Title: Cuquita
Author: Thomas Mathew
Publisher: Outskirts Press
ISBN: 9781432792015
Pages: 428, Paperback/Kindle
Genre: Fiction/Fantasy
Reviewed by: Jason Lulos, Pacific Book Review
Book Review
Similar to E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Cuquita is the story of an alien left stranded on Earth following a routine scientific expedition. Cuquita is an elf-like a girl with the body of a ballerina, no more than 5 feet tall, seemingly frail and weak, yet vastly superior to humans in all mental and physical capacities. She is found in a barn by Wilson, a wholesome hard-working farmer who welcomes her into his home as it is what God would have intended. Cuquita helps out on the farm and is immediately embraced by Wilson’s wife, Doris, and their two children. After becoming a star on the local basketball team, she is embraced by the entire town. The fact that she is so small and frail makes her athletic achievements all the more miraculous and gives the townspeople cause for celebration.Because of her talents, Cuquita is the subject of jealousy (from other players on the team) and becomes a sought after asset by an organized crime boss. Having intended to keep a relatively low profile while she waits for her ship to return, Cuquita manipulates her would be wrong-doers with ease using her athleticism and telepathic abilities. This science fiction story becomes more like a martial arts adventure as Cuquita dispatches countless criminals with the sort of magically realistic fighting style you’d find in films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Other than the times when Cuquita has no choice but to resort to violence, she is a stoic, hard-working, peaceful girl. Thus, she becomes like a superhero: a quiet, mild-mannered worker by day and a peace-keeping vigilante by night. She single-handedly erases organized crime from Markstown, which is fortuitous since the town’s police force is depleted due to the struggling economy.
Cuquita is almost too good to be true, another tale about an alien civilization that is vastly superior to humans in every way. It seems that the novel is therefore a diatribe about the failings of humanity, being compared to the much more advanced Cuquita. However, that is not the entire story. She is taken in by the Weatherfords (Wilson, Doris, Margie, and Mark) and cared for as if she were their own child. The Weatherfords are the typical wholesome, perhaps even overly-romanticized small town farm family. They may be inferior to Cuquita, mentally and physically, but they are a paradigm of an old-school, generous, loving family which makes this story one about a plea for a return to a simpler, pastoral communal existence as well as a plea for progress, indicated by lessons learned from an advanced civilization.
