My Mother Cursed My Name Book Review: A Magical Realism Novel About Generational Trauma
My Mother Cursed My Name by Anamely Salgado Reyes is a debut novel that explores three generations of strong Mexican American women: Olvido, Angustias, and Felicitas. Blending magical realism, women’s fiction, and family drama, the novel examines generational trauma, grief, identity, and the power of names. Set near the U.S.–Mexico border, the story follows a grandmother’s ghost who meddles in her living family’s life from beyond the grave.
Book Overview: What My Mother Cursed My Name Is About
The novel opens with the history of the Olivares women, dating back to 1917, when Justa Olivares named her daughter Calamidades. Justa believed hardship built character and if she suffered, her daughter should too.
“For generations, the women in the Olivares family attempted to change the course of destiny through the power of names.”
Fast forward to Oakville, Arkansas, where Angustias abruptly pulls her ten-year-old daughter Felicitas out of school to leave town once again. On the road, Felicitas speaks with a mysterious intruder as they head to Grace, Texas, Angustias’ hometown, where her mother Olvido has just died.
The intruder is Olvido herself. Felicitas has the ability to see ghosts, allowing Olvido to linger. Convinced she cannot cross over without resolving unfinished business, Olvido insists on “fixing” Angustias’ life, including her family, career, faith, and future, by working through Felicitas.
Felicitas, who never knew her grandmother, agrees to help in hopes of understanding her. Meanwhile, Angustias, grieving and eager to leave Texas behind, is baffled when the town suddenly rallies around her offering jobs, matchmaking, and church invitations.
Each woman possesses a unique gift: Felicitas sees ghosts, Angustias sees people’s auras, and Olvido draws confessions from others through her cooking. Ultimately, they must learn how to truly listen to one another.
Review: Themes of Generational Trauma, Identity, and Motherhood
My Mother Cursed My Name is a haunting and intimate novel about inherited trauma, unresolved love, and the weight of family expectations. It asks a central question: how much of our destiny is decided before we are born?
The story alternates between Olvido, her daughter Angustias, and her granddaughter Felicitas, revealing how control, often disguised as protection, damages relationships. Olvido’s belief that names determine fate casts a long shadow across generations.
When Angustias becomes pregnant as a teenager, her choice to leave home feels both reckless and necessary, a desperate act of self-preservation. Years later, Felicitas’ attempt to connect with her grandmother delivers a darkly ironic truth: although Olvido is dead, her influence remains powerful.
Reyes’s prose is restrained, vivid, and poetic:
“Between the humidity and the running, her hair has tangled in multiple places as if various birds fought to make a nest on her head.”
Blending emotional realism with a subtle gothic tone, the novel uses death as a metaphor for estrangement and healing. My Mother Cursed My Name is ultimately a poignant exploration of motherhood, resentment, cultural inheritance, and the difficult work of breaking cycles we inherit without consent.
Readers who enjoy Latina literature, magical realism novels, and women’s fiction about family and identity will find this story heartwarming and thought-provoking.
“If only mistakes could anchor Angustias without drowning her, she wouldn’t be so determined on sailing the unknown sea.”
About the Author: Anamely Salgado Reyes
Anamely Salgado Reyes grew up on both sides of the Mexico–Texas border. Now based in the Rio Grande Valley, she writes stories rooted in family, friendship, culture, and the quiet magic found in everyday life.
SA Examiner 