My next pick for Latinx / Hispanic Heritage Month is Gabino Iglesias’ novella Zero Saints, which is billed as a Barrio noir.
Edition:
Paperback
Synopsis:
Enforcer and drug dealer Fernando has seen better days. On his way home from work, some heavily-tattooed gangsters throw him in the back of a car and take him to an abandoned house, where they saw off his friend’s head and feed the kid’s fingers to…something. Their message is clear: this is their territory, now. But Fernando isn’t put down that easily. Using the assistance of a Santeria priestess, an insane Puerto Rican pop sensation, a very human dog, and a Russian hitman, he’ll build the courage (and firepower) he’ll need to fight a gangbanger who’s a bit more than human…
My Thoughts:
If you’ve ever read a book and thought to yourself, “I can’t imagine a more perfect story for me to have read in this moment,” then you will probably be able to relate to how I felt upon finishing this book.
I’m not sure what it was exactly, but there was something about the experience of reading Zero Saints (which I did during my work breaks on a single day) that was exactly what I wanted when I wanted it, and I didn’t even realize it until it was all over. There’s something about experiencing that which is just so magical. I mean, I didn’t know I needed Barrio noir in my life, but…I do. It turns out I really do, you guys.
The cast of characters in this story is so delightfully eclectic. And every scene is either fantastic or nightmarish – and occasionally both.
And the writing – man, Iglesias can fucking write, my dudes. His style is very accessible, and very to the point. There’s no flowery prose here. Just a commingling of English and Spanish words designed to get the point across as succinctly as possible. And there’s lots of swears, which works for me on multiple levels. First – because that’s how I talk. Second – because it makes more sense to me for a hard-living, drug dealing young man for whom English is a second language to speak that way.
I also really liked Fernando. It feels weird to say that I liked a drug dealer, but there you have it. I mean, he’s no saint (ohhhhh – see what I did there? Cuz there’s Zero Saints here, friend!), but he’s a fairly decent guy who has taken to this career based on circumstances, and who has a strong sense of loyalty and responsibility to the people he cares about.
“What happens when you cross la frontera is that you have to do whatever it takes to survive, and that’s what pushes you into a life of crime. You need money to survive and washing dishes or mowing lawns are easy gigs but they don’t pay enough. In this country, fairness is a concept and nothing more. Los pinches gringos will send dinero to Africa and will pay thousands of dollars to chop their cat’s huevos off and remove their nails, but they won’t pay you a fair amount for painting their fucking mansiones and, if you complain, te llaman a la migra.”
This book has a lot to say about the plight of immigrants in America, and about the bullshit expectations we put on them – that they ‘pull themselves up by their bootstraps’ (OH GODS DON’T LET ME GET ON THIS FUCKING TANGENT AGAIN) and make something out of the absolutely nothing we give them. And then we wonder why, when the unlivable wages we pay them isn’t enough, some of them turn to less legal means of earning money. It’s a real fucking shocker, isn’t it America?
About the Author:
Gabino is a great person to follow on Twitter. He’s spicy, he takes no shit, gives a lot of great writing advice, and he is forever lifting up other authors.
I don’t have any other information to share about him, since I can’t really find any, but trust me, you want to read his books. I still have Coyote Songs waiting for me, and after this book, I’m so ready for it!
Rating:
Go buy this book – I swear you won’t regret it!
Zero Saints By Gabino Iglesias Broken River Books ISBN: 1940885337 Published: October 20, 2015 Paperback, E-book 196 Pages
