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Title: Hard Language: Short Stories
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Manufacturer: Arte Publico Press
List Price: $12.95
Our Price: $2.99
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| Customer Reviews: |
| Hard Language: Short Stories by Arte Publico Press A Great Collection of Fast-paced Stories & Vivid Characters! | | You don't have to be Latino to enjoy these wonderful, heart-breaking stories. What I found most impressive is the author's ability to create such incredibly different characters from one story to the next, both men and women, characters so sharply drawn that they stayed with me for a long time afterwards. Sometimes in short story collections I feel like I'm reading about the same characters over and over, but that's not the case here. Each story transported me to a completely unique universe. There are moments in some of these stories where a sudden unexpected turn of action would just take my breath away. Most of all, the stories are important reminders of the potential of the human heart. Heard about this book on NPR...Alan Cheuse was right. This book reflects the sharp talent of a fine new writer. I highly, highly recommend this book. | | Hard Language: Short Stories by Arte Publico Press Product Description | | With his first book of short stories, young California writer Mike Padilla has produced a collection of remarkable social scope, artistic maturity, and psychological subtlety. In the title story, a Mexican-American construction worker's jealousy and controlling behavior become entwined with dark resentment of his wife's English-speaking abilities. Among his other startling snapshots, Padilla captures the day the family got together to tear apart old Aunt Eufrasia's house ("It is like the christening of a ship," my mother said as the pickaxe swung)... the uneasy bonds holding together two elderly women, once the best of friends but now only housemates... the odd relationship between an attractive but inaccessible Stanford student and her studious, cocaine-dealing classmate, who decides that the best way to a girl's heart is through her nose... and a nervous romance between a fourteen-year-old Mexican tomboy and her new neighbor, a clumsy young Russian émigré who falls all too hard for her. Engrossed readers will find Mike Padilla's stories easy to appreciate. Only his characters - with their all-too-human foibles- will be hard to forget. |
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