在名为《邻居》的故事中，79岁的萨里塔刚刚拨打911报警，报告隔壁发生骚乱。萨丽塔不太喜欢她的邻居玛蒂尔德，她认为自己是个傻瓜，竟然忍受了那个打她的调情男友。但萨丽塔觉得有义务帮忙，因为马蒂尔德的母亲是她最好的朋友。“这是因为即使我答应过你，也没有在你的葬礼上唱歌，”她低声对死去的科玛德说。这一次，萨里塔对隔壁动荡局势的蓄意挑衅将一劳永逸地结束殴打。过去和现在交织在这个获奖的11个故事集中，涉及跨越地理和文化边界的移民。故事以加利福尼亚和墨西哥为背景，故事中的人物在生活中挣扎，包括虐待男友、与亲人分离和不忠的配偶，都在不安地寻求墨西哥过去和墨西哥裔美国人未来之间的平衡。埃尔南德斯用生动的笔触描绘了一幅拉美裔拼贴画，他们努力克服极端情况。一位女士确信，她的姐夫经常与男女同校生鬼混导致了她妹妹的心脏病发作，她一心想报复，即使这意味着要向布鲁杰里亚报仇。一名曾多次退学的年轻女子终于回家面对父亲性虐待的记忆，她无法逃离或忘记。临终前，查塔向女儿透露，当她在墨西哥一个小村庄长大时，她的初恋对象是一位美丽的妓女。生存、身份和文化冲突的主题是通过这个有趣而有趣的收藏品来编织的，加利福尼亚大学欧文的奇卡诺/拉丁裔文学奖得主。
Migrations and Other Stories
In the story entitled “The Neighbor,” seventy-nine-year-old Sarita has just called 911 to report a disturbance next door. Sarita doesn’t much like her neighbor Matilde and thinks she’s a fool to put up with the philandering boyfriend who beats her. But Sarita feels obligated to help because Matilde’s mother was her best friend. “That’s for not singing at your funeral, even though I promised,” she whispers to her dead comadre. And this time, Sarita’s deliberate provocation of the volatile situation next door will end the beatings once and for all. Past and present are interwoven in this award-winning collection of 11 stories dealing with migration across geographical and cultural boundaries. Set in California and Mexico, the characters in these stories struggle with all that life throws their way, including abusive boyfriends, separation from loved ones, and unfaithful spouses, all in an uneasy search for a balance between a Mexican past and a Mexican-American future. With vivid brushstrokes, Hernandez paints a collage of Latinas who work vigorously to overcome drastic situations. A woman is convinced that her brother-in-law’s constant fooling around with co-eds caused her sister’s heart attack, and she obsesses about getting revenge even if it means turning to brujeria. A young woman who has flunked out of college multiple times finally goes home to confront the memories of her father’s sexual abuse that she hasn’t been able to flee or forget. On her deathbed, Chata reveals to her daughter that when she was growing up in a small Mexican village, her first love was a beautiful prostitute. Themes of survival, identity, and cultural conflict are woven through the stories in this intriguing and entertaining collection, the winner of the University of California-Irvine’s Chicano / Latino Literary Prize.
OR
