Night at the Fiestas: Stories

by Kirstin Valdez Quade

Set in northern New Mexico, an astonishing, beautifully rendered debut about living in a landscape shaped by love, loss, and violence.

A 2014 National Book Foundation "5 Under 35" Honoree

With intensity, dark humor, and emotional precision, Kirstin Valdez Quade’s unforgettable stories plunge us into the fierce, troubled hearts of characters torn between their desires to escape the past and to plumb its depths. The deadbeat father of a pregnant teenager tries to transform his life by playing the role of Jesus in a bloody penitential Passion. A young man discovers that his estranged father and a boa constrictor have been squatting in his grandmother’s empty house. A young woman finds herself at an impasse when she is asked to hear her priest's confession.

Always hopeful, these stories chart the passions and obligations of family life, exploring themes of race, class, and coming-of-age, as Quade's characters protect, betray, wound, undermine, bolster, define, and, ultimately, save one another.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Book Club, Literary Fiction, Latinx, Adult Fiction, Contemporary

288 pages, Hardcover

First published March 16, 2015

About the author

Kirstin Valdez Quade is the author of The Five Wounds and Night at the Fiestas, winner of the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard Prize. She is the recipient of a “5 Under 35” award from the National Book Foundation, the Rome Prize, and the Rona Jaffe Foundation Writer’s Award. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times, The Best American Short Stories, The O. Henry Prize Stories, and elsewhere. Originally from New Mexico, she now lives in New Jersey and teaches at Princeton University.

Reviews

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm so blown away.....but it's not just me.... MOST READERS will be!!!

ZERO SPOILERS .... it's not a long book!!!! Go in BLIND!

"Night of the Fiestas", by Kirstin Valdez Quade, is a MUST BE READ!!!!

10 short stories in this collection. My poor husband-- OH MY GOSH... I literately spilled-the-beans on each story .....( forgive me Kirsten Valdez Quade).
I HAD SO MUCH FUN, being my "husband's story-re-creator".
I'm bad - but, if you know your husband's not going to read your book himself, how else are we going to tell them what they are missing, girls?
Paul loved these stories ( second hand), very much. In fact --he said 'it was one of his favorite "wife-sharing-books".

SERIOUSLY.... THIS BOOK MUST BE READ: EVERY PERSON I'm friends with - ALL TYPES .... are in for an AMAZING EXPERIENCE when you read these stories!!!!

....emotionally real
....Hispanic culture of Northern New Mexico
....brave and beautiful
....GORGEOUS writing....The sentences read with such ease... so naturally... you forget you're reading at all.
....Strong unforgettable characters....and unforgettable stories. ALL ARE POWERFUL!!
Unreal ... that they can 'all' be so exceptional! I may have a 'couple' of favorites but NOT SPILLING the beans to READERS!!! I 'promise' ... you'll enjoy this collection of stories!.....(Esil...you must read this)....and a thousand other friends!

....Themes about families include faith - grief - confusion- sabotage - struggles - race -religion- betrayal- class - secrets - coming of age - love ....etc......

THESE STORIES do not feel like 'same old- same old'..... YET.....the author speaks to our heart in the way Anne Tyler, Elizabeth Strout, and Alice Munro does.

FRESH & ORIGINAL - DO NOT MISS THIS ONE!!!!

Thank You Jill >>>Good friends recommend good books!! MANY THANKS!!!

[Iris P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Night at the Fiestas


★★★★ 4 Stars!

So I've been in a sort of a short-stories binge these last couple of weeks. After reading the wonderful Anything Is Possible, I was not expecting to jump into another book of short fiction so soon, but my friend Elyse had recently recommended this collection and I decided to at least sample a few of these stories. As it happens, the first one, called Nemecia , pulled me in immediately and I found myself unable to stop reading and listening.

Mostly set in New Mexico, part of the attraction for me was the stories' geographical and cultural backdrop. I've always admired the rich, deep-seated presence of Mexican culture in the American West and how ingrained it is in so many places in that region. Sometimes this influence manifest itself in obvious, imposing ways, and others, it is more subtle, almost imperceptive.

