Shorts [Paperback]

Alberto Fuguet (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 8, 2005

A genre-bending collection of tales from one of Latin America’s most radically original minds

In Shorts, Alberto Fuguet brilliantly chronicles the occasionally bizarre, unceasingly turbulent existence of the geographically and emotionally displaced.

From the tale of a childless Chilean couple with an antiseptic life philosophy to an account of a desperate man who "disappears" himself in Texas, dreaming that someone actually wants to find him, Shorts opens our eyes to the reality of rich kids from poor countries swilling their cosmopolitans in New York, scared to death of their own homelands, and shows the influence of American pop culture on the hearts and minds of those who have never set foot in "Yankee Bohemia."

Unsettling and enlightening, Shorts conveys the American phenomenon of self-invention at its most extreme, as the culturally confounded rage against deflated fantasies in the face of obstinate realities.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ten years ago Fuguet burst onto the Latin American scene with a coming-of-age novel called Mal Onda, published in the U.S. as Bad Vibes (1997). He and like-minded confreres formed a literary movement called McOndo, another cheeky rip on Macondo, the imaginary kingdom of García Márquez, and declared themselves resolutely anti-magical realism. (In an interview Fuguet snarls, "My grandmother doesn't fly. Does yours?") The initial shock of McOndo has passed, and Fuguet matured gracefully over his next few novels, including Movies of My Life, published here last year. In this series of shorts, his characters are still largely "rich little kids from poor countries," roaming the U.S.A. on trust funds while seeking the grail of North American movie culture. The book is uneven, but the best of their tales are terrific. Listing the premises-e.g., in "Truth or Consequences," a young Chilean embezzles funds from a family firm and flees to the American Southwest on a booze-filled journey of self-discovery after his stylish wife, Natalia, leaves him-can't convey Fuguet's mix of Chilean and Hollywood cultures, which gives these pieces a wonderful double vision-like quality. Like his hero Manuel Puig, Fuguet uses pop culture to draw out the deepest yearnings of his bumbling leading men.
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From Booklist

Fuguet was born in Chile and lived in California until he was 13, collecting a bicultural experience and sensibility that he aptly uses in his writing. In this collection of short stories, his characters struggle with cultural identity within and between North and South America. Adolescents, facing the dreaded Prueba de Aptitud Academica, indulge in drinking and violence that gets out hand, creating a tragedy one character can never forget. A young man, adrift from his career in the U.S., returns to Chile with no clear ambition, discovering that he has lost his place in the world by going out in search of it. A self-absorbed young journalist seeks a career-changing interview and loses control of his subject. Fuguet's characters offer a perspective on young Latin Americans not fully at home in the U.S. or Latin America, captivated by pop culture and technology and hooked on fantasies about life in America that will inevitably lead to disappointment. Readers interested in Latin America and youth culture will enjoy this collection. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Harper Perennial (November 8, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060817143
• ISBN-13: 978-0060817145
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #286,677 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars McOnda? - que onda!, May 15, 2007

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This review is from: Shorts (Paperback)

I guess I'm just not a big McOnda fan - the movement seems to me to combine the worst of Latin American & North American culture. It just seems too superficial & solipsistic. However, Fuguete does have the skill to keep me interested in stuff I wouldn't normally go back to, so I'll give this one a 4. I found it more interesting that Films of My Life.