Pig Cookies and Other Stories

Stories deal with the problems and uncertainties caused by conflicts between public and private life

The treats of the title are the gingerbread delights that Mexican adults imagine are beloved by their children because the kids laugh at the sight of the chubby cookies lined up on a baker's tray. Such misconceptions are at the heart of this second book of short stories by Rios (The Iguana Killer), a native Arizonan who teaches at Arizona State University. Set in a northern Mexican village over several decades of the 20th century, Pig Cookies traces the lives of its citizens throughout these volatile times. At the center of the stories is Lazaro Luna, a baker overcome by love, who one day mixes a "batter of surprise" from which comes a unique batch of pig cookies, treats to which children "gave... all the names they had previously held in trust for various dolls they had hoped to receive." Next door to the bakery, the lonely butcher, Noe, covers his walls with clocks that "have hands only for him." The entire town feels responsible for the remarkable gardens of Lamberto Diaz, gardens created by various bits of this and that?including more pig cookies?tossed in by neighbors. These poignant, funny tales of the rich, unsuspected inner lives of regular folk transcend time and place. They could be set anywhere with equally delightful results.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

If Laura (Like Water for Chocolate) Esquivel had written Winesburg, Ohio, the results would have been something like this remarkable collection of stories. Rios has created a delightful universe centered in a tiny village in northern Mexico, weaving together the stories of several of its citizens over a period stretching roughly from the turn of the century to the mid-1950s. Like Esquivel, Rios shows love and understanding for his characters and their lives; unlike Anderson, no bitterness seeps into his yarns. The stories skip back and forth in time and have just a hint of magic realism about them. The one character who turns up in most of the stories is Lazaro, who is present at the wreck of a circus train, earns a reputation as a womanizer while trying to help his Chinese friend find happiness with his local wife, and winds up mayor of the town. The eponymous pig cookies are a special treat for celebrations, but when the local baker falls in love, the cookies take on mythical proportions. This is a delightful book for all discerning readers. George Needham

Though set in a small village in northern Mexico over the course of several decades early in this century, these 13 interrelated stories disregard temporal awareness; a slew of engaging characters from all walks of life appear and reappear at various stages of their lives. The emotions run the gamut, too?from wistful early love in the title story, to satire of small-town government in "Five," to the clumsy but misconstrued manifestations of youthful affections in "Susto." The style is spare, however, and the narrative often sterile. Rios is author of several volumes of poetry and an earlier award-winning selection of short stories (The Iguana Killers, LJ 9/14/84). Recommended for collections with a strong interest in contemporary Chicano fiction.?Lawrence Olszewski, OCLC, Dublin, Ohio
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.