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Vida (2010)

by Patricia Engel(Favorite Author)

3.56 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

0802170781 (ISBN13: 9780802170781)

languge

English

genre

Fiction

publisher

Grove Press, Black Cat

review 1: Highly recommended by Junot Diaz, Chris Abani and Francisco Goldman, all writers I admire, I dove into this collection of short stories held together by the thread that is Sabina's life as the daughter of Colombian immigrants. The depiction of the internal life of immigrants from many different countries is exquisitely wrought. Her brooding on her many failed romantic entanglements is depressingly boring.
review 2: An amazingly powerful book, easy to read because of Engel's terrific, gripping prose. While I didn't want it to end, the brevity is spot-on. This isn't so much a novel as a series of short stories about the same character. I can see the comparisons to Diaz, and his presence in her writing is unmistakable, but to call her a copycat or a rip-off is nar... morerow-sighted and dismissive. Sabina is no Yunior. Engel's writing, while fresh and snappy like Diaz's and Latin@-American focused, sort of stops with the similarities there. I love both writers, but spending too much time griping over the resemblance is pointless because she's carving a different literary identity for herself with Vida. I can't wait to read more of Engel's work. less

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