The House of Broken Angels

Big Angel recalls his childhood in La Paz. Don Segundo is a motorcycle police officer, and Big Angel watches the city flash by as colors and scents on the back of his father’s bike. He meets Perla in the police station after her older brother is in a car accident. He falls in love immediately. Don Segundo lets the family off the hook because he noticed Big Angel’s romantic interest in Perla. Soon, Big Angel is visiting the Castros’ restaurant every day to spend time with Perla. Big Angel’s romance is cut short when Chentebent, his pirate uncle, comes to town. Big Angel is sent off to live on a boat with his aunt, uncle, and cousin because Mamá América and Don Segundo are divorcing and they fear Angel’s response. Don Segundo moves to Tijuana to be with his new lover, and from there he moves to America. Meanwhile, Big Angel is chronically abused and left hungry on Chente’s boat. No one in Mazatlán likes Chente because he’s a cruel drunk. Big Angel reflects, “When the church bells rang, he felt that the world he knew was in some other land. Was too far away to ever be found again” (119).