What do readers think of The Ghost of Milagro Creek by Melanie Sumner? Write your own review.

I was disappointed in this book. I thought perhaps it would have the same flavor as House of Spirits (Isabel Allende) or The Milagro Bean Field Wars. I found the book very confusing and hard to follow. The chapters not only flipped back and forth between time periods but also characters. It usually took 2 or 3 paragraphs at the beginning of each chapter to figure out who was speaking. The last half of the book was somewhat better but I found I had no idea what the plot was for the first 100 pages - not sure I ever "got it". The book left me with many questions and generally dissatisfied. I will not be recommending this to my book clubs or reader friends.

Interesting characters, unusual storyline, a good book to read over a long weekend. I liked the way author used the narrative form in this book.

I expected this book to be a somewhat light reading about star-crossed lovers in the barrio of Taos. In reality, it is so much more. The reader is immersed in the mysticism of the Jicarilla Apache barrio of Taos, where Native Americans, Hispanics, and whites live together, and where a tragedy will affect the community. This is not a linear book; the story is narrated by Ignacia, a medicine woman (some would say a witch), before and after her death...and police reports, witness statements, and short-story snippets, and more help advance the plot. The terrain itself -- the ancient myths -- all set a very realistic atmosphere. I loved this highly original book.

Melanie Sumner has created a fascinating novel set in the barrio of Taos, New Mexico and the surrounding area. It is a story that is both simple - best friends growing up together and loving the same girl, and extremely complicated. She tells the story from multiple viewpoints and includes elements of magical realism, shamanism, Jicarilla Apache mythology and Hispanic Catholicism. The many characters in the novel each exemplify a combining of these philosophies.

Because the story is told by many characters, it is often tricky to follow. While the main plot takes place over the course of a couple weeks in April, 2001, there are time shifts as various twists in the story are revealed in flashbacks. There are also pieces of conversation that take place in Spanish and a version of barrio-speak that includes Apache words, Spanish and slang.

I found it to be a engrossing novel and I would highly recommend it to book groups. There are many points that could lead to good discussions and reading group questions have been included at the end of the book.

The landscapes are haunting, the characters are tragic figures, the story is heartbreaking. The book is superbly written. If you love reading and learning about non-white cultures, you will find excellent descriptions of living in the desert areas around Taos. There is a great loneliness that such living can bring, which makes relationships in this setting so much more central to the story. The book hard to put down.