The Magic of Blood [Paperback]

Dagoberto Gilb (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 4, 1994

Dagoberto Gilb is a powerful and important new talent in American fiction. Fresh, funny, relentless, and beautifully crafted, his writing possesses that rare Chekhovian ability to perfectly capture the nuances of ordinary life and make it resonate with unexpected meaning.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Acclaimed Chicano writer Gilb's collection of short stories set in the American Southwest won the PEN Ernest Hemingway Foundation Award. $35,000 ad/promo. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

These plain-spoken stories take readers to construction sites and cheap rentals where chronically underemployed, necessarily mobile, struggling yet optimistic Texas Mexicans survive in an ungenerous world. Skilled laborers and tenuous families come alive in the undramatic settings and seethe with the blood and passion that transform ordinary events into the stuff of stories. In "Nancy Flores," a breathtaking depiction of first love flows into the enigmatically sordid fall of a youthful hero. "Winners on the Pass Line" pairs the fates of two restless visitors to Las Vegas who connect briefly and profoundly. Gilb's lesser stories meander into facile or abrupt endings, but the best are as unexpectedly beguiling and unforgettable as the arid stretches between their settings in El Paso and Los Angeles. Recommended for public libraries and area collections.
- Janet Ingraham, Worthington P.L., Ohio
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press; First Edition edition (June 4, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802133991
• ISBN-13: 978-0802133991
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #337,225 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dagoberto Gilb was born and raised in Los Angeles and lived as many years in El Paso. He now lives in Austin. Gilb's books have won the PEN/Hemingway Award and have been finalists for the PEN Faulkner and National Book Critics Circle Award. He edited Hecho en Tejas: An Anthology of Texas Mexican Literature, the canonical volume of Texas Mexican literature, which won the Southwest Book Award for nonfiction. Anthologized widely, recipient of awards including a Guggenheim and Whiting, his fiction and nonfiction have appeared in a range of magazines including Harper's, The New Yorker, and The Threepenny Review. Gilb spent most of his adult years as a construction worker and a journeyman, high-rise carpenter with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters. Writer-in-residence at the University of Houston-Victoria, he is also the executive director of Centro Victoria: Center for Mexican American Literature and Culture.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gritty, Real, Articulate, May 24, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Magic of Blood (Paperback)

Gilb's collection of short stories detail the lives of working class people (not heroes, per se) in a very true to life fashion. I can almost picture Mr. Gilb working with his hands on a high rise or on some odd job, observing what was going on around him and in his own life, preparing to write about what he saw and felt. His stories read that way, and I very much enjoyed this book each time I read it. For the record, the working class Mexican-American friends I have given this book to tell me it is authentic. A corporate suit wouldn't have been able to write it, and thank God Mr. Gilb is not a corporate suit. Hooray for the common man who thinks!

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even your Pops Will Love These Stories, September 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Magic of Blood (Paperback)

i'm reading gilb's book and i think it's incredible how good it is to read. "nancy flores" man i just loved her!! it was like he gets it all the whole experience of being young and in love with all of our first girlfriends. !!amor por vida!! i still lvoe her and i'm sick about it just like he is. and "romeros shirt" reminded me of my papi and it made me understand him and su vida and his work, he's in construction and he's got this old 55 he polishes (i even going to give this book to him to read and i think he's going to like to read it. and he won't read nothng!) check out "down in the west texsa town" which is killer about junkys. should I go on. yeah there was also "holywood" which is funny and so is "al in phoenix" about this mechanic who keeps working working working. really, this is good and it inspires me. i liked too many stories, i checked out this site because I want buy other books by him. i met him in austin and he's not rude! he's really funny and a good dude and esay to talk to, i liked him alot a bunch of people we're hanging out with him and he's a totally alright. a good writer, he's one of us, he's real.

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Stories, March 22, 2000

By 

Maria Gonzalez (from albuquerque, new mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Magic of Blood (Paperback)

i read "The Magic of Blood" because my mom told me to read an article the author wrote in the new yorker magazine a week ago. it was so wonderful, so moving and beautful to read. i couldn't stop reading. it was so sad, and so honest. i went to the bookstore and bought these stories in this collection. they are so good too, I just had to look for more of his books. I haven't even finished them all yet, but I am so happy I discovered this writer. especially read "Nancy Flores". almost as good as the new yorker article.