The Republic of East L.A.: Stories - Hardcover

Rodriguez, Luis J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0066212634 ISBN 13: 9780066212630

Publisher: Rayo, 2002

Synopsis

From the award-winning author of Always Running comes a brilliant collection of short stories about life in East Los Angeles. It is a life brimming with hope and vitality, the depiction of which reaffirms Luis J. Rodriguez as not only one of America's keenest urbanists but as a writer with a perfect blend of humanist empathy and poetic soul.

Behind this famed enclave's notorious gang violence its well-documented and stereotyped poverty rates, and the supposed desperation of those who live in East L.A. without any hope of escape, lies one resounding element: real people, with real strength, in very real predicaments.

Whether hilariously capturing the voice of a philosophizing limo driver in his late twenties whose dream is to make the most of his rap-metal garage band in "My Ride, My Revolution," or the monologue-styled rant of a tes-ti-fy-ing! tent revivalist named Ysela in "Oiga," Rodriguez squeezes humor from the lives of people who are not ready to sacrifice their dreams due to circumstance. In so doing, he allows readers to enter into the hidden and hope-filled chambers of an individual's spirit, only to artfully balance this with the more serious intonations of life's grimmer realities.

In "Finger Dance," Rodriguez pays tribute to the slow death of a violent and harsh father who, in his last days, is rendered physically and mentally helpless. In "Pigeons," we are shown a world where Mexican-Americans ironically and hypocritically distrust Mexicans, while in "Sometimes You Dance with a Watermelon," we meet a mother who finds momentary relief from her life with a good mambo, a hot sun, and a juicy piece of fruit.

In these stories, Luis J. Rodriguez gives eloquent voice to the neighborhood where he spent many years as a resident, a father, an organizer, and, finally, a writer: a neighborhood that offers more to the world than its appearance allows. The Republic of East L.A. is unforgettable fiction from a true talent.

About this title

Review:

Luis J. Rodriguez's The Republic of East L.A. showcases the lives of drifters, gangbangers, the homeless, and other hard-luck residents. The characters in these stories often commit crimes or suffer hardships without taking responsibility for their actions, or the author leaves the consequences unexplored (after a murder at the end of one story, the characters simply drive off). What we are left with are people to whom at the outset we sense bad things will happen, and they usually do. There are touching stories in here, however, where people endure the blight of urban poverty, making the most of it and/or escaping through fantasies of a better life. Rodriguez sums up East L.A. in "Boom, Bot, Boom":

There are hundreds of midnight images: black-uniformed officers with taped nightsticks, scrawled bus stops, spasms of gunfire, crowded jail cells, whirling helicopter blades, sidewalk Romeos and red-toed Juliets.... But for Raul and Stick, there was only this--a sad, silly, and sometimes deadening symmetry called suburbia. And they thrived on it.

Rodriguez covers fertile ground, but does so in a rather bland and predictable manner. Perhaps the author is right that the people of East L.A. simply endure what comes their way, but without giving us more engagement between the subjects and their action, The Republic of East L.A. seems inhabited less by people than by characters. --Michael Ferch

About the Author:

Luis J. Rodriguez is the author of several critically acclaimed books, including Always Running, The Republic of East L.A., and Hearts and Hands, as well as poetry and books for children. He lives with his family in California.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rayo
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0066212634
• ISBN 13: 9780066212630
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256