Rigoberto Gonzalez Livres

In the Mexican Catholic tradition, retablos are ornamental structures made of carved wood framing an oil painting of a devotional image, usually a patron saint. Acclaimed author and essayist Rigoberto González commemorates the passion and the pain of these carvings in his new volume Red-Inked Retablos, a moving memoir of human experience and thought. The collection offers an in-depth meditation on the development of gay Chicano literature and the responsibilities of the Chicana/o writer.

The collection presents thirteen poignant stories that explore the lives of Mexican American men grappling with emotional turmoil and societal pressures. Each narrative delves into themes of suppressed feelings, socioeconomic struggles, and workplace indignities, portraying characters who navigate their challenges while adhering to cultural expectations of masculinity. The stories reveal the tension between vulnerability and the need to project strength, offering a profound insight into the complexities of identity and resilience within Latino communities.

In the second of his trio of acclaimed memoirs, Rigoberto Gonzalez looks at his past through a startling lens: hunger. A childhood of neglect, adolescent yearnings, and adult desire for a larger world, another lover, a different body - all are explored by Gonzalez in a series of heartbreaking and poetic vignettes.