Aquaboogie

Full of defiance and tenderness, Aquaboogie chronicles the triumphs and tragedies of the residents of Rio Seco. In “Aquaboogie,” art student Nacho finances his class out East by working as a janitor, subject to torment by his white coworkers. In “Back,” elderly Pashion sleeps wrapped around the body of her dying husband L. C., all the while recalling their 49 years of marriage and thinking about the sleeping pills she has secreted away for when life becomes unbearable. In “The Box,” Shawan carries her radio everywhere; since her best friend was gunned down, music is the only thing that can get her through the day. In these and other stories in this powerful collection, the author gives voice to those on the margins while demonstrating her great affection for her characters.From Publishers WeeklyAn astute, bracing debut short-fiction collection by a white woman residing in a largely black neighborhood in Riverside, Calif., this sings of the brief happy moments and ever-looming tragedies and defeats in the lives of discretely voiced blacks chorusing here in dialect. Aspiring artist Nacho scrubs the scuzzy hallways and bathrooms of the University of Massachusetts so he can take art courses for free; before he departs for home, he spreads puddles of tenacious paint to retaliate for insults of white co-workers. Back in Rio Seco, a disoriented Nacho is teased for his "sissy hands" by his gardener father and cousin, and he helps relocate to seniors housing an aunt, whose home is being torn down against her will to make room for office buildings. Nine-year-old Demone's brother Max smoked up all the crack he was supposed to sell; now he puffs on a Super Kool, a cigarette dipped in embalming fluid, and escapes the drug pushers by jumping to his death in the path of a train. Donnie's basketball talent trickles out and his marriage becomes violent; Esther, a homebody who's a whiz at braiding hair and baking quiche, is challenged by her husband's latest girlfriend, an executive secretary: "Esther's husband Joe loved him some cars. And this woman driving past loved her some Joe." Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. ReviewThis strong collection offers vignettes, insights, and snippets of the everyday lives of her African American caracters. -- Library Journal, April 1, 2004