Daniel A. Olivas (The King of Lighting Fixtures) writes with a comforting charm, although that doesn't imply all his stories are charming--assault, injustice, dysfunctions, death are included here, along with joy, beauty, and new discoveries. Love, Olivas shares in his introduction to My Chicano Heart, "in its many forms: romantic, familial, platonic, and even narcissistic," runs through these 31 stories.
Among the diverse, impressive plethora, Olivas's slice-of-life narratives prove particularly notable. A recently retired executive endures her husband's not-so-innocent quips in "Quack," but clearly savors her own revenge. In "Los Dos Fridas," a California divorcé (who unsuccessfully demanded his ex-wife choose between her writing or their marriage) finds solace with the titular Frida Kahlo painting in Mexico City's modern art museum. A small town's self-anointed "most sophisticated resident"--a formerly lauded writer--agrees to help a stranger translate his late wife's memoir in "The Jew of Dos Cuentos." In "The Fairy Tale of the Man and the Woman," two neighbors share regular dinners for over 20 years, until the woman decides to stop opening her door. In "La Diabla at the Farm," even the devil needs the occasional vacation--to go hunting at Stanford University.
My Chicano Heart is Olivas's second collection, after How to Date a Flying Mexican, published in the University of Nevada Press's "The New Oeste" series. Imaginative Olivas deftly jumps between realism, magical surrealism, the mysterious and fantastical, capturing indelible glimpses of longing and loss, cleaving betrayal and healing renewal. --Terry Hong