Stephen Henighan

Amparo is a young Mayan mother, soon to have a second child, struggling to make ends meet in a high mountain village in Guatemala. The civil war has ravished the countryside. The tension between Catholics and Evangelical protestants threatens discord in the small community. And what of Amparo’s own culture, her Cakchiquel language which she only knows imperfectly, the Mayan practices that even her mother has suppressed, the last vestiges perhaps residing in the bags with the jaguar emblem that Amparo weaves in order to sell in the local tourist market? What path can Amparo walk to negotiate the dangers that lie ahead for herself, her family, and especially her children?

A wealth of learning and erudition clearly lies behind this novel of indigenous Guatemalan life. Sometimes, perhaps at the outset, that knowledge is imparted a bit heavily. But only to establish the bona fides. Thereafter it is worn lightly and we can enter into Amparo’s hopes and fears and, yes, anguish, as she chooses between friends and family, finding kind mentorship along the way. As much as Amparo must change herself over the eight years covered in this novel, it is clear that Guatemala itself has changed even more. The result is a fascinating glimpse of a culture in rapid transition.

Gently recommended.… (more)

I've often loved reading novels and short stories that show how war can impact families, relationships, and societies. Although the short stories often do not provide the reader with in-depth war strategy and in-the-moment events, whether it is World War II or the Bosnian-Serbian conflict of the 1990s, the impact of war is palatable in the lives of the characters Henighan created.
The book of short stories starts off with "The Killing Past," which examines the impact of one woman's story about Bartholomew's ancestor upon her nephew. The obsession it becomes for Bart is phenomenal.

In "Miss Why," Agnieszka is an inquisitive youth growing up in Poland at a time when the nation is moving away from socialism toward more Western ideals. While she struggles to find her place in society, she meets a man with a similar outlook on the Western ideals taking over their society. It was interesting to see how they coped with the transformation of their society, though there really was no resolution in this short story, which left me a bit disappointed.

"Duty Calls" follows Tibor, who is recently divorced, and his relationship with a woman he has not seen in many years and his disillusionment with himself since his divorce. This story is not every uplifting, but it does deal with how a man, who sees himself as an outsider, will act to gain acceptance.

In "Beyond Bliss," which was my favorite of the short stories, Vivian compromises her integrity to get what she wants. To help her friend, Ray, build his publishing house in Canada, she gains the trust of Erich, a controversial author. Vivian, another character who feels like an outsider in Canada because she is British, uses her ambition to find her place in the world.

I also really enjoyed "A Sense of Time," "Freedom Square," and "Nothing Wishes to Be Different" because the show the reader a series of relationships that change between former students at university because of a single event, a relationship between a mother and daughter because of the daughter's summer job, and the relationships between a father and mother and their children when the father makes one fateful and personal decision about his own life.

While this is not one of my favorite short story collections, it does have a great deal going for it. It examines how war in the present and past can have an impact on someone, even if they are not directly involved in a conflict. Some of the characters are quirky and bit out there, but others are carefully nuanced.… (more)