African Passions, Beatriz Rivera’s first collection of stories, is peopled by Hispanic women in the thrall of love of varying sorts, but always of overwhelming intensity. Passion, obsession, raucous humor, and satire are in store for the reader of this tour-de-force examination of Latina womanhood.
A series of strong-minded women relentlessly pursue love and success as they move in and out of the reality of the New Jersey Hispanic barrio that bonds them: a frustrated professional woman who unsuccessfully strives for a wedding ring from her mama’s-boy lover, a recent college graduate applies for dead-end jobs while pursuing a traditional macho lover, an Italian-Puerto Rican princess gets caught up in a vicious cycle of destructive relationships, and a young Cuban matron wrecks husband, children, and her own well-being as she seeks the nirvana of material wealth and status.
“Recurring characters, family relationships, and the Jersey City Hispanic barrio connect he stories as does Rivera’s delicious sense of humor.”—Library Journal
“This delightful anthology is highly recommended.”—The Denver Post
BEATRIZ RIVERA specializes in creating Latina characters who attempt to reconcile their heritage and existence within the greater construct of American society. She is the author of four novels and a short-story collection: When a Tree Falls (Arte Público Press, 2010), Do not Pass Go (Arte Público Press, 2006), Playing with Light (2000), Midnight Sandwiches at the Mariposa Express (1997), and African Passions and Other Stories (1995). Rivera’s Latinas deal with questions of identity and tradition in a startlingly funny yet thought-provoking way. She received her Ph.D. from the City University of New York Graduate Center in Spanish Literature and currently teaches at Penn State University Worthington Scranton.