And so that is what author Kirstin Valdez Quade does here. The Hispanic culture of Northern New Mexico is always playing in the background: the deep-rooted religious traditions, the historical sites, the Spanish sounding names, the highly anticipated annual fiestas. The landscape that surrounds these characters is an intrinsic part of who they are, and yet their circumstances and experiences have a universal quality that I believe, can speak to anyone.

The protagonists, many of whom come from broken homes, share a profound sense of abandonment and so the notion of family, both the traditional and more modern, blended kind, is very much at the center of these stories as well.

Faith and religion are also important elements here. I thought it was particularly interesting how for many of these characters, faith offers the possibility of redemption while religion represents a shelter that fulfills their need to belong and provides the social acceptance they desperately craved.

Finally, I would add that the author brings a refreshingly honest perspective that for the most part, avoids painful clichés and stereotypes. The stories in Night at the Fiestas are compelling and superbly written. Their sense of place and evocative imagery paired with wonderfully constructed characters is a great choice for anyone looking for a unique selection of short stories.

***********************************************

The audiobook is well narrated by Alma Cuervo, who is an American actress that comes from a Hispanic background. As a native Spanish speaker, I am always grateful for narrators who don't spoil a book by mispronouncing and mangling up my mother tongue.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

The three stars are an emotional rating. It is the only way I know how to rate books. While I understand intellectually how great these stories are and how well constructed and how insightful, they made me uncomfortable. And again, I understand how that is a sign of a book well-written, this being able to ellicit emotions in me; it still wasn't something I enjoyed.

At the heart of these stories are families; or people at crossroads. Usually I really like reading about family dynamics but for some reason this collection didn't always work for me. Some stories resonated with me (the first story in particular!), some left me feeling distanced. Quite often I thought the stories ended too soon and left me wanting to know more - at least a page or two! This made for a frustrating read in parts.

Still, Kirstin Valdez Quade's prose is on point, her sentences sharp and evoking, and her characters well developed. So in all fairness, it should have been a four-star-read, but like I said, I rate books emotionally before I rate them intellectually. And in this case my heart won.

[Roxane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Outstanding collection. Nearly flawless. The story about Amadeo is so amazing. Worth checking out. Last story fell flat for me.

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve read a lot of short story collections but this one just blew me away. There are only two types of stories that comprise the collection: those that are excellent and those that are outstanding. Every single one was so haunting and memorable that it’s hard to decide which ones to highlight.

The Five Wounds may arguably be the one that stands out the most. A neer-do-well named Padilla is chosen to reenact Christ’s passion, carrying a heavy wooden cross through dusty New Mexican streets and experiencing Jesus’ pain in a quest for personal redemption. When his young pregnant daughter, Angel, shows up and clamors to be taken into the morada, Padilla must contemplate whether to risk his redemption and violate the community code, sacrificing his “Jesus moment.” I cannot imagine this story not appearing in “best of the best” compilations.

Other stories are equally searing and fresh. In Canute Commands the Tides, for example, a wealthy East Coast white woman moves to New Mexico and hires a Latina housekeeper who has a troubled adult son. Their symbiotic relationship soon rears its ugly head: “they were motionless, as minutely wrought as figures in a medieval miniature. His face was buried in her lap, and she bent over him, so close, their heads were nearly touching, the two of them as destructive and unstoppable as any force of nature.” Wow!

In the eponymous story, Night of the Fiestas, a young girl named Frances who was “pretending to be someone else” and who is “twitchy with impatience”, takes her father’s bus to the Fiestas in Santa Fe, where she hopes that something will happen. Something does happen, giving Frances a glimpse into the way the world really works.

I can go on and on about this remarkable debut, where readers will meet an unmarried pregnant woman who comforts a priest in the office of the Catholic church, a young girl who meets her exotic cousin Nemecia who may have had something to do with her parents’ untimely death, a man who finds his unrepentant father and a pregnant boa constrictor entrenched in a guest house and more. I cannot recommend this collection highly enough.

