Useful Fools by C.A. Schmidt

From the Publisher

Alonso, a dirt-poor teenager living in Peru, helps out at the public health clinic his mother, Magdalena, opened, so that he can see Rosa, the beautiful and wealthy daughter of the clinic's doctor. Alonso and Rosa are both shattered when Magdalena is assassinated by a revolutionary terrorist organization. Left with no hope, Alonso might be seduced into becoming a guerrilla in the same organization that killed his mother. Rosa becomes disgusted with her father's complacency and leaves wealth and safety behind to somehow help what is left of Alonso's family. In this comingof- age novel, C. A. Schmidt tells the story of how love can find its way through poverty and war.

Booklist

The Romeo and Juliet love story will grab some readers; others will be drawn to the . . . politics and justice. (Starred review)

Publishers Weekly

Told from the perspectives of Rosa, a physician's privileged daughter, and Alonso, a poor cholo(Indian) teenager, this first novel takes a harsh look at the cruel regime in late 20th-century Peru and the violent tactics of the Communist guerilla insurgency, the Shining Path. Rosa's father and Alonso's mother run a health clinic near Lima, which makes Dr. Pablo suspect in the eyes of the government and Magda a target for the Shining Path. "Alonso, if the bourgeoisie can cushion the People's misery... don't you think they will? Your mother played right into that. She became what we call a useful fool," says a party leader, explaining why the Shining Path blows up the clinic when Magda is inside. Magda's murder shatters the community, but before long graffiti everywhere defames Magda. As Alonso's father descends into heavy drinking, and as Rosa's father sees no way to reopen the clinic, Rosa and Alonso begin navigating separate and dangerous paths. Crushed, confused and regularly beaten by his heartbroken father, Alonso briefly joins the terrorists. Schmidt does a credible job of showing the seduction of terrorism in an impoverished society, and she broadens the audience by framing much of the action as a romance between Rosa and Alonso. Poetic language punctuates much of the violence: "If he opened his mouth, would words come out? Or just mist? Mist that dampened their hair and wet the dust. Everything sank like death into the ground." Ages 14-up. (Aug.)

Children's Literature

Told from the alternating perspectives of Alonso and Rosa, star-crossed lovers in Peru, this story is set during a time when the country is torn between corrupt government and terrorists, which adds to Alonso's own confusion, particularly after his mother is killed by the terrorists. Because of his friend Rodolfo, however, Alonso learns about the affects of the corrupt government, which has killed his sister. The poorly organized plot leaves the reader uncertain for much too long about the motives dividing the terrorists and the government, resulting in confusion about why Adolfo's mother would be killed for her involvement with a children's hospital and why, after her death, the neighborhood would so suddenly be turned to such anger that Adolfo's family must leave the city. In addition, the timeframe in which the story takes place is never clear, weakening its affect on the audience who might not know if the book's impetus is historical or aimed toward current world political awareness. The book also includes significant graphic detail and profane language that both weakens the flow of the writing and alienates potential audiences who might be interested and benefit from the cultural awareness. Reviewer: Heidi Quist

VOYA

Alonso is a poor Peruvian teenager. Rosa is Peruvian bourgeois. They meet and fall in love at a free clinic run by Rosa's doctor father, assisted by Alonso's mother, Magda. It is a romance that should not last, given their class disparity. In revolution-torn Peru, the climate is tense and terrorist brutality is the norm. The Senderista terrorists consider a clinic providing medical help to the poor as a "bourgeois ploy." To set an example, they kill Magda and bomb the clinic. Rosa presses her father to reestablish the clinic. Alonso, recruited by the Senderistas, the same terrorist organization that executed his mother, is torn between his mother's peaceful ways and terrorist propaganda. He runs away to join the Senderistas; however, he cannot stomach the brutality. He escapes camp and returns home to find his father imprisoned and Rosa caring for his younger siblings. This story is a dull, confusing read. Schmidt sets no chronological or political context in which to understand Alonso's and Rosa's world. The brief author's note at the end of the book, which would have been more appropriate as a foreword, helps somewhat, after the fact. It is difficult to visualize the urban shanty towns or rural outposts that populate Peru. Readers never connect with Rosa or Alonso. A major hurdle to this reviewer was accepting that a teenager would align himself with his mother's executioners. Schmidt does get across the fear generated by the Senderistas. Although the lovers eventually evolve, readers will have lost interest long before the end.

KLIATT

This novel, by an American journalist who lived in Peru for several years, when the Shining Path tried to take control of an autocratic government, provides interesting insight into a world unfamiliar to most YA readers. Alonso is an impoverished 15-year-old boy living in the slums outside Lima. His mother Magda is an activist who, with the help of a kind and wealthy doctor, has established a hospital in her village for the sick and poor. Alonso is in love with the doctor's beautiful daughter Rosa, who helps in the clinic, and she returns his feelings. Then the Shining Path decides that Alonso's mother must be executed because she is diluting the government's oppression with her activism. She is what they call "a useful fool." Her death brings chaos to Alonso: his father turns to drink; the doctor withdraws from the village in despair; Rosa blames herself for Alonso's mother's death. Yet, Alonso is eventually seduced by the Shining Path's promises of a better future for Peru. The novel raises interesting questions about the uses of war and violence to achieve worthy ends. It also tells the story of young love persisting in spite of differences in class. The two young people are realistically drawn, and the descriptions of poverty (and lack of sanitation) are graphic. Although a younger person could read this book, it's probably best suited for an older audience because of its violence and graphic detail.

Kathleen IsaacsCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information. - School Library Journal

Gr 8 Up
What makes a terrorist? Drawing on her own experiences as a journalist in Peru in the 1980s and '90s, the author explores this question in this moving coming-of-age novel. After the Senderistas bomb the health clinic that his mother established in their Peruvian shantytown, killing her and driving away the doctor and his daughter Rosa, 15-year-old Alonso's anger and curiosity about their philosophy tempt him to join their Shining Path terrorist movement. The story is told from the alternating perspectives of Alonso and Rosa, and details of his family's grinding poverty make a strong contrast to her privileged middle-class life. Already defeated by his situation in life, Alonso's father becomes an abusive drinker after his wife's death. The violence both inside and outside his home-where neighbors, Party members, and police are all a threat-is convincingly portrayed. Teens will despair about whether or not Alonso can find safety, or if Rosa and Alonso, star-crossed lovers, can be reunited. While some episodes seem contrived, more for readers' background than the story arc, the narrative moves quickly to a convincing conclusion. The explicit violence makes this best suited for older readers, who will come away with an awakened appreciation for the complexity of the issues.

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