Gary Soto is the author of eleven poetry collections for adults, most notably New and Selected Poems, a 1995 finalist for both the Los Angeles Times Book Award and the National Book Award. Soto draws out the difficult lives of these characters with quiet humor, and seems to get totally into their heads in a way that makes them seem real.more I really felt like I was going back in time, even though it wasn't that long ago. Soto captures so much detail about life on the streets for these men living on the edge of society - two are bank guards when the book opens, and the other a down on his luck poet. Soto draws out the difficult lives of these characters with quiet humor, and seems to get totally into The story follows three characters whose lives intersect in the Fruitvale section of Oakland throughout the late 80's and early 90's. The story follows three characters whose lives intersect in the Fruitvale section of Oakland throughout the late 80's and early 90's. What do you spend your last $100 on when you have no way to get more money? What about your last $5? It's really quite fascinating. It's about what happens when a non-homeless person becomes homeless. He can (and does) descibe a dog taking a dump and makes it important and meaningful. But Gary Soto, the poet, packs meaning and beauty into every detail of this book. I've read other books and short stories that describe mundane things. I've never read any of his poetry, and I'm not that interested in poetry, but he writes prose like the best poet that ever existed.
It's about what happens when a non-homeless person becomes Gary Soto is a poet. By doing so, he achieves universality."-Gerald Haslam. Rather than falling into the trap of politicizing his subjects?blaming Anglos, blaming the church, blaming anyone at all?he simply presents the lives of these three men with emphasis on the minute details, the micro-decisions, the often-perverse impulses that actually comprise so much of human existence. The ups and downs of the lives of men who are always looking for a way to earn a cup of coffee with plenty of sugar and cream, their desperate ingenuity, their hunger, their dauntless optimism have never been brought to life as vividly as in this sweet, sad, funny trio of interlocking stories by one of America's most original writers."An utterly distinct literary experience. Before he knows it, he is living in an abandoned quonset hut and then on the street, where he crosses paths with poet Silver Mendez, a survivor of the 1960s whose luck has run out, and Gus Hernandez, a compadre from his days at the bank. This is the 1990s, and upward mobility in the city requires resources that Roberto is short of. But Roberto's future isn't the one he was looking forward to. Before he knows it, he is living in an abandoned quonset hut and then on the street, "I'm outta here! I got a future!" crows Roberto Silva when he is down-sized out of his job as a security guard at a bank in Oakland. "I'm outta here! I got a future!" crows Roberto Silva when he is down-sized out of his job as a security guard at a bank in Oakland.
0 kommentar(er)
