The Consequences: Stories
by Manuel Muñoz
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""Her immediate concern was money." So begins the first story in Manuel Muñoz's dazzling new collection. In it, Delfina has moved from Texas to California's Central Valley with her husband and small son, and her isolation and desperation force her to take a risk that ends in profound betrayal. These exquisite stories are mostly set in the 1980s in the small towns that surround Fresno. With an unflinching hand, Muñoz depicts the Mexican and Mexican American farmworkers who put food on our show more tables but are regularly and ruthlessly rounded up by the migra, as well as the quotidian struggles and immense challenges faced by their families. The messy and sometimes violent realities navigated by his characters-straight and gay, immigrant and American-born, young and old-are tempered by moments of surprising, tender care: Two young women meet on a bus to Los Angeles to retrieve husbands who must find their way back from the border after being deported; a gay couple plans a housewarming party that reveals buried class tensions; a teenage mother slips out to a carnival where she encounters the father of her child; the foreman of a crew of fruit pickers finds a dead body and is subsequently-perhaps literally-haunted. In The Consequences, obligation can shape, support, and sometimes derail us. It's a magnificent new book from a gifted writer at the height of his powers"-- show lessTags
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Member Reviews
The Consequences: Stories was published in the UK in October 2022 by the small, but perfectly formed, Indigo Press. Extremely well reviewed in the US, Muñoz’s collection of short stories concerns Mexican American lives in southern California with their true families south of the border, or Mexicans crossing the border to find work in the US. This is a hard world; the circumstances are usually uncomfortable and the characters resilient, defensive, and put upon. The stories are on the harsh side but very real - California and the south west is certainly not all Palm Springs and Beverly Hills. Muñoz is the first in his family to attend university and he wears his Harvard education lightly with his writing, however the awards that the show more individual stories have collected along their journey into this admirable but gritty collection reveal a considerable talent. show less
These loosely collected short stories focus on Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans living in the greater Fresno area. Many are farmworkers--both native born citizens and illegal aliens, young, old, lonely, in relationships, straight, gay. Mothers, fathers, childless.
I enjoyed these while reading them, but I am unsure if I will remember them for very long. I am very much looking forward to the California Book Club webinar with Munoz.
I enjoyed these while reading them, but I am unsure if I will remember them for very long. I am very much looking forward to the California Book Club webinar with Munoz.
Stunningly melonchotic. Is that a word? Beautifully written. A collection of short stories about farm workers near Fresno Ca. Some simply devastated me but they came together as a whole. Beautiful
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9+ Works 350 Members
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- Members
- 69
- Popularity
- 440,116
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (4.67)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 5
- ASINs
- 1
