Caramelo chapters(page numbers refer to 2002 Alfred A. Knopf hardcover edition in English) | |||||||
| part | chapter | pages | title | description | footnotes | songs | |
| 0 | 0-0 | Disclaimer, or I don't want her, you can have her, she's too hocicona for me | "I have invented what I do not know." | ||||
| 1 | 3-4 | Recuerdo de Acapulco | Family photo taken in Acapulco. Why is LALA missing? | "Maria Bonita" by Augustin Lara, sung by composer (p 3) | |||
| 1 | 01 | 5-5 | Verde, Blanco y Colorado | Three cars racing. | |||
| 1 | 02 | 6-9 | Chillante | FATFACE and LICHA collect stuff to sell on the trip to Mexico. Reyes brothers plan to spend summer in Mexico City. They've quit their jobs at L.L. Fish. | Maxwell Street | ||
| 1 | 03 | 10-15 | Que Elegante | FATFACE and LICHA's house in Chicago, their arguments. BABY and NINFA's "elegant" house. LALA's house. Stuff. | dialog of telenovela | "Por un amor" Parra Gilberto (recorded by Lola Beltran) "Exodus," "Never on Sunday," "Moon River" sung by Andy Williams | |
| 1 | 04 | 16-18 | Mexico Next Right | Crossing the border US to Mexico. Kids singing songs. Words for things change at border. | "Moon Men Mambo," "Yogi Bear Song," ACRYLAN jingle, Norge jingle, CocoWheats jingle (p 16) | ||
| 1 | 05 | 19-21 | Mexico, Our Nearest Neighbor to the South | Giving away the kids' toys to poor Mexican children. | |||
| 1 | 06 | 22-24 | Queretaro | LALA remembers getting her hair cut. | |||
| 1 | 07 | 25-26 | La Capirucha | Nearing Mexico City. Arriving. AG with rebozo de bolita like the X at the map's end. | |||
| 1 | 08 | 27-30 | Tarzan | The children are introduced. Adults' nicknames are explained. | Cri-Cri | Cri-Cri records | |
| 1 | 09 | 31-33 | Aunty Light-Skin | Morning: LIGHTSKIN is introduced. Aunts speculate on her morals. VIDAURI picks her up. | |||
| 1 | 10 | 34-37 | The Girl Cadelaria | CANDE is introduced. Caramel color skin. A contest to see who can make themselves cry like actrresses on telenovelas. Game of "It" to glimpse CANDE's underpants. LALA catches lice from CANDE. | "mate rile rile ron" | ||
| 1 | 11 | 38-45 | A Silk Shawl, a Key, a Spiraling Coin | INO wants to buy a redbozo for LALA. AG protests. Commando raid on AG and LG's bedroom. LG inspects the "troops" | pillow embroidered with piropos | ||
| 1 | 12 | 46-49 | The Little Mornings | AG's personality. About INO's birthday. Workman have been replastering the dining roon. Seradade -- ZOILA is humiliated. | "Las Mananitas" as sung by Pedro Infante | ||
| 1 | 13 | 50-62 | Ninos y Borrachos | INO's birthday party. COOCHI plays. Mole dinner. Brothers prank on AA. LG shows LALA the walnut armoire. El ropero. Story of Prince Popo and Princess Iztaccihuatl. LALA sings. Adults dancing. LALA discovers plaster has fallen. Adults argue. LALA pines for own room COOCHI has promised. | "La Petenera" "Pretty Baby" by Van Alstyne, Jackson, Kahn (p 59) | ||
| 1 | 14 | 63-63 | Fotonovelas | AG spoils INO with photonovelas. | favorite photonovela titles | ||
| 1 | 15 | 64-66 | Cinderella | ZOILA takes LALA out to lunch. | Jorge Negrete singing a sad song | ||
| 1 | 16 | 67-70 | El Destino Es el Destino | CANDE is hired. INO's family packs up for Acapulco. | |||
| 1 | 17 | 71-72 | Green Rice | Road to Acapulco | |||
| 1 | 18 | 73-75 | La Casita de Catita | CATITA and her FATDAUGHTER. | |||
| 1 | 19 | 76-78 | Un Recuerdo | Beach. Photo is taken. CANDE weaves flower for LALA. CANDE almost downs. | |||
| 1 | 20 | 79-86 | Echando Palabras | CANDE is put on bus. Boat excursion. Pirate photographer. ZOILA rebels. ZOILA makes scene in streets. | |||
