The Consequences
Stories
Published on 20. October 2022
Book
Paperback/Softback
200 pages
978-1-911648-47-5 (ISBN)
Description
Shimmering writing depicting California's Central Valley, the first book in a decade from a virtuoso story writer.
These exquisite stories are mostly set in the 1980s in the small towns that surround Fresno. With an unflinching hand, Munoz depicts the Mexican and Mexican American farmworkers who put food on our tables but were regularly and ruthlessly rounded up by the migra, as well as the quotidian struggles and immense challenges faced by their families.
The messy and sometimes violent realities navigated by his characters-straight and gay, immigrant and American-born, young and old-are tempered by moments of surprising, tender care: Two young women meet on a bus to Los Angeles to retrieve the men they love who must find their way back from the border after being deported; a gay couple plans a housewarming party that reveals buried class tensions; a teenage mother slips out to a carnival where she encounters the father of her child; the foreman of a crew of fruit pickers finds a dead body and is subsequently-perhaps literally- haunted.
In The Consequences, obligation can shape, support, and sometimes derail us. It's a magnificent new book from a gifted writer at the height of his powers.
These exquisite stories are mostly set in the 1980s in the small towns that surround Fresno. With an unflinching hand, Munoz depicts the Mexican and Mexican American farmworkers who put food on our tables but were regularly and ruthlessly rounded up by the migra, as well as the quotidian struggles and immense challenges faced by their families.
The messy and sometimes violent realities navigated by his characters-straight and gay, immigrant and American-born, young and old-are tempered by moments of surprising, tender care: Two young women meet on a bus to Los Angeles to retrieve the men they love who must find their way back from the border after being deported; a gay couple plans a housewarming party that reveals buried class tensions; a teenage mother slips out to a carnival where she encounters the father of her child; the foreman of a crew of fruit pickers finds a dead body and is subsequently-perhaps literally- haunted.
In The Consequences, obligation can shape, support, and sometimes derail us. It's a magnificent new book from a gifted writer at the height of his powers.
Reviews / Votes
'I can't stop thinking about this read...Melancholic? Yes. Moving? Very. Powerful writing.https://twitter.com/bobsandbooks/status/1583097695413350401 -- Emma Hardy @bobsandbooks * Twitter * 'This is a gorgeously poetic story collection that maintains literary elegance without shying away from the realities faced by the characters.'
https://www.instagram.com/p/ChZCgarAzWi/?hl=en -- @brionyisreading * Instagram * 'Packs a big punch for its tiny frame. There is so much, just so much, captured in these pages.'
https://www.instagram.com/p/CjtFdHeLWlT/?hl=en -- @tirlersbookstuff * Instagram * 'I love a short story collection and The Consequences, the first book in a decade from Manuel Munoz, is no exception.'
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cj-G-o3sRJz/?hl=en -- Queerly Books (@queerly.books) * Instagram * Ten books by Latino authors you should be reading, according to Sandra Cisneros
'Haunting, powerful, humble, precise, this collection shook my being'
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books-latinx-authors-sandra-cisneros-b2070820.html -- Sandra Cisneros * The Independent * Starred Review : The Consequences
'This packs a hell of a punch.'
https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-64445-206-6 * Publisher's Weekly * Starred Review: The Consequences by Manuel Munoz
'Nuanced, thoughtful, often moving stories.'
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/manuel-munoz/the-consequences-munoz/ * Kirkus * Manuel Munoz's stories capture a Central Valley you've never seen
'Lucid and elegantly written'
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/books/story/2022-08-26/manuel-munoz-elegant-short-story-collection-consequences-fall-arts-preview-2022 -- Carolina A. Miranda * Los Angeles Times * Celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month with These 18 Must-Read Books by Latinx Authors
'The book out-Steinbecks Steinbeck in its manifestation of the human in places we too rarely dare look.'
https://www.oprahdaily.com/entertainment/books/g41244880/hispanic-heritage-month-books-latinx-authors/ -- Ernesto Mestre-Reed * Oprah Daily * The Consequences of Story: A Conversation with Manuel Munoz
'Writer Helena Maria Viramontes says 'with The Consequences, [Munoz] has hit a stride of confident, quiet authority.''
https://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/blog/interviews/consequences-story-conversation-manuel-munoz-renee-h-shea -- Renee H Shea * World Literature Today * What it's worth giving up to stay in a family
']Munoz] dilates or constricts the eye to expand and sharpen our view of these lives so often unseen. Truly, it takes a master seer to reveal these moments of intimacy sometimes so dearly guarded they are unknown even to their keeper.'
