The Book:

If I Die in Juárez
Stella Pope Duarte

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Since the mid nineties hundreds of bodies of young women have been found and thousands—yes, thousands—still remain missing and unaccounted for in Juarez, Mexico; and those bodies uncovered have usually appeared more gruesome than most people can possibly imagine, some mutilated beyond recognition.

How could this be, in this modern day and age—and in such large numbers? This has been called a femicide movement—but what could cause and sustain such crimes of hate over this long a period of time? And how could the Mexican governments fail to solve this “crime of the century”?

If you are a passionate reader then you will rejoice in the brilliant phrasings, insights and pacing found in Stella Pope Durate's important novel, laying down the pieces of this compelling tale for you faster than you can run—enthralling you with its horrific deeds still going on today, in real life, in Ciudad Juarez. If you are a casual reader than this book may turn you into an avid one.

Stella Pope Duarte grew up in a poor barrio in Phoenix, and she has spent months and months researching the history of northern Mexico and talking to the families of Juarez victims. She seamlessly integrates ancient legends of the region, one such being the 7-headed snake from the Chitlitipin mountains, el tsahuatsan, a legend passed down from generation to generation frightening the children of each, to suddenly spring into reality during a terrified young girl's grueling torture as a phantasmagorical nightmare.

Duarte looks at the dangerous mix of forces in the area: its extreme poverty amongst small islands of ostentatious wealth and greed; schools so sparse and inadequate that the poorest barely know of their existence; the massive influx of people from the south to find work in the new warehouses—las maquiladoras, and the ever-present machismo, a force much stronger than their religion, goading young men to wilder and wilder cries and acts of anger.

For some this book may prove a disquieting read as they begin to realize the sensational reality that is Juarez, but Duarte spares us the worst details giving us instead an examination of the life and environment of these people that is complimentary to the best in world literature. In an interview she promised that the reader “would walk in the shoes” of the young ladies of Juarez. We do so, grippingly, in the accounts Duarte gives us of Evita, Petra, and Mayela, and feel with them as “a sense of things gone wrong. . . a hole opened inside her, as if a piece of black sky had forced its way into her heart.”

Here is a sample from Mayela's story, a girl so talented at painting she was known as la Ninita Frida:

At night, Mayela's twin brother, dead at birth, came to her in her dreams. He was a beautiful baby, always smiling with her. He sat on her shoulder, or rode around in her pocket, a tiny baby with paper-thin wings like an angel's and microscopic feet with toenails that glowed like neon lights. Her twin brother told her she was not to be afraid of anything, as he would protect her now that she knew he was near. . . . Over and over again she painted [him] Popo, a blue baby flying, with pink wings and shiny yellow toenails.

Duarte has said that her book is a memorial devoted to the many victims. It is indeed an artistic, beautiful memorial honoring the women's lives.