32 pages 1 hour read

Luis Alberto Urrea

The House of Broken Angels

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2018

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Part 3, Chapters 11-14Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Part 3: “Celebration Day”

Chapter 11 Summary: “The Confessions”

Leaving the shed, Little Angel finally feels as if he understands his big brother. He sees the work he has done, all these years, to change the world. He finds Big Angel in his bed, awake. Dave is there loaning books to Big Angel. Big Angel reveals that Dave is his Jesuit priest. Big Angel and Little Angel begin their confessions. Big Angel gives Little Angel their father’s police jacket. They talk about the hurt they caused each other—Big Angel holding Little Angel under the waves to learn to swim and ignoring him on Christmas morning after promising a feast because Don Segundo left and they had no money for food. The men fight over minor insults, tussling in the bed. Meanwhile, Marco and Lily have sex in Marco’s bed. She confesses that she is a DACA recipient before falling asleep beside him. Back in Big Angel’s house, Big Angel confesses that once he and MaryLú broke into Little Angel’s childhood home and smashed all his mother’s jewelry. They cut holes in her clothes and left them out for her to see. Little Angel is shocked.