Hardscrub is vegetation so tough and resilient that it can withstand the heat, aridity, and wind of West Texas. Lionel G. García’s third novel examines characters living hard in this hard land. García’s central character comes of age while trying to salvage his identity and his family’s integrity from the mindless whirlwind created by his father, who is meaner and tougher than the West Texas desert. Through drought and depression, the young protagonist and his family become the helpless victims of the drinking, brawling, scamming and wandering of what is bound to become one of literature’s most memorable rednecks. Hardscrub is fast-paced, breathtaking, and overwhelming.
Winner, Texas Institute of Letters’ Jesse Jones Award for Best work of Fiction
Winner, Texas Literary Award for Best Book of Fiction
“From his intelligent eleven-year-old’s perspective, Jim Jones relates–wrenchingly and unforgettably–several months of his Texan family’s transient existence during the early ’50s.”–Publisher’s Weekly
“[Hardscrub is] enlivened by Mr. García’s sense of humor and irony.”–The New York Times Book Review
LIONEL GARCÍA is the author of four award-winning novels, Leaving Home (Arte Público Press, 1994), A Shroud in the Family (Arte Público Press, 1994) , Hardscrub (Arte Público Press, 1994) and To a Widow with Children (Arte Público Press, 1994), and a collection of autobiographical sketches, I Can Hear the Cow Bells Ring (Arte Público Press, 1994). He is the recipient of the Texas Institute of Letters Best Novel Award and the Southwestern Booksellers Association’s Texas Literary Award. His work has received considerable critical praise, including comparisons by the Los Angeles Times to Gabriel García Márquez. Born and raised in San Diego, Texas, he currently practices veterinary medicine in Seabrook, Texas.
