Review by Choice Review
Eight short stories written by one of the truthful chroniclers of New York's Spanish Harlem. Although "Dominoes" is the first story in the collection, the best story is the one that follows--"Horologist (By Appointment Only)." This and the story "Santos Negron" are very unusual in that both are focused on the lives of members of the Puerto Rican working class, people whose stories are seldom told. In "Horologist," Gary Garcia is trying to do a television series that explores unusual occupations of minority people who are proud of their accomplishments. When a prospective subject for his series, an expert Puerto Rican horologist, refuses, Garcia asks him, "How will the people who are full of prejudices toward Latinos ever get to see us as decent and contributing citizens? ... We are making America great, so why are we hiding it?" "Santos Negron" chronicles the daily routine of a group of Puerto Rican men working in the laundry room of the Plaza Hotel. Ag"ueros knows intimately the Puerto Rican community, and such stories as "One Sunday Morning," "Johnny United," or "Malig; Malig & Sal; Sal," some of which also contain some autobiographical elements, effectively reveal this knowledge. A welcome addition to the excellent and growing body of literature by Puerto Ricans in the diaspora writing in English. General; undergraduate (all levels). L. L. Pinto; Bronx Community College, CUNY
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Booklist Review
In these eight vivid stories that both shock and delight, the language is colloquial, the themes the difficult realities of an immigrant's experience. Agueros wants to let us know something about life in the U.S. for a Puerto Rican. In "Dominoes," a pleasant story takes a bloody turn after a game of dominoes goes horribly wrong. In "Malig; Malig & Sal; Sal," a woman's internal dialogue is wrapped in a single night's drama; it is a story of survival. "Horologist" stands out as a story that captures the universality of what devotion can be--in this instance, devotion to one's craft: fixing clocks. Agueros wants to let us in on a secret--quite simply, Puerto Ricans' experiences in this country are no different from those of any other immigrant group. Yet his small book also conjures up the special texture of the culture from which it stems. ~--Raul Nino
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this debut collection of eight stories, poet, playwright and television writer Agueros creates intimate portraits of New York City's Puerto Rican community, revealing the complexities of people whose indigenous culture often conflicts with their new urban life. Though his prose is spare, the tales brim with telling details that define the time and place with indelibly vivid images. The title story describes a routine game of dominoes that erupts in violence because machismo rules the behavior of the players. ``Men who are real men can live their lives anyway they like . . . To be macho is the destiny,'' one of the players tells one teenage onlooker before her uncle is murdered. ``Malig; Malig & Sal; Sal'' shows the problems of being on the distaff side of machismo--especially when a woman tries to step out of a man's shadow. These violent dramas notwithstanding, Agueros's focus is on the simpler joys and pains of ordinary life, all expressed in a clear, colloquial voice. A small boy delights in ritual visits to his devoted godmother in ``One Sunday Morning''; another teenager rebels against his stingy stepfather in ``Johnny United''; and in ``Horologist'', a clock restorer chooses to concentrate on the inner workings of antique timepieces rather than on material gain, speed and narcissism. Ultimately, this book celebrates the nurturing spirit of the human heart. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Playwright and children's writer Agüeros offers a memorable portrait gallery of ordinary--though thoroughly individualized- -Puerto Rican New Yorkers; two of these eight well-crafted stories were previously published in Latino journals. Here are some of the expected, common images of Puerto Rican life--the men playing dominoes on the street, the young boy working in the family bodega, the hopeful entrepreneur selling food in the park--but there are more unusual characters, too, such as Vazquez, the horologist seen at work repairing antique clocks in a Greenwich Village shop. In each case, Agüeros provides enough detail (without getting bogged down in minutiae) to capture the flavor and texture of daily life. In the quiet, poignant ``One Sunday Morning,'' a young boy loses first place in his godmother's life when she takes in the daughter left behind by a neighbor's suicide. And in ``Malig; Malig & Sal; Sal,'' a single mother, looking a man who can get her out of the projects, decides to break up with her suddenly impractical lover, Sal; college seems to have affected Sal's brain the wrong way and made him crazy; then, after violence erupts, a neighborhood junkie proves his knowledge of street medicine, keeping his injured friend Sal away from hospitals and the police. For his point of departure, Agüeros often takes a character or situation so familiar as to border on stereotype, but in his hands, these small tales lead the reader to a deeper sense of recognition. Studies of character and community in the realist mode, told with quiet humor, without sensationalism or sentimentality.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
Review by Booklist Review
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Review by Kirkus Book Review
