- Hardcover: 287 pages
- Publisher: Univ of New Mexico Pr (Aug 1 1993)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0826314368
- ISBN-13: 978-0826314369
- Product Dimensions: 21.8 x 14.7 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 408 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #2,425,378 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Acclaimed Chicano writer Gilb's collection of short stories set in the American Southwest won the PEN Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award. $35,000 ad/promo. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.
From Library Journal
These plain-spoken stories take readers to construction sites and cheap rentals where chronically underemployed, necessarily mobile, struggling yet optimistic Texas Mexicans survive in an ungenerous world. Skilled laborers and tenuous families come alive in the undramatic settings and seethe with the blood and passion that transform ordinary events into the stuff of stories. In "Nancy Flores," a breathtaking depiction of first love flows into the enigmatically sordid fall of a youthful hero. "Winners on the Pass Line" pairs the fates of two restless visitors to Las Vegas who connect briefly and profoundly. Gilb's lesser stories meander into facile or abrupt endings, but the best are as unexpectedly beguiling and unforgettable as the arid stretches between their settings in El Paso and Los Angeles. Recommended for public libraries and area collections.
- Janet Ingraham, Worthington P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Janet Ingraham, Worthington P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
The way I see it, a man can have all the money in the world but if he can't keep his self-respect, he don't have shit. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
The way I see it, a man can have all the money in the world but if he can't keep his self-respect, he don't have shit. Read the first page
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Concordance
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
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Most helpful customer reviews
1.0 out of 5 stars
Rather talentless,
By Mark Seeba (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Magic of Blood (Paperback)
Not unlike many Chicano, Latino or Mexican-American writers, Gilb is culturally illiterate, in both English and Spanish. The drab stories of humble people from Mexico who fumble in the U.S. results in a series of stories of compelling pathos: drunks, women knocked up, discrimination, economic failure. In other words, this books champions the idiotic idea that Hispanics should embrace the Cult of Victimology. Well, they shouldn't. Why Hispanics should portray themselves and their lives as those of losers defies belief. Better any book by Julia Alvarez, Isabel Allende any day of the week.
1.0 out of 5 stars
Most Likely the Worst Book I've Ever Read,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Magic of Blood (Paperback)
I'm the sort of person that reads a lot of books. (I read 8 books over this christmas vacation) When we got an assignment in english class to read a book by a latino author with a book group, we chose this one randomly from a list of 30 or 40 books. First of all it was almost impossible to get the book. (there are only two in the library system in the Seattle Area) I had to order the book, and it was the biggest waste of 10 bucks i have ever spent. The stories were boring and extremely difficult to get through. None of the stories had any themes i could relate to (being a female high school student who lives in the suburbs) and many of the stories seemed to have no point whatsoever. "The Death Mask of Pancho Villa" was about three guys who decided to smoke pot outside of one of the man's homes and discuss what to do with the death mask one of the men had 'acquired.' "Nancy Flores" was, in my opinion, one of the worst stories in the book. Do i really want to read about an 8th grader who felt his girlfriend up, only to find out years later she married the man that she dumped him for? NOOOOOOO!!!! This book is utterly useless and i will donate it to the library system after i am done with it at school. (although it will probably be of greater use if i burned it on a cold rainy day)In short, it was an utterly useless book that had no message or value that i gained from reading the book. If it was possible, i would have given the book 0 stars.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gritty, Real, Articulate,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Magic of Blood (Paperback)
Gilb's collection of short stories detail the lives of working class people (not heroes, per se) in a very true to life fashion. I can almost picture Mr. Gilb working with his hands on a high rise or on some odd job, observing what was going on around him and in his own life, preparing to write about what he saw and felt. His stories read that way, and I very much enjoyed this book each time I read it. For the record, the working class Mexican-American friends I have given this book to tell me it is authentic. A corporate suit wouldn't have been able to write it, and thank God Mr. Gilb is not a corporate suit. Hooray for the common man who thinks!
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