| 2 | 89-89 | When I Was Dirt | What "before I was dirt" means. | ||||
| 2 | 21 | 91-96 | So Her My History Begins for Your Good Understanding and My Poor Telling | SOLEDAD is AG. Village of rebozo weavers. | Empress Carlota rebozos | ||
| 2 | 22 | 97-102 | Sin Madre, Sin Padre, Sin Pero Que Me Ladre | AG works for FINA. Telenovela title: "I Am So Alone" Destiny: LG | Ambrosio Reyes | ||
| 2 | 23 | 103-110 | A Man Ugly, Strong, and Proper or Narciso Reyes, You Are My Destiny | AG meets the handsome cadet LG. | "Waltz Without a Name" | ||
| 2 | 24 | 111-117 | Leandro Valle Street, Corner of Misericordia, Over by Santo Domingo | AG works for REYES DE CASTILLO family. GHOST interrupts narrative. | Regina becomes La Senora Reyes Lola Alvarez Bravo's quote | ||
| 2 | 25 | 118-123 | God Squeezes | GHOST narrates, her happiness with LG | A Waltz Without a Name Enrique Cisneros Vasquez wrote song | ||
| 2 | 26 | 124-126 | Some Order, Some Progress, But Not Enough of Either | LALA berates GHOST for leaving out political events. | Pedro Infante movie "Los tres Garcia" | ||
| 2 | 27 | 127-132 | How Narciso Loses Three of His Ribs During the Ten Tragic Days | ELEU and REGINA in siege. Bosendorfer piano. LG has adventure. | |||
| 2 | 28 | 133-136 | Nothing But Story | War | Woodrow Wilson history | ||
| 2 | 29 | 137-142 | Trochemoche | LG lives with OLD in Chicago. LG meets BAKER | imigration the Charleston | ||
| 2 | 30 | 143-144 | A Poco -- You're Kidding | ELEU has stroke. | |||
| 2 | 31 | 145-147 | The Feet of Narciso Reyes | LG returns to Mexico City. AG nurses him. | |||
| 2 | 32 | 148-152 | The World Does Not Understand Eleuterio Reyes | ELEU lives with stroke. REGINA prospers as black marketeer. | Zapata | ||
| 2 | 33 | 153-154 | Cuidate | AG gets pregnant | |||
| 2 | 34 | 155-159 | How Narciso Falls into Disrepute Due to Sins of the Dangler | ELEU thinks a lecture to his son LG. | Clacker -- Ring of the Dove, Ibn Hazm | ||
| 2 | 35 | 160-163 | The Detour That Turns Out to be One' s Destiny | ELEU's past -- Flees to Mexico City after witnessing murder. | editble plate -- tortilla | ||
| 2 | 36 | 164-167 | We Are Not Dogs | LG's farewell party. ELEU speaks: We are not dogs! LG marries AG. | |||
| 2 | 37 | 168-173 | Esa Tal por Cual | 1922 San Mateo. AG is pregnant, semi-abandoned in boarding house while LG works. LG falls in love with EXALT, who cures his eye infection. AG's ghost complains to LALA. | "La Zandunga" | ||
| 2 | 38 | 174-181 | Pobre de Mi! | Circus with PANFILA comes to town. LADYPHOTOG takes photo of LG and EXALT. EXALT runs away with PANFILA. | Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Porfirio Diaz has railroad built to his lover's house. Pre-Panama route to San Francisco Singer Panfila Palafox | ||
| 2 | 39 | 182-187 | Tanta Miseria | AG is jealous because of half-photograph, seeks advice from TAMALVEND | "Jurame," Maria Grever, 1927 recording by Jose Mojica "the Mexican Valentino" (p 182) | ||
| 2 | 40 | 188-191 | I Ask la Virgen to Guide Me Because I Don't Know What to Do | GHOST complains. AG suffers through pregnancy and jealousy, desires Manila mangos, names baby INO. | |||
| 2 | 41 | 192-195 | The Shameless Shameness, the Wise Witch Woman Maria Sabina | Village MAYOR sends LG to see witch woman SABINA. LG journeys to wild part of Oaxaca. "God is an immense cloth that contains the universe." Witch advises him to forget EXALT. LG supresses the memory until moment of his death, reading bumper of car full of brooms | Maria Sabina, hallucinatory mushrooms., famous visitors during LSD era. | ||
