Recommended by the New York Times and NBC News, and called one of
the Best Books of the Year by Buzzfeed! The New York Times directs
readers to Retablos if you want to know "what's life really like on
the Mexican border." "Solis grew up just a mile from the Rio Grande
in El Paso, Texas, and he tells stories about his childhood and
coming of age, including his parents migration to the United States
from Mexico, his first encounter with racism and finding a Mexican
migrant girl hiding in the cotton fields."-Concepcion de Leon, New
York Times Seminal moments, rites of passage, crystalline
vignettes-a memoir about growing up brown at the U.S./Mexico
border. More praise for Octavio Solis's Retablos: "This is American
and Mexican literature a stone's throw from the always hustling El
Paso border."-Gary Soto, author of The Elements of San Joaquin "We
inhabit a border world rich in characters, lush with details,
playful and poignant, a border that refutes the stereotypes and
divisions smaller minds create. Solis reminds us that sometimes the
most profound truths are best told with crafted fictions--and he is
a master at it."-Julia Alvarez, author of How the Garcia Girls Lost
Their Accents " ... it's hard not to consider the border itself as
a representation of a 'terrible rift,' a split between homes,
communities, identities, generations. While reading this generous
and eye-opening account, it's easy to see how, for the country at
large, the rift has only deepened."-Arianna Rebolini, Buzzfeed Best
Books of Fall 2018 "Landing somewhere between Neil Gaiman and Juan
Rulfo, Solis secularizes the mythological by turning men and women
into saintly figures-like their criada [maid], Consuelo, and a
white priest who shows his family empathy-and monsters: border
agents who take his friends away and school bullies."-Michael Adam
Carroll, The Millions "There has never been a border book like
Retablos, a collection of smoldering epiphanies suffering the
baptizing waters of recall. . . ."-Roberto Ontiveros, San Antonio
Current "The book is rendered in tight, stand-alone recollections
rich with poetry and honesty. . . . If retablos are offerings, then
Solis' book is a gift of memory, not always pleasant, but always
true."-Beatriz Terrazas, Dallas Morning News "The experience of
reading his tightly contained memories in succession is a bit like
drawing old coins up from a wishing well. Filtered through veils of
distance and time, these scenes and reflections are wonderful and
weird flashes of childhood, adolescence and early adulthood in the
life of this particular Mexican American boy."-- Sophie Haigney,
San Francisco Chronicle "Octavio Solis' Retablos recounts a
'beautiful, messy' youth on the border. Though its title evokes
Mexican folk art, Retablos is closer in effect to that of French
pointillism. Its small dabs of vivid color produce a brilliant
cumulative effect."-Steven G. Kellman, The Texas Observer "In this
debut memoir, playwright Solis delivers top-notch vignettes of his
youth with riveting imagery and empathy, recounting--and
embellishing, he says--memories of growing up brown in El Paso,
Tex. . . . These brilliantly told stories of missteps and
redemption are a treat."--Publishers Weekly ". . .what struck me
most about each chapter was Solis's ability to plant a specific
image in your mind. With every retablo, you can see in ferocious
detail exactly what the author wants you to see, like a special
kind of telepathy. I found myself wanting to paint them."-Caitlyn
Reynolds, The Los Angeles Review of Books "In all, a beautiful,
evocative, and timely expression of border culture for every
collection."--Sara Martinez, Booklist "In this coming-of-age
memoir, a playwright illuminates the culture of the El Paso border
as he perceived it when he was young. . . . An intriguing work that
transcends category, drawing from facts but reading like
fiction."--Kirkus Reviews
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