[Lisa (NY) · Rating 4 out of 5]

[3.5] I liked this collection, set in New Mexico, and found each story absorbing, capturing a pivotal time in the character's life.

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing collection, unusual in that featuring hispanic heritage, living mostly in New Mexico, but it is the human interaction in each story that makes each sing. Mostly these involve generational conflicts, but there is not a cliche, not a predictable outcome present at any time. Whether it's a young, pregnant 15 year old dealing with her deadbeat father who is taking part in an Easter mystery pageant, a housekeeper protecting her troubled, troubling son, an eleven year old being raised by her grandfather after being deserted by her mother -- each and every character rings true with such power, this is one book I wish I could push into every reader's hand and say, "Don't miss this one."

[Xueting · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kirsten Valdez Quade writes her narrative and dialogue like a spread of butter on toast, seamlessly connected and constantly enjoyable. I'm probably overreaching my own abilities but I feel like she writes in a style very much like mine - or at least the style I love to write and want to write. That's a big reason why I'm so drawn to her stories here. Her first sentences grab me and the rest of the stories continue to pull me in in very straightforward, honest language that I can only describe as bright and sharp. The writing is energetic, youthful and perceptive. It's a very contemporary voice that I've been looking for! Maybe it's because most of her protagonists are interesting young females, but all the characters are colorfully portrayed.

Most of the stories are about family relationships especially between parent(s) and child. I love love love the first story 'Nemecia'. There's a brilliant air of mischief surrounding a pretty simple premise. Others I really love are 'The Five Wounds', 'Night at the Fiestas', 'Jubilee' and 'Family Reunion'. The others are wonderful too, each one unique. Except for the last story, 'The Manzanos' - that one was quite all over the place.

One thing about the writing that stuck out oddly a bit, to me, was how the author ended most of the stories. The endings were pretty abrupt and confusing... But maybe it's just my poor understanding. Great debut collection! I can't wait to read more from the author :)

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of short stories set in the southwester United States (northern New Mexico) has many fine stories. The first story deals with the complicated relationship between two cousins, one who bullies the younger who both admires and resents her cousin. There is a story I found somewhat frightening involving a reenactment of the crucifixion of Jesus.

All the stories are extremely well-written and completely absorbed me, a feat that can be especially difficult with a short story. The beautiful settings contrast and compliment the intensity of the stories.

I am grateful to my friend Elyse for bringing these stories to my attention. They are a must-read for anyone who loves fiction.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was a little girl growing up in northern New Mexico, we used to hear whispered rumors of the Penitentes, the Catholic brotherhood that lives semi-secretly in these mountains. Famous for whipping themselves, they also get very *very* into their sacraments, such as the one depicted in Quade's story "The Five Wounds" in which that year's Christ is nailed to a cross—with real nails. The passion of the Penitentes was so bloody that it was said our mountains, the Sangre de Cristos, were named for the blood that poured off their backs in their frenzies of flagellation.

Considering the color and character of this area, it's remarkable that more fiction hasn't been set here. I suppose the deeply rural nature of the area, and the privacy and insularity of the people who live here, have something to do with that. How wonderful, then, to come across Quade's collection. Not only does she delve directly into the heart of what makes northern New Mexico so special, she has the writing chops to carry it off. From structure to setting to pace, she nails each piece consistently. Short stories aren't about character, they don't have the room for it, but she develops characters nonetheless. Her greatest character, arguably, is the girl Nemecia, the title character of the first story. The viewpoint character for that story initially sees Nemecia only as a figure both terrifying and captivating, but by the end understands her as a traumatized survivor of a terrible event.

Most stories, in fact, follow characters as they go from ignorance to understanding, as lightbulbs begin to pop on over their heads. Amadeo, the Christ figure in "The Five Wounds," begins to understand what his tormenter Manuel Garcia is really up to. In "The Guesthouse," Jeff begins to understand the depths to which his father has sunk. In "Family Reunion," the child Claire initially thinks her friend's mom Patsy is just the best thing ever, but events of the story reveal just how wrong she is about that—and about a lot of other things. In "Canute Commands the Tides," Margaret comes to a late, terrible understanding of how little she knows about her new friend Carmen. And in "Mojave Rats," the reader herself has an epiphany as a secret long-buried in the viewpoint character's mind suddenly comes out, illuminating the troubled relationship between mother and daughter.

