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The Last Philosopher in Texas: Fictions and Superstitions
Illusion and the possibility of magic coexist with the pain and joy of daily life in these compelling pieces mostly set in the Texas-Mexico border region. In one, a girl desperately wants to know more about her mother, who died when she was four years old. Did she like being a mom? Would she have preferred partying with her friends? When her eccentric aunt says she can teach her how to travel back in time, the girl is skeptical. Is it really possible to visit the past and communicate with the dead?
Each story is a celebration of the narrative’s power to transport, enlighten and connect the reader to the myriad facets of the human experience. In “Borges and the Chicanx,” a Chicano professor’s imposter syndrome worsens when he is asked to teach a course on a famed Latin American writer he has never read and whose work he doesn’t understand. And in “Sara’s Chest of Drawers,” a young man’s parents insist he go through his dead twin sister’s things even though he doesn’t think she would want him to—until she sends him a sign from the beyond.
Dreams, memories, visions and superstitions permeate this collection of short fiction that blends the ordinary with the extraordinary, making the fantastical feel surprisingly tangible. Considering themes of outsider status and displacement, cultural representation and authenticity, identity and collective memory, award-winning author Daniel Chacón once again crafts troubled characters searching for salvation from sorrows they often cannot even articulate.
Each story is a celebration of the narrative’s power to transport, enlighten and connect the reader to the myriad facets of the human experience. In “Borges and the Chicanx,” a Chicano professor’s imposter syndrome worsens when he is asked to teach a course on a famed Latin American writer he has never read and whose work he doesn’t understand. And in “Sara’s Chest of Drawers,” a young man’s parents insist he go through his dead twin sister’s things even though he doesn’t think she would want him to—until she sends him a sign from the beyond.
Dreams, memories, visions and superstitions permeate this collection of short fiction that blends the ordinary with the extraordinary, making the fantastical feel surprisingly tangible. Considering themes of outsider status and displacement, cultural representation and authenticity, identity and collective memory, award-winning author Daniel Chacón once again crafts troubled characters searching for salvation from sorrows they often cannot even articulate.
- GenresFictionShort Stories
157 pages, Paperback
Published March 31, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
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November 23, 2025Favorite stories:
The Last Philosopher in Texas
Velocity of Mass
Wild Apple Trees
The Flickering Quasar
Not a Pandemic Love Story
Laugh tracks made me feel weird, because of something I had heard. A lot of them were old recordings from live comedy shows in the 1920s and 30s: the same chuckles, cackles, giggles and roars played over and over again throughout the years, which meant that most of the people laughing at a joke on Friends were dead.
The Last Philosopher in Texas
Velocity of Mass
Wild Apple Trees
The Flickering Quasar
Not a Pandemic Love Story
Laugh tracks made me feel weird, because of something I had heard. A lot of them were old recordings from live comedy shows in the 1920s and 30s: the same chuckles, cackles, giggles and roars played over and over again throughout the years, which meant that most of the people laughing at a joke on Friends were dead.
July 17, 2024
Short story collections can be hit and miss, but I feel like most of these were at least solid, and many were great. I enjoyed pondering even the shortest ones, but a couple of the longer stories, particularly "Borges and the Chicanx," I'll be thinking about for a long time.
Apropos of nothing, I waited for weeks to read the last story because of one of the late superstition passages. Hoping that's lucky!
Apropos of nothing, I waited for weeks to read the last story because of one of the late superstition passages. Hoping that's lucky!
May 6, 2024
When I started this book, there were only two ratings on here, a 5 star and a 1 star. Well, I'm glad I trusted Nacho over Bob because this is a great book of short stories.
I love short story collections, but you run into some that never seem to get to a point. It's like the short story format gave them license to just write some pages and walk away. But all of these stories moved me, despite most of them being short, short. Like three pages short. Daniel Chacon does a great job in painting a scene quickly and giving the reader something to think about with a smile.
Even some of the story titles give you a good indication that these are going to be some interesting pieces: "The Chicano Time Traveler," "If Tonantzin Worked at Cracker Barrel," "Authentic Mexican Food," "If Jesus Worked at Starbucks."
This book gives you great bang for the buck; go get it.
I love short story collections, but you run into some that never seem to get to a point. It's like the short story format gave them license to just write some pages and walk away. But all of these stories moved me, despite most of them being short, short. Like three pages short. Daniel Chacon does a great job in painting a scene quickly and giving the reader something to think about with a smile.
Even some of the story titles give you a good indication that these are going to be some interesting pieces: "The Chicano Time Traveler," "If Tonantzin Worked at Cracker Barrel," "Authentic Mexican Food," "If Jesus Worked at Starbucks."
This book gives you great bang for the buck; go get it.
to-read-actual
October 21, 2024Pub 2024
November 21, 2024
This was not my cup of tea. I wanted less of the superstitions, the dead Santa Claus, the Jesus at Starbucks. I wanted more of Calabi Yau.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews