Chango's Fire

Chango's Fire
Author: Ernesto Quinonez
Publisher: Harper Collins
Total Pages: 296
Release: 2010-10-12
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0062030434

A young man seeks a better life in Spanish Harlem—even as he helps burn it down—in this “searing portrait of a community at the tipping point” (Booklist). In New York City’s Spanish Harlem, Julio and Maritza are each searching for a path that will give their lives meaning, no matter how shadowed by controversy. Julio is an arsonist for hire, pocketing thousands of dollars from investors eager to capitalize on more expensive real estate. But when he has reason to stop setting his neighborhood ablaze and vows to change his ways, Julio’s employers threaten his life—and the lives of those close to him. Maritza, meanwhile, has become the pastor of a progressive Pentecostal church—the perfect cover for the scam she’s running. For the right price, she’ll make anyone an American citizen. With a cast of characters as colorful as the city itself, Ernesto Quiñonez brings a vibrant community and landscape to life in this follow-up to his acclaimed novel Bodega Dreams

Bodega Dreams

Bodega Dreams
Author: Ernesto Quiñonez
Publisher: Vintage
Total Pages: 224
Release: 2015-01-21
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0804154058

In this "thriller with literary merit" (Time Out New York), a stunning narrative combines the gritty rhythms of Junot Diaz with the noir genius of Walter Mosley. Bodega Dreams pulls us into Spanish Harlem, where the word is out: Willie Bodega is king. Need college tuition for your daughter? Start-up funds for your fruit stand? Bodega can help. He gives everyone a leg up, in exchange only for loyalty—and a steady income from the drugs he pushes. Lyrical, inspired, and darkly funny, this powerful debut novel brilliantly evokes the trial of Chino, a smart, promising young man to whom Bodega turns for a favor. Chino is drawn to Bodega's street-smart idealism, but soon finds himself over his head, navigating an underworld of switchblade tempers, turncoat morality, and murder. "Bodega is a fascinating character. . . . The story [Quiñonez] tells has energy and verve." —The New York Times Book Review

Christmas in Austin

Christmas in Austin
Author: Benjamin Markovits
Publisher: Faber & Faber
Total Pages: 480
Release: 2019-11-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0571363180

'A novel that everyone should read before they face their own family Christmas.' The Times When the four Essinger children gather in Austin for Christmas, they all bring their news. Nathan wants to become a federal judge. Susie's husband has taken a job in England. Jean has asked her boyfriend and (once-married) boss to meet her family. Paul has broken up with Dana, mother of their son Cal. But their parents have plans, too, and Liesel, the materfamilias, has invited Dana and Cal to stay, hoping to bring them back together. As the week unfolds, each of the Essingers has to confront the tensions and conflicts between old families and new.

Brownsville

Brownsville
Author: Oscar Casares
Publisher: Hachette+ORM
Total Pages: 114
Release: 2008-12-04
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 0316055174

"Terrific stories...Just about perfect" (Entertainment Weekly): Brownsville is the collection that established Oscar Casares as one of the leading voices in the literature of the modern Southwest. At the country's edge, on the Mexican border, Brownsville, Texas, is a town like many others. It is a place where people work hard to create better lives for their children, where people bear grudges against their neighbors, where love blossoms only to fade, and where the only real certainty is that life holds surprises. In his sparkling debut, Oscar Casares creates a cast of unforgettable characters confronting everyday possibilities and contradictions: Diego, an eleven-year-old whose job at a fireworks stand teaches him a lesson in defiance; Bony, a young man whose discovery of a monkey's head on his lawn drives a wedge between him and his parents; Lola, whose stolen bowling ball offers an unlikely chance for change. The achievement of Brownsville lies in its remarkably honest portrayal of these lives -- the lives of people whose dreams and yearnings and regrets are at once unique and universal. "Marvelous...Brownsville resembles early Steinbeck work more than anything else." --Carolyn See, Washington Post

The Latinx Urban Condition

The Latinx Urban Condition
Author: Crescencio Lopez-Gonzalez
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Total Pages: 181
Release: 2020-01-17
Genre: Literary Criticism
ISBN: 1498570275

The Latinx Urban Condition brings interdisciplinary cultural theory and U.S. Latinx urban literature into conversation, focusing on the realities and urban experiences of Latinx living in major cities in the United States from the 1960’s to the present. As a cultural studies analyst of U.S. Latinx urban literature and culture, the book focuses on analyzing the works of Latinx authors who write about the cities in which they were raised and how growing up in these environments shaped their lives, their communities, and their future. Their fictional work helps us understand how the human and cultural tapestry of the Latinx community is inextricably connected to the spatial transformations taking place in many cities across the country, most notably within the cities in which the narratives take place. The main purpose is to analyze the symbolic realities lived by the characters in order to understand how Latino families and communities are experiencing displacement under instituted neoliberal policies, a process known as development and progress or gentrification. These processes are experienced through aspects of privatization, deregulation, homelessness, residential segregation, inequality, unemployment, and poverty.

Lucumi

Lucumi
Author: Monique Joiner Siedlak
Publisher: Oshun Publications, LLC
Total Pages: 51
Release: 2018-08-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 194883474X

Santeria, a religion whose origins can be traced back to the Yoruban tribes of West Africa. Brought into the United States and Latin American countries through the slave trade, it is now practiced in Cuba and the Latin American countries and has over 20,000 followers in the United States. Inside this book learn: The Practices of SanteriaThe Orisha of Truth Who Killed His Own MotherThe Reason Oshun Was Shunned After Giving Birth to TwinsThe Punishment Babalu Aye May Deliver Out As well as a few Santeria spells.

Voodoo and Afro-Caribbean Paganism

Voodoo and Afro-Caribbean Paganism
Author: Lilith Dorsey
Publisher: Citadel Press
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2005
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 9780806527147

Few religions are as misunderstood as Afro-Caribbean traditions like Voodoo, Yoruba, Candomble, Shango, Santeria, and Obeah. Even the most wide-ranging books about Paganism rarely include a discussion of the African earth religions.