Quade cites Tobias Wolf and Alice Munro as role models, and you can see the influence of those writers in these stories. Sometimes so much so that I began to confuse Quade's stories with the Alice Munro collection I was currently reading. As she continues to write, Quade will undoubtedly develop a voice that is unmistakably her own; to that end, I hope she continues to root her work in the fertile ground of northern New Mexico.

[Zora O'Neill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm from NM, so maybe these stories resonate with me more than with the average reader? I'll be curious to see other comments when the book comes out. For now, it's great to read fiction set there. The story about the Penitente crucifixion that ran in the New Yorker a few years ago has stuck with me, so I was really happy to see this full collection of stories (including that one). A couple of them felt a tiny bit thin or caricatured, but overall, they're carefully drawn portraits with very smartly observed social and cultural details.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you feel that short stories are an acquired taste, these intense and uncomfortable tales just might make you a fast fan. The writing is straightforward, no fancy tricks of prose here. Her poignancy lies in an ability to make you squirm in your reading chair. The common thread throughout is subtle Hispanic cultural ties. The situations the characters find themselves in transcend the cliché. Vladez Quade absolutely earned her National Book Foundation '5 under 35' award.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn. Damndamndamn. That's one helluva book.

Like the best, Quade introduces to us characters we have never seen or imagined but who seem immediately real in their stifled yearnings and smothered longings. Nearly all of the stories here manage to startle, some indelibly, and even the lesser stories show promise.

I'm still processing this one and suspect I will be for quite a while, but you could do worse than to just trust me and go pick this up right away.

For what it's worth, this book was awarded the National Book Critic's Circle Award for best first book the day before I finished it, which is clear proof of my powers.

[Mindy Kannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

I keep trying to like short stories but somehow they just doesn't work for me. These stories are OK but I'm sure it's just me. Short stories just don't seem to have enough depth to keep me engaged. They always leave me feeling like, there's got to be more to the story.

[Lisa Eckstein · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories in this collection succeed at the difficult task of taking small moments in ordinary lives and rendering them fascinating. These are all beautifully detailed portraits of people and relationships that I was able to quickly care about and remain engrossed in, something I can't often say about short stories.

The stories are set in New Mexico and other parts of the American West, in a variety of eras ranging from the 1920s to the present day. Many deal with class differences or cultural divides. In "Jubilee", a young woman attends a fancy party with the intention of showing up the rich hosts who employ her father, but as the event goes on, what's exposed are her own insecurities. The main character in "Canute Commands the Tides" moves to New Mexico to paint, and when she hires a woman to help clean and unpack, she envisions a charitable friendship with her housekeeper that turns out not to match the reality of their relationship.

Quade makes all the stories real and specific with perfectly crafted and sometimes funny observations of the characters and moments. In "The Five Wounds", she writes of a pregnant teenager's belly, "The buttons of her jeans are unsnapped to make way for its fullness, and also to indicate how it got that way in the first place." The title story features a great narrative voice that gently mocks the protagonist, a teen girl who is constantly imagining herself as a character in a book or movie: "She pictured herself: her slow blush, lashes lowered against her cheek."

Families play an important role throughout this collection. My favorite of the stories is probably "The Guesthouse", about a man who must deal with his grandmother's house and affairs following her death. He can't count on his mother and sister to help out because he and Grandma were the responsible ones in the family, an identity he's quite invested in, and the situation is made more complicated by the reappearance of his estranged father. Another standout is "Family Reunion", in which a girl tries to navigate her family's weirdness as non-Mormons in Salt Lake City. But really, it's hard to pick out the best stories. They're all excellent, and I look forward to more of Quade's work.

