Customer Reviews

Interesting Monsters

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Most of the "fictions" in this interesting collection seem to be fragments of a novel, a novel about the rocky romance of Mark and Dean, told out of chronological sequence and with differing narrators, including that of a homophobic social-climbing San Juan realtor who gets her comeuppance ("Property Values"). I particularly like "Quintessence" and "Other People's Complications"two stories about the impermeability of hearts (gay and straight, respectively.

There are several amusing tales not involving Mark and Dean ("Losing count", "Flatware"). Alas, there are also some failed experimental pieces: "A Small Indulgence", "Rog and Venus Become an Item", and, especially, "Death by bricolage." These are probably their progenitor's favorites, but the stories (in contrast to these "experimental fictions") in the book are well-crafted, insightful, often moving, and sometimes hilarious.

Now and then books pop up that cause a stir in the naive reader - a stir that proves once again that good literature is as alive as an evolving medium as any of the arts. Visual arts are perhaps easier to categorize into schools or trends and such labelling often promotes more transient interest in works of questionable value than providing the mind expanding function of the new, the changed, the unique.

Literature is not so easily codified. While the evidence of our current increased reading habits becomes more evident, the usual best-seller hype too often submerges unique new voices. Such is the case with Aldo Alvarez. Though acknowledged in circles of informed writers and critics and readers of literary magazines, Alvarez seems to explode on the scene with INTERESTING MONSTERS like a breath of fresh literary air. Alvarez himself takes care to inform us of his position in the ReModernism school (and I'll let you read his precis about that without diluting the wit and bite!). This is not a book of short stories: this is a theme and variations on the myth and reality and ultimate viability of interpersonal relationships. Yes, the relationship explored is between two gay men, and in electing to fast forward, flash back, daudle, and pause for amusing roulades, Alvarez creates an atmosphere for self examination that is universal. The "interesting monsters" of the title appear to be the schisms in each of our personalities that surface and retreat at times with disatrous/amusing results. This little book is packed with humor, with tenderness, with sheer professorial excursions into the English language. Some readers may find it not well tied or a bit obtuse, but those "faults" are easily healed with subsequent reaings - once you understand the enormously invigorating new style passing before your eyes and seeping into your brain. A fine book by a fine writer - and observor!

No, this is not about monsters, but Alvarez is able to insert the theme or mention of monsters of a sort into each of these lightly interlocking stories. Mark, the brilliant yet scattered musician, is one of the lead characters in several stories. Others include Mark's partner Dean, and the monster he faces in a calculating real estate fraud in Puerto Rico. While many of the consistent themes of gay fiction are included, Alvarez is able to delicately cover familiar territory with a deft style.

Written in a clean, eloquent and thought-provoking style, Alvarez obviously knows good writing...

This is very special book in that treats relationships with the softness and awareness that borders on brilliance. I loved most of it, it gave me a feeling of well being and of being in tune.
The author is coming to Berkeley and I am looking forward to his reading. Well done.

I had heard about this book from friends of mine in San Francisco, where I live, and I couldn't wait to read it. I have to say that Mr. Alvarez can write, and he knows how to put words together. But he doesn't know how to write a story. I kept waiting for things to move together in a way that made for enjoyable reading, but all the time I kept thinking that Mr. Alvarez was writing for himself and not giving any thought to the reader. He lost me in his forced symbolism and his strained surrealism. I guess he's read too many Latin American novelists and he thinks that he's supposed to be mystical. I am sure he'll write a really wonderful short story collection someday, when he's thinking of his readers first. There are rules to writing stories. Mr. Alvarez should learn them. But, it was a good effort.

I find a lot of collections of short stories have that aroma of M.F.A. program to them: they're samey, predictable, tame, bloodless, by-the-book, trendy, with maybe a few features that distinguish them from each other and from the Big Name Author books they're parroting. Aldo Alvarez's collection constantly surprises, engages both my emotions and my mind, and succesfully breaks the rules; hopefully, it will also set a trend for books in their own genre, with few or no equals. I feel like I've discovered a new favorite author; I've just read INTERESTING MONSTERS a second time, and I can't seem to get enough. I strongly recommend it to my friends.

Aldo Alvarez has always been a brilliant writer, now it's time for the rest of the world to know it. Please don't allow categories to disuade you from picking this book up; the stories here speak to humanity, the heart, relationships and the mind. Alvarez has that most elusive of writers' talents, the ability to make you hear his characters speak, and they speak frankly. This is literature, pure and simple, and if the written word is important to you, this book should be as well.

Alvarez has put together a wonderfully eclectic, yet unified, collection of stories that go right to the heart of the struggle for intimacy in a fragmented world. Whether it's the intimacy of family members, lovers, or even just two men on a blind date, Alvarez never sells his characters or the reader short. These are tales told with great sensitivity and with an eye on that extra insight that makes the mundane sacred; the gloom oddly filled with light; and even the satire, tinged with a pathos that goes straight for the mark. It's hard to choose a favorite among the many gems included, but I really loved and appreciated 'Quintessence' and 'Public Displays of Affection' for the honesty and candor of their characters; 'Losing Count' for its concise rendition of the strange and ominous nature of male intimacy in a traditional smalltown setting; and, 'Fixing A Shadow' for its meditations on the ghostliness of art and life, memory, and even the present moment. There's a Zen honesty in all Alvarez's stories, exemplified here; an aunthentic voice that is refreshing to witness. And he's full of fun, masterfully weaving just the right amount of humor into situations of immense gravity. A gifted writer, well worth reading.

In his first short story collection, Aldo Alvarez bounces us from sublime, stripped-down emotion ("Heat Rises" and "Fixing a Shadow") to hilarious, over-the-top surrealism ("Rog & Venus Become an Item" and "Death by Bricolage"). But through it all, we are reminded that we, all of us, search for the same thing: to love and to be loved. I look forward to Alvarez's second collection.

I am a WASP, and have not had much exposure to Hispanic-American gay culture at all, until I came across this well written, slyly funny, tender, unblinking, unforegettable collection of short stories.Aldo Alvarez is skillful at showing character in a few lines. One of the stories, "Property Values" is a acidly funny response to homophiba, and AIDS phobia.Well worth reading, even if one is neither gay nor WASP.