| 2 | 42 | 196-197 | Born Under a Star | INO is born. AG falls in love with her son. | |||
| 2 | 43 | 198-200 | El Sufrido | Mexico City, 1930s. INO is a dreamer, raised on lies about family's wealth before the revolution. | |||
| 2 | 44 | 201-204 | Chuchuluco de Mis Amores | GHOST pleads for a love scene. LG gets fat on candy, nursing his secret love. | |||
| 2 | 45 | 205-207 | 'Orita Vuelvo | GHOST complains of LALA's torture. LG neglects his children, runs off FATFACE to become vagabond in U.S. INO fails in school, leaves to join FATFACE and OLD in Chicago. | Escuadron 201, Mexican fighter pilots, help MacArthur in Philippines. Book: Salon Mexico by Indio Fernandez. | ||
| 2 | 46 | 208-209 | Spic Spanish? | INO learns polite English phrases. Barbarity of English compared to Spanish. | |||
| 2 | 47 | 210-211 | He Who is Destined to Be a Tamale | INO's jobs in U.S. Becomes servant to Mr. and Mrs. Dick, feels like royalty. | |||
| 2 | 48 | 212-213 | Cada Quien en Su Oficio Es Rey | INO learns the upholstery trade at the shop of late OLD, now run by his son SNAKE. | |||
| 2 | 49 | 214-221 | Piensa en Mi | 1945. INO, caught up in a soccer match riot, is jailed overnight and meets ventriloquist WENCES, also jailed in a mishap.INO enlists to become a citizen. | Ventriloquist Wenceslao Moreno, aka Senor Wences. | Piensa en Mi by Maria Teresa Lara (p 218) | |
| 2 | 50 | 222-230 | Neither with You Nor Without You | ZOILA meets Private INO at a dance hall. Her romance with ENRIQUE Aragon | Historia of "pretty man" Enrique Aragon: fortune built on theft of Caranza's treasury Gladys Vasconcelos, love of Fidel Castro | ||
| 2 | 51 | 231-232 | All Parts from Mexico, Assembled in the U.S.A. or I Am Born | LALA is born. ZOILA names her Celaya in spite of INO wanting to name her Leticia. He relents when he overhears the name is "pretty enough for a telenovela." INO flies the baby to Mexico City to show to AG who knows she's been displaced in his affection. | translation: Another dame! Now how am I going to take care of this one? translation of translation: How am I going to protect her from men like me? | ||
| 3 | 235-235 | The Eagle and the Serpent, or My Mother and My Father | ZOILA and INO's long-smoldering fight over his mother is compared to Mexican symbolism of eagle and serpent. | ||||
| 3 | 52 | 237-248 | Cielito Lindo | Car trip from Mexico City with AG and her belongings in van from Reyes brothers' upholstery business. Toto is 197 in the draft lottery. Flashback to packing up Mexico City house -- fight between AG and LIGHTSKIN. In the van: windblown dialog about LALA's ugly-duckling looks, INO's war stories; difference between "cuento" and "historia" | Vietnam-era draft lottery Comic book "La Familia Burron" by Gabriel Vargas Zoila burns her magazines, begins reading politics | "Cielito Lindo" (p 237) | |
| 3 | 53 | 249-254 | El Otro Lado | LG's death behind broom truck. LALA and INO fly to attend funeral. AG makes scene at funeral. AG sells house. AG's sense of loss. The caramelo rebozo. | |||
| 3 | 54 | 255-263 | Exquisite Tamales | Packing up the house. LIGHTSKIN's complaint. LALA wants a balloon and a bra, goes shopping for tamales with AG. Getting onto a bus, a stranger calls LALA "la senorita". LALA has her first period. AG makes her use cotton. LIGHTSKIN sympathizes. LALA, alone shopping for balloon, sees drunk exposing himself, and runs home frightened. AG and AL have fight. | |||