[Galen Johnson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a wonderful read, full of well-developed characters at emotional precipices in their lives. I usually prefer the character development and plot of a novel, but I found all of these stories satisfying. The author does an excellent job of creating individuals out of her characters but capturing universal moments and emotions. Her writing is flowing and readable, with apt descriptions of both people and events that are original and lovely. In a story centered on a single mother-to-be who works in a Church office, she writes "This morning, when Father Leon had glared at her from behind his desk, he hadn't been merely irritated at the interruption; she saw now that he'd been horrified by her messy mammalian fecundity looming in his doorway." Most of the main characters in the stories are women, many struggling with subtle progressive thoughts about a woman's (or girl's) place in life while stuck in a traditional setting, but I think anyone could enjoy the stories and find something to relate to in the characters.

Note: I received an ARC from the publisher through Goodreads.

[Taryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like with short stories, you either immediately buy in to whatever weirdness the author presents, or you don't. I was able to find that entry point quickly with this collection by 5 Under 35 Honoree Kirstin Valdez Quade. The stories, most set in rural New Mexico and centered around themes of family ties and obligations, had me hooked within the first page.

My favorite story, “Canute Commands the Tides,” wasn't my favorite because it left me feeling warm and fuzzy. It actually made me pretty damn uncomfortable. I related to the central character so hard—this well-meaning, liberal white woman who, in romanticizing the life of her Hispanic cleaning woman, ends up abandoning all her cozy ideals when confronted with a hard dose of reality. I could see myself doing the same things she did, congratulating myself on my broadmindedness, then turning tail and running once I learned how things really are.

Yeah...not always comfortable when we recognize a piece of ourselves in a less than perfect character. Even though it's not always pleasant, I don't mind a book that humbles me every now and then.

More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing book of stories. I've read whole novels where I never feel like I get to know the characters in the way I do in a ten page short story by Ms. Quade.
These are stories featuring women in a dominant, but not exclusive, light. And they aren't always strong. They are flawed, naive, gullible. The men are sometimes sidelined, but not always, and when they interact with the female characters they seem equal (in books, movies, tv, this is definitely not always the case).
The stories all take place in the American West and Southwest and present such a specific place (the desert, the Central Valley, the Santa Fe Plaza) but still feel timeless. They are immersive. Such a solid reminder how vast and diverse our country is.

[Maureen Grigsby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really excellent short stories, mostly set in New Mexico.

[Jenny Shank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Published in Dallas Morning News, 20 March 2015 09:41 PM

Kirstin Valdez Quade’s remarkable debut story collection Night at the Fiestas, set mainly in tight-knit Catholic, Mexican-American communities in New Mexico, enthralls with tales of people striving to better their lives while enduring the aftermath of past mistakes. Those mistakes have a way of lingering visibly, emanating tension, often in the form of children of failed relationships.

Valdez Quade’s characters run the gamut of experience from an unmarried, uneducated, pregnant young woman who is somehow the linchpin of stability in the office of the Catholic church where she works (“Ordinary Sins”), to a man who returns to Albuquerque after his grandmother’s death to find his deadbeat dad and a pregnant boa constrictor squatting in her guest house (“Guest House”). There’s also a wealthy white woman from the East Coast who moves to New Mexico and hires a Latina housekeeper, whom she attempts to absorb as a family member (“Canute Commands the Tides”).

In the masterful “The Five Wounds,” a man named Amadeo Padilla makes an unlikely Jesus, chosen to carry a heavy cross in a Holy Week re-enactment of Christ’s Passion that the men of a New Mexico town organize every year. “Amadeo is pockmarked and bad-toothed, hair shaved close to a scalp scarred from fights, roll of skin where skull meets thick neck.”

Valdez Quade writes this story in present tense, amping up the immediacy and building suspense over whether Amadeo will choose to ask for nails to be pounded into his hands, as one legendary town Jesus portrayer did decades before. Amadeo is a loser in need of redemption: jobless, living at home with his mother ever since he abandoned his daughter Angel, who nevertheless turns up at Amadeo’s mother’s house, 15 and pregnant, looking for a place to stay.

