Cristina Henríquez – Cannonball Read 17

“The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you’re uncool.”

I Would be Doing this Anyway by Jia Tolentino

Rewards by Emma Cline

Crewelwork by Justin Torres

The Tomorrow Box by Curtis Sittenfeld

If You Are Lonely and You Know It by Yiyun Li

The Summer House by Cristina Henriquez

Me and Carlos by Tom Perrotta

Simplexity by Kiley Reid

June 14, 2021 by andtheIToldYouSos Leave a Comment

Ahh, Lester Bangs. Or at least, Philip Seymour Hoffman as Lester Bangs via Cameron Crowe in Almost Famous. Did I just grab this quote because it features the word “currency”? Well…yes and no. Currency, my latest dive into Amazon Original Stories (but not the latest collection released) describes itself as being about “friends, trends, and dividends”. The link between these eight stories is the currency between people; social, professional, and personal transactions made when money is too much to offer or not enough to cover. The players […]

Read it because it will make you sad and angry

January 31, 2015 by ElCicco 2 Comments

This is a short novel that reads very quickly, but at a certain point, when you realize a tragedy is in the offing, it might slow you down. I dreaded finding out what was going to happen to characters whom I liked so much. The Book of Unknown Americans focuses on immigrant families living in the same apartment complex in Wilmington, Delaware. Henriquez allows each family or individual to speak for themselves in each chapter, and so the reader learns about the diversity within. They […]

An insightful take on the American Dream

November 21, 2014 by Sara Habein Leave a Comment

(This post originally appeared on Persephone Magazine.) Cristina Henríquez’s newly published The Book of Unknown Americans, is not about immigrants’ relationship to white people. Ideally, this would not be unusual in a novel, but in a literary landscape that is still struggling with diversity, it’s refreshing to read her insightful take on the American Dream. And what is the “American Dream,” anyway? Different economic classes might answer in specific ways, but at the root of every response is the wish, “Can life be a little […]

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