The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue

February 5, 2007
Munoz delivers another book of short stories colored by the heat of California's Central Valley and shot through with despair and a hint of magic. Following his debut, Zigzagger
, these 10 interconnected tales are filled with characters living lives of isolation, alienated both from one another and the mainstream culture. Much of what happens is waiting and watching: a young gay man envies the glamorous life of his neighbor in "The Comeuppance of Lupe Rivera"; a young woman waits for her runaway cousin at a bus station in "The Heart Finds Its Own Conclusion"; and a mother waits for her only son's death after a motorcycle crash in "Lindo y Querido." The title story sees a young man robbed of his strength and promise when an industrial accident leaves him in the care of his overburdened father, whose hope lies in the promise of a faith healer. Munoz writes with restraint and without pretension, giving fearless voice to personal tragedies.

April 1, 2007
Adult/High School-With this collection of related stories, Muñ oz invites comparison with Gary Soto and Francisco Jimé nez. The stories take place in and around Fresno, CA, showing the lives of those who stay there, those who leave, and those who return. Most of the main characters are young men, some recently out of high school, who are confronting their futures, and their loves. Although these stories deal with grief and loss, they are neither maudlin nor exuberantly uplifting, but quiet and memorable, the characters taking up residence in readers' minds. Both the title story and "Lindo y Querido" deal with a severely injured young man; in one case the father seeks out a "curandera" (faith healer) for his wheelchair-bound and despondent son; in the other, a mother waits with resignation for her son to die after a motorcycle crash. In "Ida y Vuelta," Joaquin comes home for his father's last days, bringing his new lover, Robbie, with him to stay with Roberto, the man he left after 15 years. Themes exploring the relationship between parent and adult child and trying to define oneself will appeal to teen readers, and certainly those who are drawn to the stories of Francisco Jimé nez in "The Circuit" (Univ. of New Mexico, 1997) and in "Breaking Through" (Houghton, 2001) will appreciate these contemporary tales of Mexican-American life."Teri Titus, San Mateo County Library, CA"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2007
This short story collection opens with "Lindo y Querido," a moving, sensitively rendered tale of an isolated immigrant maid (Concepcion, called Connie by her employer) coping with the death of her son. It feels as if the story will be about immigrant hardship and isolation, but then the story takes a left turn: cleaning her son's room, Concepcion learns that the young man who died with him--they crashed on a motorcycle--was his lover. In these 10 tales of Latinos living in California's Central Valley, Munoz confounds many readers' expectations of what such fiction "should" be. Yes, there are language barriers and hardworking strivers, but alert to the nuances of his characters' varied places in the world, he also writes stories--such as the haunting "When You Come into Your Kingdom," in which a man's parenting mistakes exact a terrible toll--that are just about people being people. An obvious choice, and yet, unfortunately for our times, still unexpected. Gay themes, while noteworthy, figure less prominently than in Munoz's debut, " Zigzagger" (2003). A strong second effort.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)