| 3 | 55 | 264-275 | The Man Whose Name No One Is Allowed to Mention | Bedtime, LALA and LIGHTSKIN sharing a bedroom, LIGHTSKIN tells story of her romance with AA's father, NONAME, meeting TONGO, heartbreak. | Cafe Tacuba | "Veracruz" sung by Tona la Negra (p 265) | |
| 3 | 56 | 276-281 | The Man from Mars | In the van, crossing from Mexico to U.S. AG sings and rhapsodizes over Manila mangos. Becomes story she's telling MARS, INO's army buddy, in San Antonio. Story of how they met. ZOILA retreats and smoke cigarette. MARS advises buying real estate. | |||
| 3 | 57 | 282-285 | Birds Without a Nest | AG imagines putting personal ad in San Antonio newspaper. | |||
| 3 | 58 | 286-293 | My Kind of Town | AG's unhappiness living in Chicago at BABY and NINFA's apartment. Struggling upholstery business. Brothers argue over business. Chicago winter, spring. | |||
| 3 | 59 | 294-298 | Dirt | Maxwell Street fleamarket. INO shops for shoes at HAROLD's | Taquitos de Pine-Sol Ubiquitous Mexican mop | ||
| 3 | 60 | 299-307 | When an Elephant Sits on Your Roof | INO phones with news he's bought a house in San Antonio with money loaned by AG. Older sons will stay in Chicago. INO on education: "Use your head, not your hands" scaring with his leathery palms. Memory of Chicago apartments. Reyes brothers argue over AG's loan. Move to San Antonio. LALA's disappointment over house. | INO and ZOILA's nicknames for each other -- mijo, mama | ||
| 3 | 61 | 308-310 | Very Nice and Kind, Just Like You | LALA and ZOILA clean shop and house INO's politeness (and lies) to customers. LALA drowns out parents' bickering with Supremes. | "Stop, In the Name of Love" The Supremes | ||
| 3 | 62 | 311-317 | A Godless Woman, My Mother | ZOILA's cynicism about religion. AG's framed Virgen de Guadalupe. Brothers go to Resurrection High School. LALA wants to go to public school. Calendar of El Rapto. Fighting bugs and mice. LALA sleeps in living room., AG in what was supposed to be her room. LALA's funkadelics. "Sleep with the fat angels." | El rapto, film by el Indio Fernandez starring Maria Felix and gore Negrete 1954 Raquel Welsh (Raquel Tejada) | Fifth Dimension "Up, Up and Away" "Aquarius" "Es Verdad" poem by Federico Garcia Lorca (p 318) | |
| 3 | 63 | 316-323 | God Gives Almonds | INO gets LALA a job working for priests. Mrs. SIKORSKI, TRACY, and Father GINTER. LALA quits the job. | |||
| 3 | 64 | 324-325 | Sister Oh | Immaculate Conception high school. SISTER ODILIA's sex rap sessions. VIVA OZUNA | "Bridge over Troubled Waters" "Godspell" "Jesus Christ Superstar" "Suzanne" by Leonard Cohen | ||
| 3 | 65 | 326-330 | Body Like a Raisinette | VIVA flirts with teacher ZORRO. Dinner at VIVA's house. ZORRO cruises VIVA in his red Corvette. | Janis Joplin | ||
| 3 | 66 | 331-335 | Nobody but Us Chickens | Cold day in San Antonio. INO and AG shouting about TV channels. LALA reads Cleopatra biography. Tampons. Noise in the house. AG has stroke. Firemen come. | Maria Victoria, Mexican entertainer Libertad Lamarque, Argentine singer and film star | ||
| 3 | 67 | 336-340 | The Vogue | VIVA and LALA go shopping and shoplifting. | |||
| 3 | 68 | 341-343 | My Cross | ZOILA resentfully nurses AG after her stroke. ZOILA's moment of considering ridding herself of AG. | |||
| 3 | 69 | 344-346 | Zorro Strikes Again | VIVA plans to elope with ZORRO. "You're the author of the telenovela of your life." | |||
| 3 | 70 | 347-348 | Becoming Invisible | AG "shedding her body." Remembering lying in the sea. | |||
| 3 | 71 | 349-350 | The Great Divide, or This Side and That | AG dies. Stink of rotten barbacoa. Memory of ZOILA craving pork chop sandwich after LALA's birth. | |||
