Paired Lives, Writing the Child, and Religious Flotsam and Jetsam

Lucky Boy is a story of pairs. Soli and Kavya, Rishi and Checo, Preeti and Silvia, the documented and the undocumented, the birth mother and the foster mother, all circulating around Nacho, Iggy, Ignacio El Viento Castro Valdez, the lucky boy. Indeed, the book’s two parts are Soli and Kavya, the two mothers who love Ignacio. What I appreciate most about the construction of these pairs of individuals who seem to be on opposing sides of Ignacio’s life is the way I can’t seem to settle myself on a “right” side or “wrong” side. The situation is complex enough to make me question my feelings re every character. It’s hard to completely love any of these deeply flawed characters, but it is also impossible to root against any of them in the way I would a villain. Sekaran sets up the world as the villain, the structures that create the complex situation in which all the characters act in ways that are rash, kind, frustrating, and compelling. 

The story is told from two perspectives: Soli and Kavya. Though perhaps this characterization is a bit simplistic because we do get moments with Rishi’s interior, too. I was interested in the construction of the book with two parts and two perspectives, but an alternating structure of chapters within the larger structure of the book. I appreciated that the alternating chapters were not one for one. It felt like there were specific pieces of the story that needed to be told from either Soli or Kavya and a perfect balance was not pushed. 

I love the way Sekaran renders Ignacio as a child. When Kavya and Rishi first meet Ignacio, for example, on page 237, the description of Ignacio is enough to help us understand Ignacio’s personality, but not too much. I think I’ve been struggling with this kind of balance lately in my work. How much detail is too much? What specific details do I choose? How do I make them stand out? And I think with children in particular it can be difficult not to overdo it or make the descriptions too cutesy. I think the characterization of Ignacio throughout the book helped me understand the mothers and the boy much better. 

Last quick point: the religious imagery kept reappearing throughout the book, but wasn’t heavy handed. Santa Clara, the patron saint of television and blindness was an obscure choice for saints, but I think this made it memorable. At the beginning of chapter 60, the language mimics the biblical story of creation as Soli is creating a new life for her and Ignacio. I thought this was a particularly artful use of language to create a weighty tone, to impose great significance on Soli winning back Ignacio’s trust.