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Overview
An award-winning debut collection of short stories exploring issues of identity, written with a cool, clear vision that imbues these narra- tives with a gritty realism. Set in California & Mexico, the 11 stories deal with migration across geographical & cultural boundaries, & how the characters deal with what life throws their way.Synopsis
An award-winning debut collection of short stories exploring issues of identity, written with a cool, clear vision that imbues these narra- tives with a gritty realism. Set in California & Mexico, the 11 stories deal with migration across geographical & cultural boundaries, & how the characters deal with what life throws their way.
Publishers Weekly
Though the ages and predicaments of the Chicanas of Hernandez's debut vary, a passionate emotional resiliency reigns throughout. The opening "Migrations" follows two mismatched California neighbors who travel to Mexico together over Christmas almost arbitrarily: the young woman narrator aims to rid herself of an odious lover, while her neighbor, Reynaldo, returns to Guadalajara in order to make amends to his embittered daughter after his years of absence in America. "The Neighbor" is the wry narrative of a 79-year-old, thrice-married L.A. widow named Sarita, who resolves that her young neighbors' sadistic passion for each other, which she must regularly witness, is an affront to the memory of the warm, generous lovers she has known. Doomed and hopeless love rules the lives of these resolute women, as in "My Little Tyrant Heart Corazoncito Tirano," where two men locked in years of friendship and love rivalry rehash secrets of passion and murder and are overheard by one of the men's grown daughter, a young widow who narrates her own tale of heartache. Short and affecting, Hernandez's tales are as ardent as they are prosaic and unflinching. (Mar.)
Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.Editorials
Publishers Weekly
Though the ages and predicaments of the Chicanas of Hernandez's debut vary, a passionate emotional resiliency reigns throughout. The opening "Migrations" follows two mismatched California neighbors who travel to Mexico together over Christmas almost arbitrarily: the young woman narrator aims to rid herself of an odious lover, while her neighbor, Reynaldo, returns to Guadalajara in order to make amends to his embittered daughter after his years of absence in America. "The Neighbor" is the wry narrative of a 79-year-old, thrice-married L.A. widow named Sarita, who resolves that her young neighbors' sadistic passion for each other, which she must regularly witness, is an affront to the memory of the warm, generous lovers she has known. Doomed and hopeless love rules the lives of these resolute women, as in "My Little Tyrant Heart—Corazoncito Tirano," where two men locked in years of friendship and love rivalry rehash secrets of passion and murder—and are overheard by one of the men's grown daughter, a young widow who narrates her own tale of heartache. Short and affecting, Hernandez's tales are as ardent as they are prosaic and unflinching. (Mar.)
Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.