Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780380794850
ISBN number: 0380794853
Label: Harper Perennial
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 256
Printing Date: April 06, 1999
Publishing house: Harper Perennial
Sale Popularity Level: 670200
Studio: Harper Perennial
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Product Description:
The scrublands of South Texas, the warm coastland of the Gulf of Mexico, a cinderblock flophouse near the produce fields of South Florida: all are borderlands of mixed blood and spilled blood, of generations forged in fight, failure, and hope. In this extraordinary collection of short fictions, the acclaimed author of In the Rogue Blood and Red Grass River journeys from the nineteenth century Mexican frontier to the borderlands of the present day in eight unforgettable tales of love, vengeance, and violence.
Within these pages we meet Don Sebastian Cabrillo Mayor Cortes y Mendoza, a powerful and iron-willed landowner, now reduced to howling at the moon from behind madhouse bars; an illegal immigrant whose offer of love from a flawed beauty will echo both in his future and in his past; a Texas woman born into a life that will either kill her or take a lifetime to survive; and many more of the people occupying the Borderlands. Bold, honest, and humane, these magnificent stories represent some of the best writing from one of the most original and authentic voices in contemporary American fiction.
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Rated by buyers 
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I'm not gonna say a whole lot, but these fine stories will throw emotions at you, that you've never ever felt before in your life. You won't even know it hit ya!!!
Rated by buyers 
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This book is a collection of eight short stories, some are better than others but not one is bad. The very first story is about a rich Mexican landlord (hacienda owner) of "noble" decesent from Spanish ancestors. He is not the worst guy in the world and he loves his wife and children. However, he has no social conciounse and does not question his elite and privliged status which comes at the expense of so many other people. He takes his blessed life for granted, thinking it the "natural" order of things. The peons on his estate live miserable lives of drugery while he lavishes in a fine mansion and does no work. Never does it occur to him that this situation is complety unjust. He views thieves and bandits who steal from him as scum but what other option do they have, either they become theives or stay peons on some rich landlords estate. He is ruthless with these thieves who steal only a fraction of his wealth but life eventually pays him back for his privilaged existence which is founded on such total social and economic injustice. Then again, the thieves are low lives without morales but the society they inhabit contributes to them becoming so evil. This story is another tale where the morality of the main character is ambigious as is the morality of that characters adversaries. The reader feels kind of sorry for the rich landlord in this story but also feels that he kind of deserved what he got. Their are two stories about Mexican illegal immigrants who pick fruit for money in America and live harsh lives of poverty. They are exploited and betrayed at every turn, even by members of their own race. "Texas Women Blues" is by far the most distrubing piece of writing I have read from Blake because instead of tough guys killing each other in filthy ways it documents the lonely and disturbed existence of a beautiful but neglacted and abused young women. She is betrayed over and over and also has bad luck. What happens to this poor young girl, she is only 17, is sick, her innocence and ignorance is used against her as a weapon by older, seasoned, men. They misled and trap her and she is misused and abused sexually. She is never the same after this and her whole life from this point on is warped because of one horrific night. Her misguided trust in strangers and her passive nature were unwise in such a cold, ruthless world run on exploitation. Her downward spiral is a terrible thing to behold because she really was a nice, decent, intelligent girl who would have had a bright future if she had any parental guidance. But instead she is cast into the world alone and unguared and the inevitable explotation of the innocent occures. My favorite story in this book however is the Ref, I cold really relate to this story because I identified with the main character. He was always second best to this guy he went to school with, Mato. This guy was no loser but he was always a step behind Mato who won every contest they had. This two were both boxers and they both wanted the same girl. They fight for her and the other guy wins and goes of with the girl and gets to have sex with her while the guy who losses the fight goes home alone all beat up. If that was not bad enough his ambitons to become a boxer are spoiled by the same guy. He fights him three times and losses all three times. And if that was not bad enough the girl that they fought over in high school comes back into the main characters life. At this point the main character has quit boxing and become a referee, which he is good at. The girl he knew from high school and him have a relationship but one night they run into Mato, who is now a boxing champion. History repeats itself and just like Mato took the main character's girl in high school he takes her again as adults. This girl is hot but untrustworthy, she has no loyality and is always looking for the bigger, better deal. She leaves the main character to go with Mato a second time. Once was bad enough, but to leave the main character twice, for the same guy, talk about rubbing salt in the wound and adding insult to injury! However, the main character, the ref, has the last laugh, because he is officating Mato's subsequent title defense. When Mato brings the girl with him to ringside, the main character decides enough is enough. His revenge will similtaniously distrub and satisfy you, a characteristic common to all of Blake's writing I notice. This collection is great.
Rated by buyers -
Aside from a little story about an earthquake that I just didn't get, I though this book was absolutely superb. The very first story, called "Runaway Horses" (I think) had more action and insight than most 500-page novels. One reviewer said that Blake loves violence. I think the opposite is true. I believe he abhors it, and that's why he writes about it with such passion. This isn't like a sugar-coated news story. Instead, it's blood and guts and heartbreak and every emotion that goes with tragedy. It's like reading Cormac McCarthy after a careful editing by John Steinbeck to make every sentence glass smooth. A+++++
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