cover image The Candy Vendor's Boy and Other Stories

The Candy Vendor's Boy and Other Stories

Beatriz de La Garza, Beatriz De La Garza. Arte Publico Press, $9.95 (178pp) ISBN 978-1-55885-106-1

Issues of identity, cultural alienation and racism pervade this powerful first collection of stories by Chicana attorney de la Garza. One character, Danny Berry (a.k.a. Daniel Aramberri), returns home to Austin, Tex., from service during WW I and rediscovers the prejudice he thought he had left behind; a teacher who had long supressed her cultural identity confronts it once again in the person of a student very much like her youthful self; and an old woman reflects on her childhood and understands the power of a name. The stories span much of Chicano history, from a time before ``the Americans'' came to their homelands in the Southwest to the present. Though the stories take place in many different eras, the life of the people and the problems they encounter remain remarkably constant, reflecting a cruel, uncalculated consistency to racism. Still, there is much joy here: De la Garza captures the flavor of Mexican life with flare and the little rituals that shape the culture, from New Year's festivities to first communion, are lovingly detailed. The author shows a remarkably polished craft for a first-time writer, imbuing her characters with rare emotional resonance. De la Garza, at once, emerges as an important new voice in Mexican-American literature (one who can stand alongside such better-known practitioners as Rudolfo Anaya and Miguel Mendez) and leaves readers wanting to hear more of her rooted, feminine voice. (Mar.)