How to Leave Hialeah
Jennine Capó Crucet
University of Iowa, $16 paper (194p)
ISBN 978-1-58729-816-5

In this engrossing collection—sometimes intense, at other times darkly humorous—debut author Crucet portrays the daily challenges, heartbreak and family ties that penetrate Hialeah, a working-class Cuban-American neighborhood in Miami. In “El Destino Hauling,” a young girl pays witness to a night-long family funeral for a father who was run over by his son, perhaps by intent. “The Next Move” follows a grandfather left to struggle through the day without his wife while she's visiting family in Cuba. In “Men Who Punched Me in the Face,” a woman repeatedly drawn to abusive men convinces herself she enjoys being hit. A story set in the Cuban countryside finds a young woman struggling to make ends meet with just three prized possessions: a rooster, a bar of soap and Kotex maxi pads. Crucet details vividly the daily struggle that leads Cubans to prize their heritage above much else, but also illuminates a powerful need to escape the past. (Sept.)

And this, a bonus, from the San Diego Union Tribune:

"Crucet is a writer of prodigious talent, with a gift for making her readers both laugh and sigh all in the same breath. With stories as vivid and captivating as these, you won’t want to leave Hialeah, even with the coming of Crucet’s final, beautifully crafted page."