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A vibrant debut story collection—poignant, unflinching, and immersive—masterfully moving between sharp wit and profound tenderness, Guatemalan Rhapsody offers a kaleidoscopic portrait of an ever-changing country, the people who claim it as home, and those who no longer do.
Ranging from a custodian at an underfunded college to a medicine man living in a temple dedicated to San Simon, the patron saint of alcohol and cigarettes, the characters in these stories find themselves at defining moments in their lives, where sacrifices may be required of them, by them, or for them.
In "Saint Dismas," four orphaned brothers pose as part of a construction crew, stopping cars along the highway and robbing anyone foolish enough to hit the brakes. In "Heart Sleeves," two wannabe tattoo artists take part in a contest, where one of them hopes to win not only first place but also the heart of his best friend's girlfriend. And, in "Fight Sounds," a character who fancies himself a Don Juan is swept up in the commotion of an American film crew shooting a movie in his tiny town, until the economic and sexual politics of the place are turned on their head.
Across this collection, Lemus's characters test their loyalty to family, community, and country, illuminating the ties that both connect us and constrain us. Guatemalan Rhapsody explores how we journey from the circumstances that we are forged by, and whether the ability to change our fortunes lies in our own hands or in those of another. Revealing the places where beauty, desperation, love, violence, and hope exist simultaneously, Jared Lemus's debut establishes him as a major new voice in the form.
"...Beautifully bleak...inventive...[The stories] offer welcome glimmers of hope." —Booklist (starred review)
"Assured...These clear-eyed stories ache with life." —Publishers Weekly
"Guatemalan Rhapsody is a dazzling collection of stories about dreamers, outlaws, holy men, and at least one waterfall tender. Jared Lemus is a young writer whose literary territory feels as expansive as his talent." —Jess Walter, author of The Angel of Rome and Beautiful Ruins
"Hurrah for Jared Lemus and the world of Guatemalan Rhapsody! These twelve stories absolutely vibrate with life even as the characters that inhabit them struggle and strive to make it through theirs." —Cristina Henríquez, author of The Great Divide and The Book of Unknown Americans
This information about Guatemalan Rhapsody was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Jared Lemus is a writer of short fiction whose stories have appeared in or are forthcoming in The Atlantic, Story, The Kenyon Review, among other places. A Latinx writer, Lemus has been a Tin House Scholar and Colgate Writers' Conference fellow. He holds an MFA from the University of Pittsburgh and is Visiting Writer at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.
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