The Five Wounds

The Five Wounds is the 2021 debut novel of New Mexican author Kirstin Valdez Quade. It is an expansion of her short story of the same title, published first in The New Yorker and later in the 2019 collection Night at the Fiestas. The novel was awarded the 2021 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and shortlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction. It is a family drama that focuses on teenage mother-to-be Angel Padilla; her parents, Amadeo and Marissa; and her grandmother, Yolanda. In the beginning of the novel, Amadeo is preparing to play the role of Jesus in his town’s annual reenactment of the Passion of the Christ during Holy Week, a role that he plans to take seriously. On a certain level, Amadeo hopes that this role will help him atone for past sins and misdeeds. While preparing, however, he arrives home one afternoon to find his daughter, Angel, on his doorstep—only a teenager and heavily pregnant. Although Angel lives with her mother, the two are arguing, and Angel wants to move in with Amadeo and her grandmother, Yolanda. As the narrative progresses, the family works together to overcome dysfunction, addiction, and abuse, starting the process of healing from generational trauma. Set in the fictional hamlet of Las Penas, New Mexico, as well as the nearby real-life town of Española, the novel engages with the cultural history and everyday struggles of the people of northern New Mexico. The novel also reflects Valdez Quade’s interest in the history of the Catholic Church in the region; the impact of generational trauma on communities of mixed Hispanic and Indigenous origins; the complexity of family dynamics; and how contemporary social issues like poverty, the opioid epidemic, teen pregnancy, and domestic violence affect life in northern New Mexico communities.

This guide refers to the 2022 Norton paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source text and this guide discuss substance misuse and addiction, self-harm, and domestic violence.

Plot Summary

The novel is divided into three parts: “Semana Santa,” “Ordinary Times,” and “Lent.” “Semana Santa” depicts Holy Week, the week leading up to Easter in the Christian tradition. “Ordinary Times” narrates the year following Holy Week, and “Lent” concludes the story with the events leading up to the following Easter.

At the beginning of the novel, 33-year-old Amadeo Padilla has been chosen to play the role of Jesus in Las Penas’s annual reenactment of the Passion of the Christ. He will carry a wooden cross to the top of a hill representing Calvary, the biblical site of Jesus’ crucifixion. There, he will be tied to the cross and symbolically “crucified.” The town takes this role seriously, viewing it as a way for the actor to practice the highest form of worship: emulating the suffering of Jesus Christ in order to “suffer” along with him. Amadeo hopes that this religious performance will help him find redemption. He is well aware that he’s an unlikely choice to play Christ: He still lives with his mother, did not marry the mother of his child, has never taken an active role in parenting his daughter, and does not have a steady job or even attend church regularly. And yet, the local Morada in Las Penas (a brotherhood of Catholic men, referred to as hermanos, who take an active role in the spiritual life of the region) have chosen him.

As Amadeo prepares for the procession, trying his best to meditate on Christ’s suffering, his daughter, Angel, shows up on his doorstep. Still a teenager, Angel is in the third trimester of her first pregnancy. After an argument with her mother, Marissa, with whom she lives, Angel wants to move in with Amadeo and his mother, Yolanda.

Amadeo and Angel have never had a traditional father-daughter relationship, and Angel is well aware of Amadeo’s shortcomings. She, too, is surprised that he has been chosen for the most important role in the Semana Santa procession. Although hesitant, Amadeo allows Angel to move into his home. Angel is, after all, very close to her grandmother, who is on her way home from a vacation in Las Vegas, Nevada. Amadeo fixates on his preparation for the procession. He has heard that once, in a past procession, the man chosen to play Jesus asked for real nails instead of rope for his hands; Amadeo wonders if he would be brave enough to make what he feels is the ultimate sacrifice for his God.

The day of the procession, Amadeo does ask for nails—he is then promptly taken to the emergency room after being removed from the cross. Angel is livid. She is not particularly religious and views his decision as irresponsible and disingenuous. She does not see Amadeo as devout and questions his choice.

Amadeo’s moment on the cross does not wash away his sins, and after Semana Santa ends, his normal life resumes. He has ordered a windshield repair kit and plans to start a business fixing chips and cracks in car windshields. This is not the first “business” that Amadeo has attempted to start, and his family members are dubious. Angel does not have high hopes for the venture, and his sister, Valerie, is more interested in criticizing his addiction to alcohol than supporting him in any new attempts at finding a job. Meanwhile, Yolanda has recently been diagnosed with what is likely to be a terminal brain tumor. Unable to tell her family and hesitant to even begin treatment, she is distracted and consumed with worry.

After an argument with Valerie, Amadeo gets a ticket for driving under the influence (DUI), and he attempts to quit drinking. Angel gives birth to a boy named Connor. Amadeo is much more focused on himself than on any of the other members of his family, and his lack of maturity adversely affects his relationships. However, he does slowly come around to the idea of familial responsibility. Though it’s partially out of a desire to compete with Angel’s mother, Marissa, for their daughter’s affection, he begins to play a bigger role in the life of his daughter and grandson. Angel and her mother continue to clash: Marissa’s boyfriend, Mike, had “pretended” to choke Angel in a fit of anger. Although Mike claimed it was a joke, it scared Angel. Marissa has sided with Mike, and the two women cannot quite seem to reconcile.

Angel is enrolled in a GED program for teenage mothers, and she takes her schoolwork and parenting seriously. Amadeo begins a clandestine relationship with Angel’s teacher, Brianna. Angel herself begins a romantic relationship with one of her classmates, a troubled girl named Lizette. Yolanda, unable to conceal her condition any longer after a seizure, is forced to tell her family members about her tumor. At that point, everyone begins to come together through caring for her. It is obvious that Amadeo is finally growing up, but a setback arises when Angel discovers his relationship with Brianna. A series of conflicts emerges among the three, culminating in Brianna expelling Angel from the GED program for chewing gum. Angel begins caring for Yolanda full time in their home, staying with her grandmother until Yolanda passes away a few months later.

Angel gets stuck in nearby Española late at night without a ride home. Her predicament is the result of two arguments, one with her baby’s father, Ryan, and another with Lizette. Desperate, Angel calls Amadeo for help. Drunkenly, he packs baby Connor into the car and sets off for Española, only to get into an accident. Miraculously, he and the baby are unharmed. At the hospital, Angel, Marissa, and Amadeo finally reconcile, and the two women conceal Amadeo’s inebriation from the authorities so that he can remain at home helping Angel raise her baby.

Amadeo finally quits drinking for good, and the three are able to form a happy, if non-traditional, family. They meet with Ryan and his mother, and all agree to work together to do everything they can for the child. One year after Amadeo played Christ in the procession, another struggling young man from the community is chosen for the role. Amadeo reflects that it was not the performance of religiosity that brought him redemption, but his renewed commitment to his family.