Brownsville: Stories (Paperback)

~ (Author) "The boy rode in the car with his father..." (more)
Key Phrases: bottle rockets, Little Jesse, Black Snakes, Frank Castro (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"I thought writing everything down on paper was a good way to defend myself," says the unnamed narrator of "RG," one of the nine stories in Casares's fine debut collection set in the Texas border town of Brownsville. "RG" is related by a Hispanic bread-truck driver whose Anglo neighbor borrowed his best hammer and didn't return it-for four years, which is how long the narrator, without knocking on his neighbor's door, has waited. In the funniest story in the collection, "Chango," an unemployed 31-year-old, Bony, living with his parents and subsisting on a steady diet of beers, finds a monkey head in his yard and begins to think of it as his buddy and mascot. Alas, his unsympathetic parents want him to throw it away. Bony's father, a police sergeant, is prone to sarcastic explosions: "¨Estas loco o qu‚? You want to live with monkeys, I'll drive you to the zoo. Come on, get in the car, I'll take you right now." The barking of a neighbor's dog drives Marcelo Torres, an agricultural agent, to drastic and fantastic measures in "Charro." With skill and economy, Casares evokes the easygoing, plainspoken, yet slightly stagy voice of the guy on the neighboring bar stool-or the nearby cubicle-describing his weekend ("Here's a piece of advice for you: If a guy named Jerry Fuentes comes knocking at your front door trying to sell you something, tell him you're not interested and then lock the door," warns the opening line of "Jerry Fuentes"). Probing underneath the surface of Tex-Mex culture, Casares's stories, with their wisecracking, temperamental, obsessive middle-aged men and their dramas straight from neighborhood gossip are in the direct line of descent from Mark Twain and Ring Lardner.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"...Casares...remakes a territory into his on fictional universe..." -- Tim Gautreaux

"...clear eyed and fresh, full of sweet gravity and pensive humor..." -- Marilynne Robinson

"...clear, straightforward and gripping...all of it is emotionally and culturally accurate..." -- Stephen Dixon

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Back Bay Books; 1st edition (March 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0316146803
• ISBN-13: 978-0316146807
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #460,746 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you for introducing my neighbors Mr. Casares, November 18, 2003

By	"wb5mha" (Houston, TX USA) - See all my reviews

Frequently, when I mention that I used to live in Brownsville a member of the group listening takes me aside with a smile. We establish that they once lived there as well. We start relating stories about so and so Flores or Mr. Bahi who worked at "The Bridge". Being from this "Valley" border town is like being a member of a fraternity. We lived in a city with more personality than any other place I can think of. There is poverty, crime, danger and dirt. But the people are as colorful and charming as Mexicanamerican culture can produce. A family may be fresh from "across", starting to live the American dream next door to a family with a local history going back to the 1600's living next to a family of "Anglos" from Houston. I know all the people in Mr. Casares' short stories and plenty more with wacky or sad or funny or loving tales to tell. They are not always nice and far from perfect but they are fascinating and they are real.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book is so funny, October 19, 2006

By	C. Arnold "Latin reader" (Brownsville, Texas) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Brownsville: Stories (Paperback)

I love this book. I read it back in 2003, when it first came out. I had the pleasure of going to one of Oscar's readings in 2003 and I thought he made the story come alive even more. I see that someone wrote a really nasty review of the book and it discouraged 24 people from reading the book, that's awful. She based her review on the fact that Oscar is handsome, therefore, not worth reading as if he got a book published because he was handsome or charming. It's just plain stupid to think like that. Everyone I know that has read this book found it to be one of the best books they ever read. I just lent it to a friend that just moved to Brownsville because the stories are so colorful, truthful, and typical of Brownsville that I thought she should read it. Don't be discouraged in reading this book just because someone thought the author was full of himself, that's totally independent of the book.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars one of my all time favorites, July 19, 2006

By	Tom (Austin) - See all my reviews

I was a guero living in the Valley for several years and pretty much any evocation of that place gets me misty-eyed. (The line "Everybody has their Harlingen" from the film Selena gets me every time) This book is spot-on. Ni una false note. But the best thing is that these stories are great even if you've never been there. As another reviewer said, these sad funny stories are full of grace. I'll never forget these characters. This kind of artless, unpretentious narration has got to be the hardest kind to pull off. Really great writing.