Guatemalan Rhapsody
Stories
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A vibrant debut story collection—poignant, unflinching, and immersive—masterfully moving between sharp wit and profound tenderness, Guatemalan Rhapsody offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of an ever-changing country, the people who claim it as home, and those who no longer do
Ranging from a custodian at an underfunded college to a medicine man living in a temple dedicated to San Simon, the patron saint of alcohol and cigarettes, the characters in these stories find themselves at defining moments in their lives, where sacrifices may be required of them, by them, or for them.
In “Saint Dismas,” four orphaned brothers pose as part of a construction crew, stopping cars along the highway and robbing anyone foolish enough to hit the brakes. In “Heart Sleeves,” two wannabe tattoo artists take part in a contest, where one of them hopes to win not only first place but also the heart of his best friend’s girlfriend. And, in “Fight Sounds,” a character who fancies himself a Don Juan is swept up in the commotion of an American film crew shooting a movie in his tiny town, until the economic and sexual politics of the place are turned on their head.
Across this collection, Lemus’s characters test their loyalty to family, community, and country, illuminating the ties that both connect us and constrain us. Guatemalan Rhapsody explores how we journey from the circumstances that we are forged by, and whether the ability to change our fortunes lies in our own hands or in those of another. Revealing the places where beauty, desperation, love, violence, and hope exist simultaneously, Jared Lemus’s debut establishes him as a major new voice in the form.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lemus debuts with an assured collection in which Guatemalan characters reckon with past traumas and pursue new opportunities. In "A Cleansing," the unnamed narrator runs a laundry business out of his house and takes in a young woman named Gloria after she's kicked out of a convent. When customers complain of missing clothes, the narrator suspects Gloria, then discovers a shocking truth while snooping among her belongings. "Caídas" follows Sergio, self-appointed caretaker of the waterfall and swimming hole where his brother drowned as a boy years earlier. More tragedy ensues after a visitor graffitis the site. In "Fight Sounds," a man named Antonio is excited to work on a Hollywood film shoot when it sets up camp in his village, but the arrival of exotic foreign laborers and movie stars leads to some messy drama. The characters who have left Guatemala fare no better, among them two friends in the U.S. who practice drawing tattoos on each other in "Heart Sleeves," hoping to land an apprenticeship at a parlor. Lemus probes his characters' self-defeating tendencies without losing sight of the structural forces that constrain their choices. These bleak yet clear-eyed stories ache with life.