In Valdez Quade’s skilled hands, the familiar Catholic tropes of penitence, grace and redemption, which could so easily become heavy-handed, feel fresh, funny and loose. “I’m carrying the cross this year,” Amadeo says when Angel arrives on his doorstep. “I’m Jesus.”

“And I’m the Virgin Mary,” Angel replies, her pregnant “belly as hard and round as an adobe horno.”

Catholicism mingles with Southwestern folk beliefs such as La Llorona and mal de ojo, the evil eye, to produce a potent thematic stew in this collection, which features several young women trying to break free of the burden of their heritage. In the title story, it’s 1960 and good girl Frances rides on the bus her father drives between Raton and Santa Fe to meet her bolder, prettier cousin for the annual fiestas “celebrating 268 years since de Vargas’ retaking of Santa Fe.” Drunken revelry in the plaza is in the offing.

“If Frances’ life was to be a novel — as Frances fully intended,” Valdez Quade writes, “then finally, finally, something might happen at the Fiestas that could constitute the first page.” Something does, in the form of an insulting beatnik, but it leaves Frances more unsettled than invigorated.

A contemporary striver stars in “Jubilee.” Andrea, the daughter of a field-hand supervisor on a California blueberry farm, returns from her freshman year at Stanford to attend a high-class party on the farm of her dad’s boss. Andrea’s dad has been trying to earn extra money through a burrito truck, and they’ve hired him to serve at the party, while Andrea aims to humble the boss’s daughter, also a Stanford student, who has snubbed her on occasion.

As Andrea commits gaffe after gaffe, Valdez Quade brings the reader to empathize with the awkwardness of her position. Andrea, she writes, would “forever be checking ethnicity boxes, emphasizing her parents’ work: farm laborer, housekeeper. Trying to prove that she was smart enough, committed enough, pleasant enough, to be granted a trial period in their world.”

No one gets off easy in Valdez Quade’s fiction. All her characters grapple with moral questions that circumstances force them to face head on rather than brush off or ignore. Valdez Quade is a gifted storyteller with an eye for quirky, compelling detail, and her first story collection is a poised and polished debut.

Jenny Shank’s novel, The Ringer, won the High Plains Book Award.

http://www.dallasnews.com/lifestyles/...

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was drawn to this collection because of Valdez Quade's story "The Five Wounds," which appeared in the New Yorker several years ago. Its sense of culture, religion, place and character development are so powerful that I decided to teach it for my class, and my students love it as well.

Not all the stories resonated with me as much as "The Five Wounds." Several deal with dysfunctional families, often with some kind of abuse, and I found myself wanting a little less despair, a little more hope. However, this impulse was coupled with the realization that maybe that's too naive of me. Maybe the stories, which often emphasize the permanence of dysfunction, are a slice of reality that's important for me to pay attention to. In fact, there are several well-meaning, charitable, yet extremely short-sighted characters, all of whom are white outsiders looking in on a culture and family dynamic not their own and trying to "fix" it. I glumly realized that I'm more like these characters than any others.

One of my favorite stories was "Ordinary Sins," which again deals with religion and identity, in ways similar to "The Five Wounds." Valdez Quade does an amazing job at creating flawed religious characters who are not flawed in any of the traditional ways that religious characters are flawed. I also loved "The Manzanos," a truly beautiful story to end the collection with.

Valdez Quade is a contemporary southwestern Flannery O'Connor. Her characterization is profound and often embodies a southern gothic aesthetic, but with a particular southwest sensibility. Besides a few passages in the stories where the characters overthink their options, I was thoroughly engaged and couldn't wait to find out what would happen.

[Jolanta (knygupė) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3,5*

[Book Concierge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ever since I studied O Henry and Edgar Allan Poe in junior high, I have loved short stories. With this collection, Kristin Valdez Quade is added to my list of authors who have perfected this format.

It’s difficult to rate a collection, because some of the stories resonate more with me than others. Quade gives us ten beautifully written stories in this collection.

