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Anywhere But
L.A. (Bilingual Press), by Daniel A. Olivas, is an unusual, highly readable collection of short
stories that often prompts the reader to ponder, “What just happened? Why?”
It is the mark of a good storyteller who encourages readers to buy into
his characters’ lives, without offering obvious answers or neat
resolutions. Daniel Olivas
achieves that in Anywhere But L.A.
The prose is simple
and straightforward, and in the strongest stories the characters and their
situations jump off the page. In “The
Fabricator,” Rigoberto recreates dead people as
“memorial fabrications,” presumably for families who want their loved ones
around a bit longer. The mood is
alternatively creepy, nonchalant, and even mystical.
In “Cheyne Walk Wine Bar: April 2, 1980,” Olivas
captures the moment in a British bar when Claudio and Miriam, on a semester
abroad from the States, could make something more of their friendship. Whether the duo take the leap, or not, is
left for the reader to ponder, but such ephemeral moments resonate with us long
after they become our micro-history.
Two stories focus
on priests having sex with girls, “El Padre” and “La Queenie,”
while in another, “Blue,” a young teenager gives away her baby for adoption
only to hear the news that her child has drowned in the pool of a well-to-do
family. Olivas
is not moralistic in these stories, but stays true to the characters’ feelings,
including their self-deceptions. The
young teenager believes she did the right thing; it is up to the reader to
decide whether or not she did.
In “La Queenie,” three characters, Bobby, Gramps, and Reyna
(a.k.a. ‘La Queenie’) interact perfectly in a story
about heritage and wisdom, myopia and love, that ends with a
surprising twist that will give the reader much to consider about what could
have been, what never was, and who helped us find our way.
Anywhere but
L.A. is a good collection of stories
that deserves to be read. Daniel Olivas is a writer who will take risks and surprise
you. His stories delve into the topical
themes of Latino and Chicano literature, and beyond.
This book review
appeared in the Sunday book section of the El
Paso Times on December 26, 2009.