The Five Wounds

"I read this book months ago, and I still think about the opening – in which unemployed and floundering Amadeo ponders his role as Jesus in his town’s Good Friday procession. He takes the job, arguably, too seriously. The end result involves a nail gun and trip to the emergency room. From there, we spend a year with Amadeo and his family as they try to hold it together in fictional Las Penas, N.M.; through a teen pregnancy, cancer and the launch of a doomed windshield repair business. Kirstin Valdez Quade’s debut novel is often funny, but it doesn’t hesitate to dive into the darkest corners of family life either. Quade weaves the stories of several family members, plus friends and lovers, together easily. You end up feeling like you’ve known them all, and their often messy and beautiful dynamics, forever."

"The novel's hapless protagonist has set his hopes for a new life on a windshield repair kit that he believes will launch him into the heady ranks of the gainfully self-employed."