| 3 | 72 | 351-357 | Mexican on Both Sides, or Metiche, Mirona, Mitotera, Hocicona -- en Otras Plabras, Cuentista -- Busybody, Ogler, Liar/Gossip/Troublemaker, Big-Mouth -- in Other Words, Storyteller | "Hard spell" of belt-tightening. LALA transfers to Davy Crockett public vocational school. No "Mexican" look. LALA invents royal history for herself and makes enemies. "Talk is all I've got going for me." Run-in at Salvation Army with COOKIE Cantu. Clique attacks LALA at interstate. GHOST talks to LALA in median. | |||
| 3 | 73 | 358-358 | Saint Anthony | INO works hard. Orange La-Z-Boy. | |||
| 3 | 74 | 359-360 | Everythng a Nina Could Want | INO can't understand LALA's wanting to be alone, her ambitions, like "girls who aren't Mexican." | |||
| 3 | 75 | 361-364 | The Rapture | TOTO enlists. GHOST haunts LALA. LALA focuses on El Rapto calendar illustration. ZOILA berates LALA for being depressed. | |||
| 3 | 76 | 365-367 | Parece Mentira | LALA meets ERNIE, the safe boy. Serenade under falling stars. LALA christens him Ernesto. | |||
| 3 | 77 | 368-371 | On the Verge of Laughable | Like El Rapto, ERNIE rescues LALA. GHOST appears when they're at the movies. "He's cool and handsome... to me." | |||
| 3 | 78 | 372-378 | Someday My Prince Popocatepetl Will Come | ERNIE will ask permission to marry LALA. INO has run-in with the INS. Frantic search for his papers. ERNIE's proposal postponed. | |||
| 3 | 79 | 379-380 | Halfway Between Here and There, in the Middle of Nowhere | INO fights with MARS over INS -- Reyes family is "going home." | |||
| 3 | 80 | 381-390 | Zocalo | LALA and ERNIE run away to Hotel Majestic, Room 606, in Mexico City. LALA has claimed the caramelo rebozo. Mysterious man in street. Morning noises of the Zocalo. Plaster angel. ERNIE has religious crisis, leaves. LALA wanders Mexico City in rebozo. "The universe is a cloth, all humanity interwoven." LALA calls home. | |||
| 3 | 81 | 391-395 | My Disgrace | CHOOCHI takes LALA to his home. AL's dream about handkerchiefs. Memory of INO walking LALA to school. AG's face in the mirror. MEMO and INO come to collect LALA. | |||
| 3 | 82 | 396-401 | The King of Plastic Covers | Chicago Reyes brothers upholstery business prospers. RAFA marries ZDENKA. INO and ZOILA are landlords. LALA's "abduction" is painfully ignored. INO lowers rent. Dinnertime, INO doesn't respond. | "Think About Your Troubles," Harry Nilsson (p 369) | ||
| 3 | 83 | 402-409 | A Scene in a Hospital That Resembles a Telenovela When in Actuality It's the Telenovelas That Resemble This Scene* | INO's in intensive care. ZOILA tells LALA that CANDE is her half sister. GHOST hovers over INO's hospital bed. LALA agrees to help GHOST cross over in exchange for INO's life. | telenovelas | ||
| 3 | 84 | 410-412 | No Worth the Money But They Help a Lot | INO recovering in hospital. His earliest memory: firing squad execution. Sons have agreed to start upholstery business. | |||
| 3 | 85 | 413-416 | Mi Aniversario | INO recovering at home, arranging 30th anniversary party. | |||
| 3 | 86 | 417-430 | The Children and Grandchildren of Zoila and Inocencio Reyes Cordially Invite You to Celebrate Thirty Years of Marriage | Anniversary party at Postal Workers' Union Hall. Family dressed up. LALA in caramelo rebozo. Mariachis and dancing. | |||
| 4 | 433-434 | Pilon | A final gift. Memories of a small girl. | ||||
| 5 | 435-439 | Chronology | Historical events | ||||
| 6 | 443-446 | Acknowledgements | Acknowledgements and permissions acknowledgements. | ||||