Woodcuts of Women - Hardcover

Gilb, Dagoberto

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0802116795 ISBN 13: 9780802116796

Publisher: Grove Pr, 2000

Synopsis

A collection of stories by the award-winning Latino author of The Magic of Blood and The Last Known Residence of Mickey Acu±a chronicles the lives of men and women living in Houston.

About this title

From Publishers Weekly

Mexican-American men and women in pursuit of sex and spiritual sustenance inhabit the 10 stories featured in Gilb's second collection, set mostly in El Paso, Tex. Lucky in love but unwilling to settle down, the male protagonists are possessed of a collective roving eye and seek out the prototypical mysterious female strangerDin department stores, on the street, in airport lounges. Whether consumed by their surroundingsDlike R. Fernandez, in "Hueco," who lives in an entirely blue apartmentDor by passion, they are often left drained and despondent by their adventures. In "Shout," a brief but intense account of domestic disquietude, a beer-guzzling husband, home after a long day's work, vents his rage. "The Pillows" tells of itinerant George, who crashes at a high school buddy's apartment only to be overwhelmed by the pathos evident in his friend's grimy linens. Another drifter, Willie, ends up house-sitting for a gringa, Irene, in "About Tere Who Was in Palomas." Obsessed with thoughts of his ex-girlfriend, he ignores Irene's advances. In the best stories, the conflicts sparked are left hauntingly unresolved; in others, the lack of resolution seems rote and empty. As the book's title suggests, outlines or crude impressions of women are often all the men are capable of seeing in these elliptical tales. Gilb's fluent, colloquial prose, with its frequent detours into Spanglish, keeps his fictions fresh, as does his honest reckoning with life in the grittier suburbs of the Southwest. Though he is still working out some kinks, GilbDauthor of the PEN/Hemingway Award-winning story collection The Magic of Blood, a novel and a number of widely anthologized essaysDis a writer to watch. Agent, Kim Witherspoon. (Jan.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In this collection of short stories, Gilb is many men in many ordinary situations. In "Maria de Covina," he's a cocky teenager holding town service jobs. In "Hueco," he's a laborer looking for a place to live. What ties these 10 short stories together is an obsession with women: lovers past and present, a landlady, a drag queen. It's the brooding, often erotic obsession with women that cuts through the mundane lives of Gilb's ordinary heroes and bring the stories to life. Gilb's canvas is the working-class life of Mexican Americans in el barrio. But his brush and paint are contained in an awesome facility with language and dialogue that carries the reader along from one page to the next. He morphs superbly into the skin of his narrators, as varied as they may be. Gilb's piquant prose is his carrying card, and his skills are well represented in this collection. The author is an important American voice and a great literary talent. Ted Leventhal
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Grove Pr
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0802116795
• ISBN 13: 9780802116796
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 167