Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
Audiobook10 hours
The Sons of El Rey
Written by Alex Espinoza
Narrated by Gisela Chipe, Tony Chiroldes, Lee Osorio and André Santana
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
()
About this audiobook
A “masterful…mesmerizing and unflinching” (Patricia Engel, New York Times bestselling author) story about a family of luchadores contending with forbidden love and secrets in Mexico City, Los Angeles, and beyond.
Ernesto Vega has lived many lives, from pig farmer to construction worker to famed luchador El Rey Coyote, yet he has always worn a mask. He was discovered by a local lucha libre trainer at a time when luchadores—Mexican wrestlers donning flamboyant masks and capes—were treated as daredevils or rock stars. Ernesto found fame, rapidly gaining name recognition across Mexico, but at great expense, nearly costing him his marriage to his wife Elena.
Years later, in East Los Angeles, his son, Freddy Vega, is struggling to save his father’s gym while Freddy’s own son, Julian, is searching for professional and romantic fulfillment as a Mexican American gay man refusing to be defined by stereotypes.
With alternating perspectives, Ernesto and Elena take us from the ranches of Michoacán to the makeshift colonias of Mexico City. Freddy describes his life in the suburban streets of 1980s Los Angeles and the community their family built, as Julian descends deep into our present-day culture of hook-up apps, lucha burlesque shows, and the dark underbelly of West Hollywood. The Sons of El Rey is an “epic and transporting novel” (Alejandro Varela, National Book Award finalist and author of The Town of Babylon) of a family wading against time and legacy, yet always choosing the fight.
Ernesto Vega has lived many lives, from pig farmer to construction worker to famed luchador El Rey Coyote, yet he has always worn a mask. He was discovered by a local lucha libre trainer at a time when luchadores—Mexican wrestlers donning flamboyant masks and capes—were treated as daredevils or rock stars. Ernesto found fame, rapidly gaining name recognition across Mexico, but at great expense, nearly costing him his marriage to his wife Elena.
Years later, in East Los Angeles, his son, Freddy Vega, is struggling to save his father’s gym while Freddy’s own son, Julian, is searching for professional and romantic fulfillment as a Mexican American gay man refusing to be defined by stereotypes.
With alternating perspectives, Ernesto and Elena take us from the ranches of Michoacán to the makeshift colonias of Mexico City. Freddy describes his life in the suburban streets of 1980s Los Angeles and the community their family built, as Julian descends deep into our present-day culture of hook-up apps, lucha burlesque shows, and the dark underbelly of West Hollywood. The Sons of El Rey is an “epic and transporting novel” (Alejandro Varela, National Book Award finalist and author of The Town of Babylon) of a family wading against time and legacy, yet always choosing the fight.
Author
Alex Espinoza
Alex Espinoza was born in Tijuana, Mexico, and raised in suburban Los Angeles. He is the author of the novels Still Water Saints and The Five Acts of Diego León, as well as a book of nonfiction, Cruising: An Intimate History of a Radical Pastime. Alex teaches at UC-Riverside where he serves as the Tomás Rivera Endowed Chair of Creative Writing.
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Reviews for The Sons of El Rey
Rating: 4.074074074074074 out of 5 stars
4/5
27 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5This was such an amazing book!!! The secrets that men keep because of misogyny! Lots of emotions!