Pillars of Creation: A Quest for the Great Name in a Nietzschean World

by

Carlos Nicolás Flores

Absorbing, eye-opening, and unique storytelling.

Pillars of Creation: A Quest for the Great Name in a Nietzschean World by Carlos Nicolás Flores is one of the most unique storytelling experiences I’ve had in a while and one that I wish I could have over and over again. Told through the little-used second-person narration (using “you” and addressing the reader directly), the author crafts the mesmerizing story of young Yoltic Cortez and his life on the Texas-Mexico border in the colonia of Cuatro Vientos. It is an unputdownable tale of poverty, dual identities, but also hope. 

At the beginning of the story, Yoltic is living an aimless life, in a holding pattern since his father, whom he lived with, was placed in a nursing facility in Nuevo Escandón on the Mexican side of the border, after suffering a stroke. While he continues to work at his job at the local Walmart and visits his father regularly, he longs to be a writer, but a growing addiction to Tezca has opened his mind to surreal visions and buried his initiative to write and handle the day-to-day necessities of life, such as maintaining the home his parents built with their own hands. However, a chance meeting with a young woman escaping the cartel danger at her grandfather’s ranch in Mexico slowly expands his world. 

The story prominently presents the border setting, lifestyle, and living conditions as a character in itself; the residents are so completely a part of where they live. Each word, each descriptive phrase is meticulously chosen to create unforgettably vivid images and an evocative atmosphere of this distinct location and its circumstances. I was completely drawn into the narrative and struck by how the characters were simultaneously a part of, or torn between, two worlds: the American and the Mexican. I know will be continuing to think about this book for quite a while to come. 

I recommend PILLARS OF CREATION to readers of literary fiction and coming-of-age stories, especially those interested in Texas border settings. 

I voluntarily reviewed this after receiving an Advance Review Copy from the author through Lone Star Literary Life Book Campaigns.