Full Description
In Alberto Álvaro RÍos's new picaresque novel, momentous adventure and quiet connection brings twenty people to life in a small town in northern Mexico. A Good Map of All Things is home to characters whose lives are interwoven but whose stories are their own, adding warmth and humor to this continually surprising communal narrative. The stories take place in the mid-twentieth century, in the high desert near the border-a stretch of land generally referred to as the PimerÍa Alta-an ancient passage through the desert that connected the territory of Tucson in the north and Guaymas and Hermosillo in the south. The United States is off in the distance, a little difficult to see, and, in the middle of the century, not the only thing to think about. Mexico City is somewhere to the south, but nobody can say where and nobody has ever seen it.RÍos has created a whimsical yet familiar town, where brightly unique characters love fiercely and nurture those around them. The people in A Good Map of All Things have secrets and fears, successes and happiness, winters and summers. They are people who do not make the news, but who are living their lives for the long haul, without lotteries or easy answers or particular luck. Theirs is the everyday, with its small but meaningful joy. Whether your heart belongs to a small town in Mexico or a bustling metropolis, Alberto Álvaro RÍos has crafted a book that is overflowing with comfort, warmth, and the familiar embrace of a tightly woven community.
Contents
Acknowledgments
The Business Card
1. Dr. Bartolomeo's Cure
The Newspaper Story
2. Lent and Given
The Marriage Certificate
3. Butter, Oranges, and Pink Coconut Candy
The Poem
4. A Century of Tears
The Prayer
5. The Asterisk Company
The Obituary, the Proclamation of a Death
6. The Night Miguel Torres Died
The Song on the Radio
7. Two Small Crimes
Civil Registration
8. Ten Seconds in Two Lives
The Map
9. Bernardo's Corrido
The Green Card
10. One Tuesday in the Early Afternoon
The Bill
11. Licenciado Ubaldo Dos Santos, at Your Service
The Birth Certificate
12. Curandera
The Photograph
13. The History of History
The Telegram
14. The Five Visits of Archbishop
Oswaldo CalderÓn
The Letter