In The Five Wounds Amadeo tries to atone for past (and current) failures by playing the part of Jesus in the annual Good Friday re-enactment of the crucifixion, while his pregnant teen-aged daughter looks on. Andrea struggles between hating the wealthy land owner who employs her father, and desperately wishing she could be more like his daughter, Parker in Jubilee. In Mojave Rats Monica is feeling trapped with her two daughters, seven-year-old Cordelia and the infant Beatrice, in a sparsely populated trailer park, while her husband is off doing fieldwork for his Ph.D. Pregnant Crystal has found work and maybe a little hope as a secretary for the local parish priest in Original Sins. When the reader meets Frances in Night at the Fiestas, “she is pretending to be someone else, someone whose father is not the bus driver.”

What Quade’s characters share is that desire to “be someone else” and/or somewhere else, but no real means of achieving that. They dream, but are somehow powerless to change their circumstances, falling back on old patterns of behavior, afraid to let go of their past to head into the future.

Quade’s short story collection won the National Book Critics Circle Award for John Leonard Prize in 2015, and Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction (2016). She was named a National Book Foundation “Five Under Thirty-Five” Author.

[Tailwinds Press · Rating 4 out of 5]

You could do far worse than this book. I'd recommend buying it before a flight.

I find it hard to say anything bad or critical about this well crafted, taut and evocative collection of short stories focused on dramas taking place in the Southwest. More specifically, New Mexico. The author's use of language is impeccable. The plots are compelling. The characters are bathed in ambivalence and complexity.

I only give it 4 stars because it seems if there is only one way for this author to confront the world through writing. The South west. Coming of Age. New Mexico. Social economic dramas.

Are writers attributing a complexity to day-to-day life that is perhaps a little too granular and detailed? Maybe every moment, every person, every interaction is not pregnant with an infinite amount of dripping ambivalence and emotion. Just a thought that comes to mind while reading this great collection. I feel emotionally exhausted after putting it down. Is every moment so fraught? Perhaps that is the modern MFA-taught short story.

Perhaps I am somewhat jaded by having read just before this "The Three-Body Problem", a page-turning Chinese science fiction novel--still steeped in emotion but not overanalyzing every blink of the eye. I loved the writing in this book, but it's reached some level that I'm left wondering if there's any limit to this style.

[DKGMF · Rating 2 out of 5]

God what a bummer. "The Five Wounds" was published in the New Yorker a few years ago and was such a banger and so affecting and I was PUMPED to read this collection. Sadly, it's a clunker! I had two stories left to read and found myself flipping through back issues of People magazine in order to avoid this massive disappointment of a book. These stories are so staid, so formulaic, so devoid of joy or exuberance or breathlessness. The writing is controlled to a fault. And then homegirl's throwing garbage dialogue at us, like: "People change, Jeff. I changed, not that you notice. I'm not still seventeen years old and suicidal. Grandma changed. Maybe Papa has, too." Sad sad sad sad sad ;(

[Sophia Tallon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was lucky enough to receive an Advanced Reader's copy of this through goodreads first reads and I honestly loved this collection of short stories! They all flowed together perfectly yet could stand alone brilliantly! They all were so varied and each one had something interesting, exciting, and real happening. If asked which was my favourite I couldn't say. But what I can say is that I would seriously love to take all of these stories and make them into a whole film!

[Superstition Review · Rating 5 out of 5]

Night at the Fiestas is a miraculous collection of stories that delve into the diversity that is the human race. In this book, we see a variety of characters that deal with real-life human emotions and situations. As we read, we see each character’s unique perspective on life and we also learn to understand them. They become three-dimensional people right before our eyes. Quade accomplishes all this flawlessly while keeping us hooked on a good story.

Review by Dennise Garcia

[Courtney Maum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Luminous, heart wrenching, hugely full of life and most interestingly-- very disturbing on some moral levels. A gorgeous read that demands a weekend put aside to immerse oneself fully in Quade's scintillating world.

[BookBully · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars for this magnificent debut. Quade is a master of the short story and is definitely an author to watch.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is good writing. Each story had the depth and weight of a fully-fleshed out novel. Universal issues, beautiful imagery, "real" people as characters. Loved it.