https://electricliterature.com/compromisos-by-manuel-munoz/?utm_source=Electric+Literature%27s+eNewsletter -- Carribean Fragoza * Electric Lit * Encounters with Spirit: An Interview with Sandra Cisneros
'The admiration I have for you is how you're able to transcend your body as a male and as a Latino, and just be pure spirit, your pure spirit, and enter into all your characters.'
https://orionmagazine.org/article/sandra-cisneros-manuel-munoz-interview/ -- Sandra Cisneros & Manuel Munoz * Orion Magazine * The Consequences by Manuel Munoz - Book Review
'Manuel Munoz's short stories of migrant farmers in 1980s California paint the American Dream as bleak, cruel and crushing'
https://www.theskinny.co.uk/books/book-reviews/the-consequences-by-manuel-munoz -- Andres Ordica * The Skinny * A very new story, from a great contemporary writer.
'The sentences are beautiful but quiet; the tension slowly builds; it elicits every drop of sympathy I have in me; it surprises me every time.'
https://georgesaunders.substack.com/p/a-special-treat
https://georgesaunders.substack.com/p/anyone-can-do-it-367 -- George sanders * Story Club * The Consequences: Stories by Manuel Munoz
'The Consequences is a collection of many threads, stories, memories, and choices. [...] Mostly there is the challenge of what it is to relate to others, and beautiful observances of the nuances of relationships, whether between lovers, parents and children, neighbours, and strangers.'
https://www.lunate.co.uk/reviews/the-consequences-stories-by-manuel-munoz -- Jess Moody * Lunate * Yearning, love and regret at the heart of standout stories set in Central Valley
'The entire book reverberates with longing and just-under-the-rim sadness that captures the heart and doesn't let go.' -- Alexis Burling * San Francisco Chronicle Review * Yearning, love and regret at the heart of standout stories set in Central Valley
'The entire book reverberates with longing and just-under-the-rim sadness that captures the heart and doesn't let go.' -- Alexis Burling * San Francisco Chronicle Review * Inside Out: The characters in Manuel Munoz's The Consequences are hesitant to reveal too much.
https://www.altaonline.com/books/fiction/a41958052/manuel-munoz-consequences-book-review-heather-scott-partington/ -- Heather Scott Partington * Alta * Story Collections That Ask: 'How Did I Get Here?'
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/21/books/review/the-islands-dionne-irving-the-consequences-miguel-munoz-you-have-reached-your-destination-louise-marburg.html * The New Tork Times * 'It's hard to imagine a more gorgeous collection of short fiction than the latest book from Arizona-based author Manuel Munoz . . . This is one of the best short story collections to come around in recent years.'
https://apps.npr.org/best-books/#year=2022&book=329 -- Michael Schaub * NPR * Books of the Year
https://www.thewhitereview.org/feature/books-of-the-year-2023/ -- David Hayden * The White Review * Electric Lit's Favorite Short Story Collections of 2022
https://electricliterature.com/electric-lits-favorite-short-story-collections-of-2022/ * Electric Lit * 'The awards that the individual stories have collected along their journey into this admirable but gritty collection reveal a considerable talent.'
https://www.bookbrunch.co.uk/page/free-article/what-we-re-reading--27-january-2023/ -- David Roche * BookBrunch * Manuel Munoz on the Power of LGBTQ Characters
https://glreview.org/manuel-munoz-on-the-power-of-lgbtq-characters/ -- Neil Ellis Orts * The Gay & Lesbian Review * 'Aspen Words Literary Prize finalist Manuel Munoz channels stories of California's Central Valley'
https://www.aspenpublicradio.org/arts-culture/2023-04-13/aspen-words-literary-prize-finalist-manuel-munoz-channels-stories-of-californias-central-valley -- Kaya Williams * Aspen Public Radio *
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 195 mm
Width: 131 mm
Thickness: 17 mm
Weight
216 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-911648-47-5 (9781911648475)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Manuel Munoz is the author of a novel, What You See in the Dark, and the short story collections Zigzagger and The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue, which was shortlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. He is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts. He has been recognized with a Whiting Writer's Award, three O. Henry Awards, and an appearance in Best American Short Stories.
A native of Dinuba, California, he currently lives and works in Tucson, Arizona.
A native of Dinuba, California, he currently lives and works in Tucson, Arizona.