www.ambiente.us SEPTEMBER | SEPTIEMBRE 2009
Cuentos Del Centro | Stories from the Latino Heartland
(Scapegoat Press, 2009)
Review by Charlie Vázquez
As Carlos Cumpián points out in the introduction: The writers assembled in this
anthology hail from diverse places and bring their regional spices to add to the
literary salsa that is Cuentos Del Centro —California, Colombia, Texas, Peru. This
was a revealing volume for me to read, since I’ve only experienced Latino
culture on the American coasts: Puerto Rican, Colombian, and Cuban culture on
the East Coast and Mexican and Central-American culture in the west—with
sprinklings of others. The stories in this book were composed by writers in the
Latino Writers Collective in Kansas City, Missouri.
Chato Villalobos’s opening story “Barrio Angels” begins, “Barrio Angels. That’s
how we referred to our sistas from the barrio that were on the honor roll but liked
kicking it with us bad boys when their papis weren’t watching.” The tales begin
here and weave through myriad experiences and perspectives, from Xánath’s
Caraza’s mystical and erotic fiction account “At the Café on Huanjue Xiang
Street” (It traversed her; it lightly brushed her nipples and sex until it made her
lose consciousness), to the very serious and enraging “Hijo con Filo” by Miguel M.
Cuentos Del Centro | Stories from the Latino Heartland
(Scapegoat Press, 2009)
Review by Charlie Vázquez
As Carlos Cumpián points out in the introduction: The writers assembled in this
anthology hail from diverse places and bring their regional spices to add to the
literary salsa that is Cuentos Del Centro —California, Colombia, Texas, Peru. This
was a revealing volume for me to read, since I’ve only experienced Latino
culture on the American coasts: Puerto Rican, Colombian, and Cuban culture on
the East Coast and Mexican and Central-American culture in the west—with
sprinklings of others. The stories in this book were composed by writers in the
Latino Writers Collective in Kansas City, Missouri.
Chato Villalobos’s opening story “Barrio Angels” begins, “Barrio Angels. That’s
how we referred to our sistas from the barrio that were on the honor roll but liked
kicking it with us bad boys when their papis weren’t watching.” The tales begin
here and weave through myriad experiences and perspectives, from Xánath’s
Caraza’s mystical and erotic fiction account “At the Café on Huanjue Xiang
Street” (It traversed her; it lightly brushed her nipples and sex until it made her
lose consciousness), to the very serious and enraging “Hijo con Filo” by Miguel M.
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Morales, which studies the inner-world of a young field worker, whose family gets
sprayed with pesticide, thanks to a cruel crop duster’s pilot.
Some of the stories discuss intergenerational themes (Whitney Boyd’s “No
Tengas Vergùenza” and Linda Rodriguez’s “Why I Can’t Draw”); others recall
toxic youth and folly (Maria Vasquez Boyd’s “Lucy in the Sky”). José Faus’s “El
Regreso” is a haunting an introspective look at the longing felt for fathers who
travel afar to work for too long, and Nathalie Olmsted’s “The Farmhouse”
illustrates the terrifying crossroads where humanity and racism intersect, as
witnessed by a Mexican family seeking refuge in a white family’s farmhouse, as
tornados threaten to wreak destruction and terror on the open plains of Kansas.
Cuentos Del Centro features many other works I wish I could elaborate on here
and is a must-read for any collector of original Latino fiction, as it’s written by
very different writers in varying phases of their craft and career. I’m looking
forward to more, guys!
To purchase this book, click here: http://www.amazon.com/Cuentos-del-Centro-
Stories-Heartland/dp/0979129125
CLICK HERE for more Charlie Vázquez
Copyright 2009| Ambiente. Do not reproduce without prior authorization.
sprayed with pesticide, thanks to a cruel crop duster’s pilot.
Some of the stories discuss intergenerational themes (Whitney Boyd’s “No
Tengas Vergùenza” and Linda Rodriguez’s “Why I Can’t Draw”); others recall
toxic youth and folly (Maria Vasquez Boyd’s “Lucy in the Sky”). José Faus’s “El
Regreso” is a haunting an introspective look at the longing felt for fathers who
travel afar to work for too long, and Nathalie Olmsted’s “The Farmhouse”
illustrates the terrifying crossroads where humanity and racism intersect, as
witnessed by a Mexican family seeking refuge in a white family’s farmhouse, as
tornados threaten to wreak destruction and terror on the open plains of Kansas.
Cuentos Del Centro features many other works I wish I could elaborate on here
and is a must-read for any collector of original Latino fiction, as it’s written by
very different writers in varying phases of their craft and career. I’m looking
forward to more, guys!
To purchase this book, click here: http://www.amazon.com/Cuentos-del-Centro-
Stories-Heartland/dp/0979129125
CLICK HERE for more Charlie Vázquez
Copyright 2009| Ambiente. Do not reproduce without prior authorization.
