La Bloga: POTENT LITTLE PORTRAITS OF BRIDES AND SINNERS

“In this gritty yet often comical debut collection, Christine Granados offers sharp, honest portraits of the people who cobble together decidedly unglamorous lives in El Paso known as “El Chuco” by its Mexican American inhabitants. Granados sets the tone with the first story, “The Bride,” where the narrator recounts her older sister’s dream to have a wedding like the ones pictured in glossy bride magazines:

“Rochelle was obsessed. Because all these ridiculous magazines never listed mariachis or dollar dances, she decided her wedding was going to have a string quartet, no bajo, horns, or anything, no dollar dance, and it was going to be in October. . . . I wasn’t going to tell her there is no “elegance’ to autumn in El Paso.””

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