The Last of the Menu Girls: A Novel in Stories

by Denise Chavez

Overview

Rocío Esquibel is a girl growing up in a Southern New Mexico town with her mother and sister. She defines her neighborhood by its trees—the willow, the apricot and the one they call the marking-off tree. Rocio knows she was born in the closet where she and her sister now take turns looking at the picture of Jesus whose eyes light up in the dark. But at night she enters a magical realm, and in her imaginary Blue Room, she can fly. At first she is a mesmerized observer of the lives of older girls and their boyfriends, but as she finds a job at the local hospital, and discovers a passion for drama and stories, Rocio begins to make her own choices in love and work.

Alive with the taste of tamales and the lyrical tang of the Esquibels’ talk, The Last of the Menu Girls becomes a rich celebration of Chicano culture, and a universal story of finding one’s way in the world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781400034314
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	04/13/2004
Series:	Vintage Contemporaries Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.95(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Denise Chávez is the author of Loving Pedro Infante and Face of an Angel, which won the American Book Award. She is the recipient of a Lila Acheson Wallace/Reader’s Digest Fund Writer’s Award and a founder of the Border Book Festival in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where she lives with her husband, Daniel Zolinsky.

Editorial Reviews

"These stories fairly shimmer with the warmth, tones, and language of the Southwest."—Library Journal

“A richness of texture and images [is] characteristic of Chavez’s writing. . . . These stories provide a clear glimpse into the world of New Mexico, of Hispanic customs and wisdoms, the grace that may, and did, come with a hard living.” –Santa Fe Reporter

“A valuable contribution to Chicana literature.” —Choice

“Chavez draws carefully detailed, emotionally convincing portraits of the lives of ordinary people” —Newsday

From the Publisher

While each short story in this collection features the same characters and is consistently from the viewpoint of Rocio Esquibel, the middle of three daughters growing up in New Mexico in the 1950s and 1960s, the narratives are not interconnected in a way that makes the whole any larger than the sum of its parts. Rocio is observant, sensitive and sensual, her surroundings filled with common objects—trees, clothes—that for her are imbued with personal meaning and a sense of world building. Unusual in fiction about Mexican American life during this period is that Rocio's mother is a working professional (a teacher) and that her parents divorce (with little apparent emotional fallout for anyone). Each story is carefully constructed and engaging, but some are stronger than others. This is model autobiographical fiction and can serve those interested in seeing that genre realized capably. KLIATT Codes: SA—Recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 1986, Random House, Vintage Contemporaries, 220p., Ages 15 to adult.
—Francisca Goldsmith

KLIATT

The character of Rocio Esquibel, as a child, young woman, teacher, and aspiring writer, gives unity to this collection of seven related stories set in New Mexico. Chavez writes feelingly of things she obviously knows well, giving us a neighborhood full of memorable friends and relatives, compadres and comadres , handymen, hospital helpers, grandmothers, mothers, sisters. The title story concerns Rocio's funny and touching experiences in a summer job at a hospital. ``Space Is a Solid,'' crackling with authenticity and longing, details the relationship of teacher and pupil. ``Willow Game'' describes the inexplicable sorrow of children; ``Shooting Stars,'' the beauty of old women. These stories fairly shimmer with the warmth, tones, and language of the Southwest. A worthy addition to collections of Chicano women's fiction. Mary Soete, San Diego P.L., Cal.

Library Journal