La Perdida is the story of Carla Olivares, a young American of Mexican descent, and her life in Mexico City for one year as an expatriate. The book was originally self-published in episodes, but this does not hinder the tale from reading smoothly, nor does it hinder the impact of Abel's themes of isolation, cultural identity and friendship.
Carla is searching for some sense of belonging, having habitually been an outsider. On a whim she decides to visit an ex-boyfriend of hers, Hamilton Powell (Harry), who has been living in Mexico City. She has only a few hundred dollars, no visa, and even though her father is Mexican, she barely speaks Spanish. Olivares moves in with Harry, and at first experiences Mexico City from an outsider's perspective. Carla spends her days in museums, strolling through the city, admiring the stomping grounds of one her biggest heroes, the artist Frida Kahlo. She surrounds herself with other expatriates. Harry himself is an aspiring writer, his great literary heroes being fellow outsiders Jack Kerouac and William S. Burroughs. Abel uses this first portion of the book to establish a certain kind of outsider, a kind that does not want to involve themselves within the local culture, but still feels they have the authority to judge and criticize it.
Carla soon meets Memo, a socialist native who sells Che Guevara T-shirts, and his friend Oscar. They present Carla with a completely different view of Mexico City, a seemingly more authentic take on Mexican life, culture and politics. She admires them for their honest critiques of her capitalist background, and slowly attaches herself to them as she decides to prolong her tourist status into illegal immigrant status.- She attempts to identify herself with Memo and Oscar's anti-capitalist world, causing escalated tension between Carla and Henry and their whole expatriate scene. She falls for Oscar, an ambitious yet misguided pot dealer who dreams of becoming a DJ, and soon her relationship with Harry comes to a boil. Carla moves into a house of her own, getting a job teaching English at a local technical college and having one of her coworkers as a roommate.
The entire time Carla entrenches herself deeper into Memo and Oscar's world, never questioning their political stances and always taking their views as the official position of the Mexican people. Abel later introduces Rodrigo into the picture, Carla's younger, hipper brother, who is much more fluent in Spanish and comfortable with his identity. An internet entrepreneur, Rodrigo, who has never been to Mexico City, already has a vast network of friends thanks to internet message-boards, and when he visits Carla he shows her an entirely different take on Mexico, from locals who do not lean as politically left as Memo and Oscar. Carla soon discovers that her entire time with Oscar and Memo has not been the authoritative experience that she assumed it was. Their lifestyles are simply as unique as any one else's in Mexico City, and they are just a small component that make up the Mexican people. For Carla, though, it is too late for herself to branch out and meet new people, as she is already too far into Oscar and Memo's version of reality. Carla has invested herself so much that she can not save her-
self from Oscar's indifference, nor can she provide any assistance when she learns through the newspaper that Harry has been kidnapped for ransom. Carla faces the serious task of deciding where her loyalties lie.
Abel does a tremendous job at creating likeable characters. The only problem with this is in Carla herself. She is a very believable character, and for the most part she makes a good protagonist. Towards the end of the book, though, it is easy for the reader to grow angry with her naivety, and not feel so much as pity but annoyance for her self-inflicted predicaments. Oscar and Memo, while a little one-sided, are great as embodiments for Mexican counter-culture, as is Harry ideal for representing ambitious American expatriates.
The writing and construction within itself is outstanding. The dialogue is great, utilizing a pleasant mixture of Spanish and English phrases. The settings and the depiction of Mexico City are brilliantly detailed, every minute aspect simply marvelous and alive. The story is an interesting take on the role of expatriates, and the search for cultural identity. It deals with some heavy issues regarding identity, but it is also slow to make any conclusions on where the right answers lie. The biggest drawback to is that the book, while terrific in many ways, ends rather abruptly, and the reader, similar to Abel's Carla, is left a little lost, searching for how to react to everything they have just experienced.
