Review
Karen Samuelson's Weaving Dreams in Oaxaca is an intriguing, twisty tale of three good-hearted characters - Mac, Frankie, and Enrique - travelling physically and spiritually in search of various truths. As with all good stories, much of its delight is in the journey. Weaving Dreams in Oaxaca kept me up late turning the pages, and the ending did not disappoint.
--Mary Rowen, author of Leaving the Beach, Living by Ear, and It Doesn't Have to be That Way
In Samuelson's rewarding, richly woven novel, Weaving Dreams in Oaxaca, about longing and identity, three characters cross paths in Mexico while searching for themselves, only to discover that the journey to self-discovery begins with connection. This is a deeply satisfying read.
--Sandra A. Miller, author of Wednesdays at One
Every scene is bursting with energy and incisive prose. Complicated family ties is a familiar topic, but Samuelson heightens the narrative by exploring three distinct--and riveting---perspectives. Each character possesses their own charm and voice to enhance the storyline, and even the supporting cast add individuality to the book. Samuelson depicts their pain, search for meaning, and moments of beauty exceptionally well.
--The BookLife Prize Publishers Weekly review
Reviewed by Grant Leishman for Readers' Favorite
Weaving Dreams in Oaxaca by Karen Samuelson is an intricately plotted romance that takes the reader into the mysterious world of shamanism and pre-Columbian myths and mystique. Frankie is a professional dancer from New York who is undergoing a crisis of direction and purpose. She is torn between continuing her successful dance career and an overwhelming desire to have a family. Needing space to think and decide her future direction she takes a break from everything in Oaxaca, Mexico. While in Oaxaca she meets Enrique, a mechanic and DJ, who is struggling to come out as gay to his conservative and deeply religious father. Frankie pretending to be Enrique's girlfriend for his family gives the young man the space and time necessary to decide to tell the truth to his beloved father. Mac, a university professor in pre-Columbian history, receives a shocking announcement from his parents that sends him to Oaxaca on a personal quest. The lives of these three will become intertwined in Oaxaca and beyond as each seeks their peace and direction in life.
Weaving Dreams is a wonderfully rewarding and satisfying read. Author Karen Samuelson has created several readily identifiable characters that readers will immediately empathize with and cheer for in their different ways. The difficulties of gay men and women to live their true lives in societies that are dominated by the church and tradition are vividly displayed in this narrative. This will elicit not only sympathy but also some degree of frustration at Enrique's lack of courage and belief in himself at times. I particularly appreciated the links to shamanism, mystical beliefs, and natural remedies that the narrative encompasses and was thrilled by the sympathetic manner in which the author expounded on these areas. The potential romance between Frankie and Mac was the highlight of the story for me and their slow but seemingly certain drift together, although fraught with difficulty and doubt, was a pleasure to read. The orphanage as the setting for the meeting and relationship between Frankie and Mac was perfect, as adoption was indeed a key element in both characters' lives and the two children, Esme and Leonel, became critical to the thought processes of both characters. I love reading about and absorbing other cultures and this story immerses the reader in the local culture of Oaxaca and Mexico from both a current and historical perspective. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can highly recommend it.
From the Author
My connection and love for Latin America began when I was twenty-three and went to Antigua, Guatemala to visit a friend. I stayed for two months studying Spanish, and then we spent two more months traveling by bus through Central America to Colombia and Ecuador. I'm so grateful there were no selfies. I lived wholly in the adventure of the moment: walking black volcanic beaches in El Salvador, sleeping in hammocks with pigs grazing underneath, and drinking corn liquor with Ecuadorian Indians. Having been robbed on the bus ride back through Colombia, we had no money after landing at the tiny airport on the island of San Andres, Costa Rica. Trying to hitch a ride home on a cargo plane, we slept on the nearby beach and were fed through the kindness of strangers. Six days later, we were airborne towards Miami.
In the winter of 1993, I did a teaching internship/homestay in San Cristobal de las Casas in Chiapas, Mexico as part of a Master's degree in TESOL. (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). That summer I went back to Guatemala to work on my thesis studying the Mam language in Todos Santos.
On February 9, 2000 my husband, Gary, and I flew to Guatemala City to meet our infant son, Nicolas, a moment that sparkles forever. He is now an amazing young man, still lighting up my life.
When he was six, in the fall of 2005, Gary and I decided having a Latin American adventure would be good for the whole family, especially Nick. The three of us and our aptly named dog, Rio, climbed into a green Honda Odyssey and made the ten-day trek south to Oaxaca, Mexico. The seed for this book, planted decades earlier, blossomed and thrived in earth of Oaxaca. We rented a house in San Felipe de Agua nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Madres and visited pueblos every weekend. We made many ex-Pat and Mexican friends, ate tons of enchiladas, drove over thousands of topes (speedbumps), attended posadas, and soaked in the colors and textures of this magical city and state. We also volunteered at a Children's Center and for Libros para Pueblos.
Footnote: My mother, in her eighties, had diabetic retinopathy and could no longer read, so every two weeks I sent her tapes describing our journey so she could feel she was with us. When we returned, I transcribed the tapes which became the source for many of the descriptions in this book. LuciaPress is named for her, a lifelong reader and beloved mother. She died on August 25, 2006.
From the Back Cover
Professor Mac, at age 37, find himself jettisoned into an identity crisis. Frankie, a NYC professional dancer, grapples with the spotlight versus settling down and having children. Enrique, a DJ and mechanic, struggles with coming out as a gay man with a hostile father. Immersed in their unique personal dramas, this trio crosses paths in the cobblestone streets and zócalo, or main plaza, of Oaxaca, Mexico.
Together they weave a colorful, complex tapestry of adventure, deceit, discovery, love and pain. Frankie volunteers at an orphanage run by Enrique's uncle. She hopes spending time with children will help her make a decision about family versus performing, but her endeavor is interrupted by an earth-shattering event. Simultaneously, her relationship with a feisty, little girl tugs at her heart as she's forced to reconcile the personal and the professional.
Enrique's father throws him out of his house, and Enrique flees on his motorcycle to Juchitan. There, he meets Marcos and his muxe friends who crack his world wide open. Back in Oaxaca, Enrique's life continues to be woven into Mac and Frankie's in unexpected ways. Mac is on a mission to the pueblo of Lachatao with Frankie as his interpreter, and what he learns there affirms mysterious experiences he's been having and sends him on a quest to Mexico City. As Frankie and Mac get closer, Mac's wife, back in the States, struggles with his newly developing identity and relationships.
When it's time for Mac and Frankie to make their respective trips home, like Enrique, they have changed in fundamental ways. But back in the States, their Oaxacan odyssey continues to reverberate and change the course of their lives.
About the Author
Karen Samuelson is a career/life coach and writer. She has written a play, three screenplays, dramatic scripts for Sunburst Productions in NY, and the Teacher's Guide for episodes of Degrassi Jr. High. She was a quarter-finalist in the Cynosure Screenwriting competition in 2015 and 2016 for her screenplay, Sanctuary. In 1987, she received a Certificate of Recognition from the City of Boston for producing City Roots, a documentary about high school dropouts. In 2018, Arlington Friends of the Drama stage-produced her play, Circling Back. She lives with her husband, son, and dog outside of Boston and spends quiet time in Vermont.
