Las Biuty Queens
Stories
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
"A dazzling collection of stories based in part on his/her life... Readers will want to consume these bonbons slowly because they are so rich and delicious."
– Gay City News
"Chilean American writer Ojeda dazzles and devastates in this rich collection about a group of trans Latinx immigrants as they try to make it in New York City."
– Publishers Weekly
Drawing from his/her own experience as a trans performer, sex worker, and undocumented immigrant, Iván Monalisa Ojeda chronicles the lives of Latinx queer and trans immigrants in New York City. Whether she is struggling with addiction, clashing with law enforcement, or is being subjected to personal violence, each character choses her own path of defiance, often responding to her fate with with irreverent dark humor. What emerges is the portrait of a group of friends who express unquestioning solidarity and love for each other, and of an unfamiliar, glittering and violent, New York City that will draw readers in and swallow them whole.
On every page, Iván Monalisa's unique narrative talent is on display as he/she artfully transforms the language of the streets, making it his/her own -- rich with rhythm and debauchery. This bold new collection positions Ojeda as a fresh and necessary voice within the canon of world literature.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Chilean American writer Ojeda (Never, Ever Ever, Coming Down) dazzles and devastates in this rich collection about a group of trans Latinx immigrants as they try to make it in New York City. Stories of drug addiction and police brutality, street queens and beauty contests portray the danger, decadence, and joy in the characters' lives. "In the Bote" follows a sex worker arrested by the police and sent to Rikers Island (or "Las Rocas"), where their survival depends on finding a bed close to the guard's station and befriending the right inmates. In "Emergency Room," the protagonist goes to the emergency room when they hear voices, a result of smoking weed laced with PCP. The two-page opener "Overdose" brings ghostly images and aching spirituality to a protagonist's visions brought on by crystal meth. While the characters face horrific hardships, usually at the hands of law enforcement and violent clients, members of their community keep them afloat. As one queen says while explaining that her father used to pay people to beat her up, "A queen is like a rubber ball. They can throw us out of moving cars, but we just bounce right back up on our feet and keep walking." Throughout, Ojeda proves to be a captivating presence on the page.
