Pieces of the Heart: New Chicano Fiction

Soto ( Home Course in Religion ) has culled a varied group of short stories that are united nonetheless by their examination of family relationships and cultural identity. Guy Garcia presents a Chicano who ``considered his ethnic origins a footnote'' until his grandmother's will sends him on a journey that drastically alters his view of his heritage. Sandra Cisneros relates the tale of a girl who glories in uncovering the secrets of sex and whose grandmother considers sending her to Mexico to hide her pregnancy, just as she had sent the girl's mother from Mexico to the U.S. for the same reason. Mary Helen Ponce tells of a woman who is expecting her tenth child and already mourning the coming loss of an 18-year-old daughter suffering from tuberculosis. Wider definitions of family are relevant here as well: in Daniel Cano's story, a Vietnam veteran relates the myth of a fellow soldier who is rumored to have defected to the Viet Cong and whose disappearance leads the others in his unit to consider their minority status. Soto's introductory essay--in which he evokes an imaginary young writer working doggedly at a kitchen table--is as poetic as any of the stories he has chosen. (May)