Including LATINOLOGUES and A Quiet Love

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Product Description

comic drama, "machos are regular guys too"

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1282176 in Books
• Published on: 1997-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 151 pages

Amazon.com Review
Machos have feelings, too. In the title work of this wacky collection of short plays, the reader is serenaded by Latino lovers and wannabes with hilarious monologues. Desi tells Latino jokes to the Miami Rotary Club and pitches his idea of a TV show called Gilberto's Island. Alejandro explains that he is a great macho who fights magnificent battles and also works as a busboy. In "Latinologues," issues of bi-ethnicity are lovingly illustrated, such as a special kind of tough love and the typecasting of a Hispanic actor who seems unaware that his roles could possibly be termed "minor." Latino plays have been rapidly making their mark in contemporary theater, and Rick Najera's work blends both the comic and serious sides of machismo.

From Library Journal
In this debut collection, Najera proves himself to be one of the most exciting and talented Latino writers of his generation. Consisting of the title play, A Quiet Love, and Latinologues, which has been produced on Showtime's Latino Comedy Festival, the collection embodies self-deprecating humor, witty satire, and a deep empathy with the abuses and stereotypes Latinos have endured. In the title play, a collection of ten linked but separate monologs, Najera probes the multiple meanings of machismo through diverse characters, including a Beverly Hills busboy who is seduced by an attractive customer, Desi Arnaz speaking before the Miami Rotary Club, an outgoing Miss East L.A. who refuses to give up her crown, and Bufford Gomez, a conflicted INS agent. A Quiet Love, the one multicharactered play in the collection, is a treatment of Najera's own family. Latinos, Anglos, and everyone else will experience much of what binds us, and still distinguishes us, through these brilliantly realized characters. Variety has called Najera "one of the 50 Creatives to watch," and his collection belongs in every contemporary drama or multicultural literature collection.?Robert W. Melton, Univ. of Kansas Libs., Lawrence
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"... Najera proves himself to be one of the most exciting and talented Latino writers of his generation." -- Library Journal

"... one of the 50 creatives to watch." -- Variety Magazine

"Najera proves a skillful, perceptive writer..." -- Los Angeles Times

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Customer Reviews

Najera's 'Macho' is a triumph of the mind and soul
It is difficult enough to capture the essences of culture without lapsing into stereotypes, but author Rick Najera has effortlessly mastered this talent with flying colors. The Pain of the Macho, a book of monologues and one full length play, celebrates the complicated and touching aspects of Latino life, from youth to age, with a cornucopia of characters who display feelings that range from pain to utter hilarity at living in the world today.

The book is divided into three parts, the first being 'The Pain of the Macho.' 'Macho is a biting satire of the human ego complex, which jumps from the life of a seductive busboy,to an egotistical college professor to a jilted beauty pagent queen determined not to give up her precious crown. It is with a lighthearted hand that Najera delivers the goods, divulging secrets that only macho men (and women) have known until now.

The second part is a journey into the lives of Latino women as well as men - each displaying deep vulnerabilities and issues, such as a young pregnant girl, barely able to care for herself, dealing with the aspects of taking care of a baby. Especially touching is the monologue, 'You know how to whistle, don't you?' a valentine to a Cuban prostitute, who's seduction techniques simultaneously reveal and conceal her pain.

Closing the trilogy is the Najera's 'A Quiet Love,' a full length play which follows Najera's own life as well as his family's. The triumph is in the subtlety of his writing - key feelings are disguised as offhand comments, family bloodlines and legacies are revealed ingeniously by an interview with a tape recorder. It is a work that is tinged with sadness yet seeps with strength, crossing the barriers of nationality and labels, into the area where anyone who has ever known a family, can instantly relate. This book is a true triumph of the soul. By Jennifer Anne Perez