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Your next favorite book
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by Tomas Moniz
An elderly man has just a month to leave his home. A young woman from his neighborhood is soon to be unhoused. Slowly but surely, the two form an unlikely yet transformational friendship in this warm and funny novel about love and community.
Seventy-five-year-old Rey has lived on the same block in San Francisco's Mission District for most of his life, watching his city transform. A widower for ten years, he spends most of his time volunteering at the library, but by the end of the month, Rey must move into a senior retirement and leave his neighborhood behind. It's at the library during one of his last shifts where he meets Q, on probation, post breakup with her girlfriend and dealing with a troubled family. As Rey tries to decide what to do with the rest of his days, literally counting them off and cutting his remaining ties, Q begins to insert herself into his world in a way that he can't deny.
A story about Latinx identity, intergenerational friendship, and chosen family, Moniz's novel takes us on a journey through senior dance classes, illegal bike trips over the Bay Bridge, and fair housing rallies. And as the days tick down, Rey and Q find themselves leaning on each other for answers on how to find community and purpose, make amends, and process grief.
For readers of Steven Rowley and Claire Jimenez, equally funny and tender, The King of Aloe Vera delights in how we choose to live, and live out, our lives.
"The King of Aloe Vera is rich with the wit, humor, and huge heart characteristic of the work of Tomas Moniz. Wrestling with questions of home and belonging, grief and connection, the novel is also a stunning ode to the vibrant and immersive Mission District, and to forging friendships where we least expect. This is a triumphant story of what it means to be fully alive, and Moniz is the most generous and wise storyteller." ―Megan Kakimoto, author of Every Drop Is A Man's Nightmare
"What a tender, emotional ride! The King of Aloe Vera is not only a love letter to San Francisco's Mission District but a novel about the tendrils of grief and finding hope in unlikely connections. Tomas Moniz has created the hero of our times, the elderly Rey armed with his broom who shows readers how to see and live. Get ready to cry!" ―Lilliam Rivera, author of Tiny Threads
This information about The King of Aloe Vera 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.
Tomas Moniz is a Latinx writer living in East Oakland, CA. His debut novel, Big Familia, was a finalist for the 2020 PEN/Hemingway and a Lambda Literary Award. His second novel, All Friends Are Necessary, won the 2024 California Golden Poppy Award. He teaches at Berkeley City College, the Antioch MFA program and St. Mary's College. He has stuff on the internet but loves penpals: PO Box 3555, Berkeley CA 94703. He promises to write back.
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