What do you think?
Rate this book
The Water Museum
This hard-hitting, beautiful short story collection from one of America's preeminent literary voices “reflect[s] both sides of his Mexican-American heritage while stretching the reader's understanding of human boundaries” ( Kirkus ).
Examining the borders between one nation and another, between one person and another, Urrea reveals his mastery of the short form. This collection includes the Edgar-award winning "Amapola" and his now-classic "Bid Farewell to Her Many Horses," which had the honor of being chosen for NPR's "Selected Shorts" not once but twice.
Suffused with wanderlust, compassion, and no small amount of rock and roll, The Water Museum is a collection that confirms Luis Alberto Urrea as an American master.
Examining the borders between one nation and another, between one person and another, Urrea reveals his mastery of the short form. This collection includes the Edgar-award winning "Amapola" and his now-classic "Bid Farewell to Her Many Horses," which had the honor of being chosen for NPR's "Selected Shorts" not once but twice.
Suffused with wanderlust, compassion, and no small amount of rock and roll, The Water Museum is a collection that confirms Luis Alberto Urrea as an American master.
272 pages, Hardcover
First published April 7, 2015
124 people are currently reading
2902 people want to read
About the author
Luis Alberto Urrea
62 books2,944 followersLuis Alberto Urrea is the award-winning author of 13 books, including The Hummingbird's Daughter, The Devil's Highway and Into the Beautiful North (May 2009). Born in Tijuana to a Mexican father and American mother, Luis has used the theme of borders, immigration and search for love and belonging throughout his work. A Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2005 (nonfiction), he's won the Kiriyama Prize (2006), the Lannan Award (2002), an American Book Award (1999) and was named to the Latino Literary Hall of Fame. He is a creative writing professor at the University of Illinois-Chicago and lives with his family in the 'burbs (dreaming of returning West soon!).
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 29 of 215 reviews
October 28, 2023
The Water Museum: Stories by Luis Alberto Urrea is a collection of thirteen stories many of which have been previously published.
Dystopian future, climate change, the immigrant experience and immigration politics, cross-cultural experiences and relationships are only a few of the themes explored in this creative collection of short stories.
Among my favorites in this collection is "Mr. Mendoza’s Paintbrush”, an amusing story blending humor and magical realism featuring a Mexican graffiti artist who paints the walls of the city with his cryptic messages. I also enjoyed the very first story “Mountains Without Number”, a moving story tinged with nostalgia featuring the inhabitants of a dying town and their memories of a time long past. Another favorite of mine in this collection is “Amapola” in which a white boy’s love affair with a Mexican girl puts him in a difficult position when the girl’s shady family enters the equation. “The Sous Chefs of Iogua” is an exceptional story set in rural Iowa that focuses on the changing demographic and delicate balance between the white residents and the Mexican immigrants. “Welcome to the Water Museum,” is set in the dystopian West and describes a school trip to a museum featuring water in all its past forms that inspires wonder and disbelief in the children being raised in an era where drought is an everyday reality and brings back memories for their adult chaperones.
Written in beautiful prose that transports you to the vividly described setting(s), I enjoyed all of the stories (in varying degrees, as in most collections) in this collection and loved the variety of themes and tones with which they have been written. Though a few of the characters appear in more than one story, the stories themselves vary in tone, theme and setting, and at no point in time do you lose interest. The author writes with deep insight and compassion and each of his stories, though deceptively simple conveys a strong message.
I had been wanting to read this author for a while now and I’m glad I picked this collection of stories to begin with. I look forward to reading Luis Alberto Urrea’s full-length novels.
Dystopian future, climate change, the immigrant experience and immigration politics, cross-cultural experiences and relationships are only a few of the themes explored in this creative collection of short stories.
Among my favorites in this collection is "Mr. Mendoza’s Paintbrush”, an amusing story blending humor and magical realism featuring a Mexican graffiti artist who paints the walls of the city with his cryptic messages. I also enjoyed the very first story “Mountains Without Number”, a moving story tinged with nostalgia featuring the inhabitants of a dying town and their memories of a time long past. Another favorite of mine in this collection is “Amapola” in which a white boy’s love affair with a Mexican girl puts him in a difficult position when the girl’s shady family enters the equation. “The Sous Chefs of Iogua” is an exceptional story set in rural Iowa that focuses on the changing demographic and delicate balance between the white residents and the Mexican immigrants. “Welcome to the Water Museum,” is set in the dystopian West and describes a school trip to a museum featuring water in all its past forms that inspires wonder and disbelief in the children being raised in an era where drought is an everyday reality and brings back memories for their adult chaperones.
Written in beautiful prose that transports you to the vividly described setting(s), I enjoyed all of the stories (in varying degrees, as in most collections) in this collection and loved the variety of themes and tones with which they have been written. Though a few of the characters appear in more than one story, the stories themselves vary in tone, theme and setting, and at no point in time do you lose interest. The author writes with deep insight and compassion and each of his stories, though deceptively simple conveys a strong message.
I had been wanting to read this author for a while now and I’m glad I picked this collection of stories to begin with. I look forward to reading Luis Alberto Urrea’s full-length novels.
December 10, 2022
"So this was New Year's Day. This was sunlight. Seventy-eight degrees. This was the sound of the barrio awakening from the party: doves mourning the passing of night, pigeons in the dead palm trees chuckling amid rattling fronds, the mockingbird doing car alarm and church bell iterations in Big Angel's olive trees in front of the house. Junior pulled the pillow over his head—it was those kids with their Big Wheels making all that noise"—Urrea
I am proud to say Luis Urrea is a friend and colleague, and am grateful that he gave me a copy of this book, though it took me a couple of years to read it! I am a fan of his writing, including The Devil’s Highway, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize (in non fiction), Tijuana Book of the Dead (poetry) and his magnum opus, The Hummingbird’s Daughter, a fictional portrait of his great-aunt Teresita. He’s the bomb, as he would say, right out of 1986, but I think he is only getting stronger as he writes, even as he enters his sixties. His “Amapola” won an Edgar award in 2010 from the Mystery Writers of America for best short story. I saw that the book was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner award. I actually listened to a free audio version (on Hoopla) of Luis reading the collection, which I recommend, though I reread passages I loved in the hardcover version along the way.
