The King Is Always Above the People
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2.7 • 6 Ratings
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
LONGLISTED for the 2017 NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FOR FICTION
An urgent, essential collection of stories about immigration, broken dreams, Los Angeles gang members, Latin American families, and other tales of high stakes journeys, from the award-winning author of War by Candlelight and At Night We Walk in Circles.
Migration. Betrayal. Family secrets. Doomed love. Uncertain futures. In Daniel Alarcón’s hands, these are transformed into deeply human stories with high stakes. In "The Thousands," people are on the move and forging new paths; hope and heartbreak abound. A man deals with the fallout of his blind relatives' mysterious deaths and his father's mental breakdown and incarceration in "The Bridge." A gang member discovers a way to forgiveness and redemption through the haze of violence and trauma in “The Ballad of Rocky Rontal.” And in the tour de force novella, "The Auroras", a man severs himself from his old life and seeks to make a new one in a new city, only to find himself seduced and controlled by a powerful woman. Richly drawn, full of unforgettable characters, The King is Always Above the People reveals experiences both unsettling and unknown, and yet eerily familiar in this new world.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Daniel Alarcón’s short stories are kingdoms onto themselves. While burrowing into the dusty and mysterious recesses of their characters’ minds, they hint at a larger, menacing reality: the power of the state to encroach on individuals’ daily lives. With The King Is Always Above the People, Alarcón masterfully captures the anxiety swirling around modernization and the erosion of traditional community. His stylish creativity injects each story with electric energy.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Alarc n (At Night We Walk In Circles) delivers a superb collection of 10 stories about wanderers, lovers, and fractured families. The fiery "The Ballad of Rocky Rontal" fictionalizes the true story of a violent gang member's tenuous emotional journey toward forgiveness, while "The Provincials" follows the voyage of a father and son to the father's hometown to address the postmortem details of an estranged relative. Bereavement also drives "The Bridge," which places Alarc n's protagonist, named executor of the estate of his recently deceased uncle and aunt, in the center of a mystery, sifting through family stories and conflicting claims to find the truth behind the couple's deaths. In the powerful "The Auroras," a man fleeing from his wife and academic life falls for a married woman and slowly yields to her power, and "Rep blica and Grau" pairs a child with a blind beggar who hopes to scam locals for loose change. Throughout the collection, Alarc n writes with a spellbinding voice and creates a striking cast of characters. Each narrative lands masterfully and memorably, showcasing Alarc n's immense talent.
Customer Reviews
It’s a book
In the beginning, let’s just say, it’s repetitive to an annoying point but the authors voice really shines after Rocky’s Ballad. I felt the price was a bit high for this book and the writing has a high-school-student-essence. Overall I think I It is a good book, but I wouldn’t buy it if I had another book higher on my list! He will surely improve as an author; I have no doubt.