and greater trouble.  And this trouble comes for Rose/Luna in all sorts of directions, as she finds herself possibly falling for the man who comes into her team and helps her get setup with better liquor (to compete with the Mob), finds her brother targeted by racists both hooded and not, and deals with friends who aren't white cis hetero males having to hide who they are in a world that is heteronormative.  It helps that all of the side characters Rose/Luna surrounds herself with are really well done, like Heck (heir to a rich colonizing family ostracized for being gay), her brother Javier (who wants to bartend and not deal with racist prejudice Luna can get out of), Rose/Luna's newspaper friend Margaret - a progressive girl who is afraid to truly show who she is, and more.  

The result is a story that is highly enjoyable with lots of swerves, with a strong theme of identity, as Luna finds herself torn between her various identities as both Rose and Luna, and trying to figure out who she really is.  The elements generally work very well, as helped by the excellent cast, and Luna's voice as she struggles with her various identities is excellently done and will keep you wanting to read.  

That said, the book honestly feels at times to be overly stuffed - so we have too many plot threads going at one point, with too many obstacles for Luna to overcome, like multiple mob factions, potentially the cops, the upper class twits, the KKK, and it just becomes almost comical how much Luna is faced with over and over and things do get a little repetitive (also her job as a journalist feels entirely unnecessary).  This culminates in the final few chapters, where rather than one big climax, there's what are basically repeated climactic scenes one after the other as Luna faces one antagonist faction after the other to the point it just kind of feels ridiculous.  

But this just is a slight detraction from what's a generally pretty well done and enjoyable first novel, one I definitely recommend, and I will be looking forward to more from Mesa going forward.  


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