The Five Acts of Diego León

by Alex Espinoza

Overview

Growing up in a rural village at the height of the Mexican Revolution, Diego León has many first loves: singing, dancing, and hearing the stories of his ancestors, the P’urhépecha. But when tragedy strikes, young Diego is sent to the city to live with his white, aristocratic grandparents, who insist he forget his roots and groom him to take over the family business. Under pressure to enter a profession—and a life—he cares nothing for, and haunted by the violence once again erupting all around him, Diego flees his war-torn country to forge his own destiny. Diego arrives in Hollywood in 1927, when silent films are giving way to talkies, Prohibition is in full swing, and “Latin lover” types are sought out even as they are looked down upon. Working his way up in the movie business with talent and ingenuity, Diego soon figures out that getting one’s face on the silver screen has as much to do with what goes on behind the camera as what goes on in front of it. But the closer Diego comes to stardom, the more he finds that the past is not so easily escaped, as he is drawn again and again to the painful legacy of history and the wounds of his homeland. A sweeping, sensual novel of love, ambition, and identity, The Five Acts of Diego León bears all the marks of a classic Hollywood story: romance, betrayal, glamour, and an underdog hero to root for till the end.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781940660585
Publisher:	Los Angeles Review of Books
Publication date:	02/18/2020
Series:	LARB Libros
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	259,696
Product dimensions:	5.00(w) x 8.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Alex Espinoza was born in Tijuana, Mexico. He came to the United States with his family at the age of two and grew up in suburban Los Angeles. Author of the novel Still Water Saints, he received an MFA from the University of California, Irvine. A recipient of the Margaret Bridgman Fellowship in Fiction at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Espinoza is currently an associate professor of English at California State University, Fresno.

What People are Saying About This

Author of The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love - Oscar Hijuelos

With its colorful narrative and historic sweep, The Five Acts of Diego León has both a story line and characters that a wide readership will surely enjoy.

Author of Canícula and Cabañuela - Norma Cantú

The Five Acts of Diego León highlights the dilemma many young folks face: whether to do what family and society expects or to be free and follow a dream. Hollywood beckons and the protagonist of this engaging narrative follows, only to arrive at an unjust world of racism where everyone gets ahead by stepping on someone else. Espinoza’s deft and masterful storytelling leads readers along a path from Mexico before the Mexican Revolution to the Golden Age of Hollywood film culture where the protagonist Diego León finds his American dream isn’t at all what he expected. León must follow his heart, but is it worth going against all that he has built in his grandparents’ home? Is it worth forgetting his father’s indigenous culture? Will making it in Hollywood be all that he imagines?

Author of Canicula and Cabanuela - Norma Cantú

The Five Acts of Diego León highlights the dilemma many young folks face: whether to do what family and society expects or to be free and follow a dream. Hollywood beckons and the protagonist of this engaging narrative follows, only to arrive at an unjust world of racism where everyone gets ahead by stepping on someone else.

Espinoza’s deft and masterful storytelling leads readers along a path from Mexico before the Mexican Revolution to the Golden Age of Hollywood film culture where the protagonist Diego León finds his American dream isn’t at all what he expected. León must follow his heart, but is it worth going against all that he has built in his grandparents’ home? Is it worth forgetting his father’s indigenous culture? Will making it in Hollywood be all that he imagines?

Author of The Hummingbird’s Daughter - Luis Alberto Urrea

Fresh, surprising, and delightful. There is nowhere this gifted writer can’t go.

Interviews

A story that begins in revolutionary Mexico and travels to Hollywood during the film industry’s transition from silent films to talkies, The Five Acts of Diego León breaks greater silences—taboos of race and sexuality, of reinvention and assimilation—in a fantasy called Hollywoodland.

Editorial Reviews

Excellent….[The Five Acts of Diego León] has many of the elements of the classic Hollywood novel, but works on a much larger canvas.

From the Publisher