Brownsville (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780316146807)

"Terrific stories...Just about perfect" (Entertainment Weekly): Brownsville is the collection that established Oscar Casares as one of the leading voices in the literature of the modern Southwest.
At the country's edge, on the Mexican border, Brownsville, Texas, is a town like many others. It is a place where people work hard to create better lives for their children, where people bear grudges against their neighbors, where love blossoms only to fade, and where the only real certainty is that life holds surprises.
In his sparkling debut, Oscar Casares creates a cast of unforgettable characters confronting everyday possibilities and contradictions: Diego, an eleven-year-old whose job at a fireworks stand teaches him a lesson in defiance; Bony, a young man whose discovery of a monkey's head on his lawn drives a wedge between him and his parents; Lola, whose stolen bowling ball offers an unlikely chance for change. The achievement of Brownsville lies in its remarkably honest portrayal of these lives -- the lives of people whose dreams and yearnings and regrets are at once unique and universal.
"Marvelous...Brownsville resembles early Steinbeck work more than anything else." --Carolyn See, Washington Post

Author: Oscar Casares
ISBN-10: 0316146803
ISBN-13: 9780316146807
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Language: English
Published: 03/06/2003
Pages: 208
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.50lbs
Size: 8.20h x 5.40w x 0.60d
Award: ALA Notable Books - Winner

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 12/15/2002 pg. 1785
Library Journal 02/15/2003 pg. 171
Publishers Weekly 02/24/2003 pg. 52
New York Times 03/23/2003 pg. 20
Entertainment Weekly 03/28/2003 pg. 73
BookPage 06/01/2003 pg. 14