(Sirias's) novel succeeds... By demonstrating the magic in everyday rural Nicaragua, this tale of religious mysticism is elevated from the unattainable buried headline--"villagers see image of Virgin Mary"--to a story of faith, politics, love, and loss, which we all can understand.
Rain Taxi-- Review of Books
(W)hat we come away with in the end is an understanding of Nicaraguans during the latter part of the twentieth century: their sufferings and longings, their losses and hopes, their mysticism and bawdiness, their idealism and resignation. The author writes that he hopes to “give readers some insight into what it has meant to be a Nicaraguan during such tumultuous times.” In this entertaining and moving novel, he has done so splendidly.
Sioux City Journal
...(A) gem... The beauty of Bernardo and the Virgin is Sirias’ seriousness in his approach to the subject matter. He takes the apparitions and surrounding tales—including miracles reported—at face value. And he imbues these tales with the faith and love one would expect from a visionary without degenerating into pietistic platitudes... God works in mysterious ways. Bernardo, in real life or in fiction, is testament to that.
Today's Catholic
In the book, Bernardo and the Virgin, Silvio Sirias tells Bernardo Martinez’s story in a unique and refreshing way... The prose is fluid and allows the reader to have fun with the pages... The story is not only about Bernardo, but explores the faith and passion of the Nicaraguan people themselves—from their entertaining superstitions and rituals, their passion for la Virgencita and the Catholic faith, their desire for a better life and the romantic yet unfulfilled notions of the Sandinista Revolution and what it would bring to a people too long silenced and repressed by a cruel dictatorship. Bernardo and the Virgin is ultimately about goodness—goodness that in the end will triumph over evil. Bravo Silvio!
The Scruffy Dog Review
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Silvio Sirias is the author of Bernardo and the Virgin. He has recently completed his second novel, Meet Me Under the Ceiba and has begun work on a third, tentatively titled The Saint of Santa Fe. A late bloomer in the writing of fiction, Sirias previously wrote and edited several books on Latino and Latina literature including Julia Alvarez: A Critical Companion, Conversations with Rudolfo Anaya, and Tropical Town and Other Poems.
Sirias was born in Los Angeles, California and grew up there until the age of eleven, when his family moved to Granada, Nicaragua, his parents’ country of origin. He considers this move the most significant milestone in his life as it shaped his bicultural and bilingual outlook on life. He returned to Los Angeles to attend college. Eventually, he received his doctorate in Spanish from the University of Arizona and worked as a professor of Spanish and U.S. Latino and Latina literature for several years before returning to live in Nicaragua in 1999.
He moved to Panama in 2002 where he currently lives with his wife and their dog, parrot, four cats, and rapidly multiplying love birds. |
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