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First–time novelist Donna M. Gershten was awarded the first Bellwether Prize for
Fiction for KISSING THE VIRGIN'S MOUTH. Founded by novelist Barbara Kingsolver, the prize
is intended to support "a literature of social responsibility." But while
KISSING THE VIRGIN'S MOUTH can be read as a novel about the roles women are expected to
play in both Mexico and the United States, it is perhaps less compelling as a social
statement than it is as the moving story of one woman engaged in a very personal struggle
quite apart from any wider social implications. Indeed, both BETWEEN TWO FIRES and LEAVING
TABASCO are more explicitly books with a message.
None of which is to say that KISSING THE VIRGIN'S MOUTH is a failure. Gershten, who it
should be noted is one of two authors in this survey born neither in Mexico nor in Cuba,
has created a strong narrator in Guadalupe Magdalena Molina Vásquez. Growing up in
extreme poverty in Teatlán, Sinaloa, Mexico, Magda uses her feminine wiles and her sharp
mind to build a new life for herself. Along the way, she also develops a philosophy of
life built upon gratitude, not to any traditional religious figure, but in a more general,
encompassing way, for both the good and the bad she encounters.
The story of Magda's escape and eventual return to Teatlán is told well, but occasionally
too sketchily. For example, for a time after leaving her home, Magda dances in a cage in a
club where she catches the eye of a rich suitor who eventually becomes her first husband.
Rife with opportunities for character development and quality storytelling, this segment
of Magda's life is summed up very briefly, as are several other key moments in the book.
When Gershten does delve deeper into a portion of Magda's life --- her bizarre
relationship with the proprietor of a movie house is the prime example --- she reveals a
talent for characterization and for finding the details that turn a strange tale into a
telling moment. In places, KISSING THE VIRGIN'S MOUTH reads like the outline to a much
deeper story, which Gershten would clearly be able to tell well.
--- Reviewed by Rob Cline
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