Ander & Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa

Abstract

Reviewed by: Ander & Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa Adam McConville Villa, Jonny Garza Ander & Santi Were Here. Wednesday/St. Martin’s, 2023 [368p] Trade ed. ISBN 9781250843999 $18.99 E-book ed. ISBN 9781250844002 $10.99 Reviewed from digital galleys R Gr. 9-12 After delaying their start at a prestigious art college and disappointing their supportive and loving family in the process, eighteen-year-old gay, non-binary Ander Martinez is spending the year painting murals on commission around their San Antonio neighborhood. Their future plans get even more upended, though, when they meet and quickly fall in love with Santi, the new employee at their family’s taqueria. Sunny days and warm Texas nights full of art and heady romance soon follow. But the ever-present threat of Santi’s undocumented status casts a long, cold shadow. Soon Ander is forced to face a future without Santi and the realities of immigration that their art can represent but not undo. What could be a heart-wrenching story of lovers parted by borders and racist social policies is made softer and lighter by the surrounding tale of new love, life-long friendships, and a strong, caring family. Ander and Santi’s sex-positive romance give readers a passionate relationship to root for, but there’s also a deeply individual story here, as Ander’s artist-self wrestles to celebrate their culture and heritage without having their art be defined by it. Narrated in first-person by Ander, with prose both playful and emotionally wrought, the text also employs plenty of dual language dialogue that nevertheless won’t lose a reader unfamiliar with Spanish. Final chapters are tense, as the threats of deportation and permanent separation loom, but the bulk of the novel is light on plot and heavy on sentiment and rumination, making this perfect for readers who want a character-driven tale as thoughtful as it is thought-provoking. Copyright © 2023 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois