Fig. 1. "Caleña," I asked.  I turned around and she planted a couple of kisses on my cheeks in greeting. [This is Marlon talking, from the novel Paradise Travel,  meeting up with a traveling partner in NYC.] Holding on to my hands, she took a step backward to look at me, and I noticed she was actually dressed.  [She said,] "Where's the Fury?" (178).

I can see the LIGHT at the end of the TUNNEL.  Next week is is our FINAL EXAM WEEK – Summer 2025.  It also will mark the completion of our class novel-reading project based on Colombian author Jorge Franco’s Paradise Travel.  This is the story of two teenage lovers who abandon their lives in Medellín, Colomibia and journey to New York City in pursuit of their American Dream.  Reina and Marlon, they just happen to be very close in age to the students I’m teaching now.   I’ve read this novel more than a few times now, in both English and Spanish.  I appreciate the author’s style, but mostly I’m inspired by the DETERMINATION of the characters.  They sacrifice EVERYTHING.  They turn their backs on their family and friends. They have no money or solid contacts. New York City is their Dream and Obsession.  For them, it’s ALL or NOTHING.

I think my students like the book.  How do I know this?  They really never approach me to talk about it, but they are READING it.  I myself created 33 reading response quizzes.  We began like the first day of class.  It will take us to the last day of class to finish.  I assume they might like it for the sense of adventure.  Whatever Reina and Marlon say about escaping from Colombia, I’m sure my students have heard something very similar in their real lives about leaving Imperial Valley.  I doubt any of my students have read anything like Paradise Travel before.  I mean, it’s not on any division office reading list. I like the fact that they are not going to find much information about the novel on the internet.  I’m pushing them to make their own observations and decisions about what changes appear in the two primary characters.  Both Marlon and Reina are smart and ambitious, but their journey takes a lot out of them.  By the time they arrive in NYC, their nerves are frayed.  They are like FISH out of WATER.  They don't know who to trust, much less each other. I don’t think I’ve said this aloud, but what would my students do if they were in the same type of stress.  Would their love survive?  What would be their breaking point?

I know Jorge Franco from previous ventures into Spanish-language novels.  I was first introduced to him from my watching the telenovela Rosario Tijeras on Netflix. The series is based on his novel of the same name.  Rosario, the young female protagonist of the series, had survived the violence of her own Medellín barrio to become a drug mafia assassin.   It seems each episode was centered around sex, drugs, betrayal and/or murder.  In Paradise Travel, I can full accept why Reina and Marlon never look back.  Their barrio doesn't seem that far away from Rosario's barrio. 

As part of their Final Exam, I’ve asked my students to prepare their discussion of the novel’s MVP (Most Valuable Part.)  I tell them this:  Your MVP doesn't have to be the MOST IMPORTANT idea in the  book, but  it has to be IMPORTANT to you.  You will be GRADED on the way you JUSTIFY your PICK.  This is why I think my students like the novel.  From my first impressions, everyone seems to be choosing a DIFFERENT MVP.  Like we are all going to tie for FIRST.  I myself first considered  voting for Caleña ( see above).   She wasn’t a major player in the novel.  She doesn’t appear in many chapters or on many pages, but I enjoyed reading about the ANGER that rose up in Reina every time she saw Caleña.  Reina's reaction to her competition tells us a lot about  her.  

 Apparently, back in Medellín, Caleña was a streetwalker.  In NYC she has found work as a stripper. Wherever she goes,  she pays her way.  In a way, she is just as determined if not more than Reina.  And if her upbrining was anyting like that of Rosario Tijeras, she’s not one to back down from anything.    That's why I smiled when Caleña called Reina the"Fury."  Caleña must have known Reina better than Marlon did. ( Spoiler Alert:  Reina becomes the DISAPPEARING LOVER I mentioned in my title.)   In the end Caleña helped Marlon find Reina – I mean she knew he would never have any peace until he saw her again.  My MVP just might be  a quote sandwich.  I would go with this: "We've got  to find the Fury."

In our next class, I will ask my students to begin their argument for their MVP.  First I suggest they SUMMARIZE their choice.  They will want to capture a moment in the novel where their MVP shows through.  This summer we learned how to summarize research articles for mention in our essays.  My students have writing tools at their disposal.  I hope they can make use of the following chart to provide meaningful background to their choice.

I still have a few days left in the semester  to organize group and class discussions around our MVPs.  I’ll do what I can to discourage students from RETELLS during their final exam.  I mean, we’ve all read the book.  I think I’m up to like five times.  It will be better for them to reveal their INTERPRETATION, PERSPECTIVE, and ATTITUDE attitude towards the novel. As I write this,  I’m planning for their final MVP submission on Canvas.  I will ask them to use color, tone, and images to to depict their interpretation of the text. Each time I develop an assignment, I try to put myself into the shoes of my students.  I look closely at my own instructions and create my own practice submission.  I chose to assign Paradise Travel over Rosario Tijeras because the latter seemed much to violent to read in a classroom setting.   Paradise Travel, however, is focused more upon the conflict that develops between two teenage lovers.  After considerable thought, I like Caleña, but I'm afraid without Reina, there is no novel.  She makes things happen. 

  HERE IS MY PARADISE TRAVEL MVP: 

( I'm a little bit EMBARRASSED that it comes in the FIRST CHAPTER, but I was HOOKED when I read Reina carried around pictures of New York City in her wallet. She pulled them out every day to remind her where she was going.  They were like TAROT CARDS.  They became glimpse of  her FUTURE.)

My Summer Semester Reading MVP is REINA’S AMBITION.  In my mind, Reina may look like a young Jenni Rivera (see above.)  She wants to get out of Colombia in the worst way, and she's taking Marlon along with her – again in the worst way. For these two lovers, failure is not an option. On the first pages, Reina tells Marlon:  "In this place we haven't done anything, we aren't doing anything, and we aren't going to do anything" (4).  For Reina, staying in Colombia is a fate worse than death. 

Like a lot of teenagers we know, Reina is a drama queen.  She is a beautiful young woman, and she knows it. She realizes the power she has over the young men that look her way.  Totally, she has her boyfriend Marlon “Under Her Thumb.”   She’s the one in this relationship that’s going to make all the important decisions.   Marlon knows this, and he doesn’t seem to care, just as long as he can be close to her.  From the very first chapter,  she tells Marlon that they are going to New York; if he wants to be with her, that’s their FUTURE. “While she was saying all this, her eyes shone and looked so sincere, I actually believed her,” Marlon, the narrator of the novel, explains.  “There was so much determination in those eyes, they even scared me.”   Clearly, Reina  will do whatever it takes to make her dreams come true. 

 For Reina, it's important that you never settle; you always  strive for something better.  Through hard work, you can achieve anything you want. In the first chapter, she talks about New York City like she's already been there.  She describes for Marlon, "a freshly painted apartment with a view of the river and the Statue of Liberty, on the top floor with a small terrace and a little garden, two chairs where we can sit and watch the sun set over New York City…"  Reina brings the image to life, like only she can.  I mean, she's probably visualized it for the last five or sex years since she has reached adolescence. I have a feeling that many of my students will disagree with my assessment of Reina. While I define her ambition, they might define her manipulation.  She puts herself front and center.   I can’t imagine how she doesn’t.  I mean, from the first page we see her she is objectivied by all the men who look her way.  In Medellín, she’s tired of the condescention, for she thought she was the one with the upper hand.  Those who look at her with lust in their eyes don't know her.  She is the one with ambtion.  She is going to make NYC happen if it kills her.   If Marlon and Reina ever get married, she will wear the pants in the family.  She is going to take the bull by the horns.