The Candy Vendor’s Boy and Other Stories by Beatriz de la Garza, and: To a Widow with Children by Lionel G. García (review)

Reviews 311 The Candy Vendor’s Boy and OtherStories. By Beatriz de la Garza. (Houston: Arte Público Press, 1994. 220 pages, $9.95.) To a Widow with Children. By Lionel G. Garcia. (Houston: Arte Público Press, 1994. 263 pages, $19.95.) Arte Público Press has brought out a fine pair of fiction pieces: one a thought-provoking storycollection, the other an enjoyable and humorous novel; one the first book from an emerging and promising new writer, the other a new work from an award-winning novelist. The stories in Beatriz de la Garza’s debut collection focus on the sometimes harsh but frequently triumphant lives of Chícanos in twentieth-century Texas, ranging from turn-of-the-century tales of blatant racial hatred to contemporary stories of assimilation, self-doubt, and the Mexican-American’s search for place, equality, andjustice in Ameri­ can society. The title story of de la Garza’s collection is a touching tale of ayoung soldier home on leave in Austin before his unit is shipped to France during World War I. Daniel Aramberri, one of “only a handful of Mexicans” in his regiment, faces his uncertain future eagerly, and his return home—filled with reminders of the prejudice and igno­ rance he encountered as a child—becomes a bittersweet rite of passage. Similarly, “Pillars of Gold and Silver”features a young Chicana teacher who must also confront painful memories, not merely to accept her cultural heritage, but also as a first step toward reaching ayoung child she has agreed to tutor. A silent and sullen boy, the child is . . . nine, very close to ten. . . . The parents were dead. A violent death such as seemed endemic South of the Border, from the Rio Grande to Patagonia. Death from revolutional or political repression, crime or undifferentiated violence. . .. In effect, only when the protagonist finds her own Chicana voice can she help this bewildered, lost child find his. The eight stories in de la Garza’s The Candy Vendor’s Boy and Other Stories explore Hispanic characters struggling not merely to survive but to endure, to grow, to succeed in the United States. Thus, the stories must focus on obstacles facing these characters: poverty, cultural alienation, racial prejudice, ignorance, political turmoil, powerlessness. But throughout the book, de la Garza wisely (and deftly) avoids sentimentality and simplistic reasoning, opting instead to create stories that speak to human weaknesses, human foibles, and, ultimately, the grace and dignity ofhuman spirit. TheCandy Vendor’s Boy and OtherStoriesisan excellent first offering by a most promising writer. Beatriz de la Garza is afine, fine writerwho gives us engaging, memorable stories. Toa Widow with Childrenis the creation of a seasoned, award-winning author whose fiction has been likened to that of Marquez and Allende. This fourth novel by Lionel G. Garcia is afunny, tender portrait of life in a tiny south Texas town “inhabited by people steeped in a mixture of Catholicism, mysticism and witchcraft . . . [in] a land that produces onlyenough to keep hopes from evaporating like the sweat. .. required to work it.”The novel focuses on a beautiful widow and her four young children, a cute and cunning bunch who roll their own smokes, consider the town dump their private 312 WesternAmerican Literature playground, and dream of the heat and dust of their hometown ... of running off to exotic Laredo or the mysterious and cosmopolitan San Antonio. Complications are many. The children plan an elaborate con game that will net them enough money for the train fare out of town. Also, a “soldier of fortune [and] discredited colonel ofthe Mexican Revolution”arrivesin town, rides around on abicycle, attracts the attention of many (including the widow), and becomes the target of the jealousy of others. To a Widowwith Childrenis filled with love triangles, deception and betrayal, gossip, rumor, hatred, revenge, and love unrequited and star-crossed. It’sa fine, fun read. ROBERT HEADLEY Southern State Community College, Ohio Dirty White Boys. By Stephen Hunter. (New York: Random House, 1994. 433 pages, $21.00.) Dirty While Boys, a sensational crime novel set in Oklahoma, is a book that offers a steady parade of grotesque carnage, sexual abuse, psychotic and sociopathic behavior that is...