In the title story of Manuel Muñoz’s masterful 2022 book, The Consequences, a lonely Fresno man treats with carelessness his young, attractive lover, whom he’s brought to live with him from Los Angeles and who, down the road, reveals he’s become sick. The emotional repercussions of a decision at a critical juncture ripple through the following pages with a growing sense of devastation. This kind of delicate psychological movement toward profound realizations occurs to memorable effect in many of these finely drawn stories largely about ordinary Mexican Americans in small towns in the Central Valley. Taken together, the slightly linked stories intimate the interconnectedness of the West’s different regions, with characters venturing out into Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Texas. These are stories of loneliness, of a reluctant party host, a sister trying to save her brother, farmworkers witnessing their compatriots being rounded up by la migra, conversations between those with different immigration statuses. As with Muñoz’s earlier novel and two collections, the craft in The Consequences is exceptional. And Muñoz possesses unusually keen perception—his characters’ longings unfold movingly on these essential pages.
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Manuel Muñoz’s The Consequences is the California Book Club’s February 2025 selection.
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