Books by Sergio Troncoso (SergioTroncoso.com)

Books by Sergio Troncoso

Sergio's weekly blog about writing, politics, and finance is at www.ChicoLingo.com. Click Chico Lingo Archive for a complete list of entries with hyperlinks. Subscribe to Chico Lingo on Kindle, or have Chico Lingo delivered to your email.

The son of Mexican immigrants, Sergio Troncoso has a rare knack for celebrating life. Writing in a straightforward, light-handed style reminiscent of Grace Paley and Raymond Carver, Troncoso spins passionate, thoughtful, and surprising stories that reflect his experience crossing linguistic and cultural borders. In his widely acclaimed story "Angie Luna," the tale of a feverish love affair in which a young man from El Paso rediscovers his Mexican heritage, Troncoso explores questions of self-identity and the ephemeral quality of love. "A Rock Trying to Be a Stone" is a story of three boys playing a dangerous game that becomes a test of character on the Mexican-American border. "My Life in the City" focuses on a transplanted Texan's yearning for companionship in New York City. "Remembering Possibilities" delves into the terror of a young man attacked in his apartment while he takes solace in memories of a lost love. Troncoso sets aside the polemics about social discomfort sometimes found in contemporary Chicano literature and concentrates instead on the moral and intellectual lives of his characters.

You can buy The Last Tortilla and Other Stories (University of Arizona Press, 1999) from:

University of Arizona Press (1-800-426-3797)
Amazon.com
Booksense.com (Local independent booksellers)

Winner of the Premio Aztlán for the best book by a new Chicano writer, and the Southwest Book Award from the Border Regional Library Association. Click here for discussion questions.

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Helmut Sanchez is a young researcher in the employ of renowned Yale professor Werner Hopfgartner. By chance, Helmut discovers a letter written decades ago by his boss mocking guilt over the Holocaust. Appalled, Helmut digs into the scholar's life and travels to Austria and Italy to uncover evidence of Hopfgartner's hateful past. Meanwhile, Hopfgartner's colleague and rival, Regina Neumann, wants to reveal the truth about Hopfgartner's sexual liaisons with vulnerable students before the professor's imminent retirement. Neumann traps Sarah Goodman, an insecure graduate student trying to find her place at Yale, into initiating formal charges of sexual harassment against Hopfgartner. Soon Helmut's intellectual quest for the truth metamorphoses into a journey of justice and blood- one with unforeseen consequences. Intelligent and literate, Troncoso's convention-challenging philosophical novel explores how a man of Mexican-German heritage navigates a complex moral universe, and how his experience reveals the differences and links between righteousness and evil in the quest for the truth. Click here for discussion questions.

You can buy The Nature of Truth: A Novel (Northwestern University Press, 2003) from:

Northwestern University Press (1-800-621-2736)
Amazon.com
Booksense.com (Local independent booksellers)

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Do you want suggestions for good books on Latino literature and Latino fiction? Take a look at Sergio Troncoso's growing list of novels, short story collections, poetry, books for children and young adults, and non-fiction books: Literary Latino: Latino Fiction.

Novel: The Nature of Truth: The First Three Chapters.

Short stories: Angie Luna, The Snake, A Rock Trying to be a Stone, and Espíritu Santo .

Essays: Terror and Humanity, Imagine Ysleta, A Day Without Ideas, and Fresh Challah; on Amazon Shorts, two more essays, Letter to my Young Sons: Part One and The Father is in the Details.