We Never Asked for Wings

Diffenbaugh admits in the afterword to this book that it was difficult to follow up her incredibly successful debut, The Language of Flowers. I doubt We Never Asked for Wings will wind up being chosen by quite as many book clubs as its predecessor, but it's still a good read. Letty is an interesting and not always sympathetic character who is suddenly forced to be a real mother to her two children after years of surrendering that role to her own mother while Letty worked multiple jobs to support the family. We meet Letty as she is basically abandoning 15 year old Alex and 6 year old Luna to chase after her mother, who has decided to return to Mexico, and beg her to come back. Watching Letty slowly and painfully find her way as a parent, making lots of mistakes along the way, would be more rewarding if it didn't seem like the men in her life, including Alex's father and an attractive co-worker, rescue her almost every time she's in crisis.

The chapters told from Alex's POV at times feel like a different novel, a YA romance with two star-crossed teenagers. But it's also about Alex's journey to establish a new relationship with the mother who was never more than a fleeting presence in his life yet is now trying to set limits on his behavior. Both he and Letty are trying to figure out who they are after their world is shaken up.

Diffenbaugh paints a vivid picture of life in a mostly-deserted low-income apartment complex a stone's throw from the San Diego airport and the marshes of the bay, in sharp contrast to the middle-class life that Letty can see but can't afford in nearby Mission Hills. The feathers that Letty's father used in his artwork, the native birds and the frequent airplanes illustrate the wing metaphor that give the book its title. Maybe not as detailed and cozy as the flowers in her first novel, but still an appropriate symbol. Diffenbaugh may have worried, but her writing career seems to be in no danger of crash landing.