From a three-time O. Henry Award-winning author. A collection of short stories set among Mexican American communities in California’s San Joaquin Valley in the 1980s and 90s.
Muñoz brings tenderness and immediacy to these fully realized stories of secrets and concealment, longings, vulnerability, and imperfect escape, creating an expansive and memorable world.
... the well-crafted stories in Manuel Muñoz’s The Consequences are highly attuned to the many manifestations of suffering, and to the redemptive power of relating that suffering to another person, trying to honor what has been lost ... This collection pushes the reader to appreciate life’s small moments of unexpected tenderness with fresh eyes.
From deportation fears and the complications of teenage motherhood to the search for belonging and the healing power of kindness, The Consequences covers the full breadth of human experience and gives voice to a segment of the population too often stereotyped, taken advantage of or made invisible by our larger society. Simply put, Muñoz’s stories are as observant as they are revealing — full of nuanced subtext and bracingly honest depictions of vulnerability and hope, love and regret, and everything in between. They deserve all the attention they can get.
