Tumble

Because my father died before I was born, and my moth­er did­n’t talk about him much, I would spin up end­less sto­ries for myself about who he was, what he was like, and I even won­dered if he had just dri­ven off and was­n’t real­ly dead.

Tum­ble by Celia C. Pérez awak­ened mem­o­ries of those con­ver­sa­tions with myself. As I grew old­er and my moth­er was bet­ter able to cope with her grief, I learned more about my father, but my curios­i­ty was end­less. I found Ade­la’s search for her mys­te­ri­ous father res­o­nant and fascinating.

Ade­la’s in the midst of a lov­ing fam­i­ly. Her step­fa­ther Alex wants to adopt her but the law in New Mex­i­co is that the birth father must give up parental rights before that can hap­pen. This both­ers Addie a great deal. She feels com­pelled to find her father, to let him know her before he makes that decision.

It’s a chal­leng­ing search for Addie, but she learns that her father is part of a famous luchador fam­i­ly. Those of us in the north­ern climes may not be famil­iar with this Mex­i­can freestyle wrestling form, lucha libre, but it is much beloved in Mex­i­co and the US bor­der states.

Luchadores wear col­or­ful masks, which is fit­ting for this sto­ry, because so much is hid­den from Addie.

Why has her moth­er not told Addie about her father? Why has her father’s fam­i­ly not sought her out?

This is a page-turn­er. Pérez keeps things live­ly. There are a pletho­ra of unex­pect­ed sto­ry devel­op­ments. We come to care deeply for the char­ac­ters, none of whom are stock in any way. Even if you are not a fan of wrestling, there is so much charis­ma in her writ­ing that you’ll become a fan.

High­ly recommended.