This short story collection, 13 stories, some of them also from other Urrea collections, features an amazing range of writing, from scary to tender, about male violence, about racial tension, divorce, and recovery, about growing up, and first kisses. And water scarcity in a tale set in the not too distant future. Luis told me, “people think of me as a political writer because I write about border issues, and they invite me to comment on these things, but I think of myself primarily as a spiritual writer,” and I agree. Luis writes about racial conflict between Hispanic and Anglo and between Native American and Anglo peoples, and he takes sides as one might expect, but he is more likely to end his stories in song than any rage. He celebrates beauty; he cares about wonder, often with a sense of humor, whether it is the moment young boys discovered GIRLS in “Mr. Mendoza’s Paintbrush,” or the feel of water on skin in “The Water Museum.”
“Amapola” is a bit of a frightening departure. An Anglo teen boy falls in love with a beautiful Mexican girl, naïvely oblivious to the source of her family’s wealth. There is real terror in this story, which could initially be seen as any boy’s nightmare meeting with his girlfriend’s parent. . . . who has discovered he is having sex with said daughter! And, worst case scenario, is a dangerous man. Thrilling and scary. (Note to self--Consider: Share with sons or yr daughter's boyfriend as a warning?!)
The title story, “The Water Museum,” came about as an invitation from Chicago’s National Public Radio affiliate, WBEZ, that asked several authors to create fictions about water politics. This powerful and sad story, looking at scarcity from a bored teen’s perspective in the near future, has a family visit the Plains Water Museum, where the kids experience a swamp, and rain, neither of which are familiar to them. They are nervous, uncomfortable, a little frightened. All they know is drought. One student begs, “Stop it, Miss! Oh, stop the rain!”
“Mr. Mendoza’s Paintbrush,” about a Mexican graffiti artist from Urrea’s ancestral home, is joyous, and very funny, featuring a graffiti artist in a small rural village. It’s about growing up, with friends, and learning a lesson:
“Girls. We had discovered girls. And a group of these recently discovered creatures was going from the preparatory school’s sweltering rooms to the river for a bath. They had their spot, a shielded kink in the river that had a natural screen of trees and reeds and a sloping sandy bank. Jaime and I knew that we were about to make one of the greatest discoveries in recent history, and we’d be able to report to the men what we’d found out. . .
“We inserted ourselves in the reeds, ignoring the mud soaking our knees. We could barely contain our longing and emotion. When the girls began to strip off their uniforms, revealing slips, then bright white bras and big cotton underpants, I thought I would sob.”
But lest you think this is merely some teen boy fantasy, just wait til you see what Mr. Mendoza does to the boys when he finds them spying. . . .
This story was also made into a graphic novel.
“The Sous Chefs of Iogua” is an often funny story that focuses in part on the coming together of cultures in a Mexican restaurant in a small Iowa town. The Mexicans can’t pronounce the English, the Americans can’t pronounce the Spanish, and so on. It’s a sad story of the difficulty of assimilation. Farm work is drying up, and some people open restaurants in the small town. Some locals suggest Italian! The locals want “American” food. Frustrations erupt, sadly.
“God. Damn. It. Look here. This is my country. We been here, working this land forever. We made our lives here. We planted our crops here. We had our children and buried our loved ones here. Right here! Is it too goddamned much to ask that somebody pay the slightest fucking attention to our traditions and history and stop wrecking everything? Could you learn the language? Could you cook a simple meal that anybody from here would recognize as real food? Am I asking too much?”
“Yeah, jefe. That’s what Geronimo said”—Urrea, “The Sous Chefs of Iogua.”
LOL.
Two brief stories are studies in grief, "White Girl," and "Carnations."
In the final story, “Bid Farewell to Her Many Horses,” a white man, Bobby, whose marriage to Don Her Many Horses’s sister shows powerfully the possibilities and limitations of cross-cultural love. She’s dead, and he returns with her body to the rez to mourn with her family. The community does not welcome him, for they blame her drinking, her unhappiness, on him and his taking her from the reservation. But Bobby loved his wife, and needs to grieve. In the end, Bobby and his brother-in-law briefly connect in their loss, in the cross-cultural language of grief and loss.
Wonderful writing, across the board, with sweetness and humor and deft observation. Loved it. Highly recommended.
I am proud to say Luis Urrea is a friend and colleague, and am grateful that he gave me a copy of this book, though it took me a couple of years to read it! I am a fan of his writing, including The Devil’s Highway, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize (in non fiction), Tijuana Book of the Dead (poetry) and his magnum opus, The Hummingbird’s Daughter, a fictional portrait of his great-aunt Teresita. He’s the bomb, as he would say, right out of 1986, but I think he is only getting stronger as he writes, even as he enters his sixties. His “Amapola” won an Edgar award in 2010 from the Mystery Writers of America for best short story. I saw that the book was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner award. I actually listened to a free audio version (on Hoopla) of Luis reading the collection, which I recommend, though I reread passages I loved in the hardcover version along the way.
This short story collection, 13 stories, some of them also from other Urrea collections, features an amazing range of writing, from scary to tender, about male violence, about racial tension, divorce, and recovery, about growing up, and first kisses. And water scarcity in a tale set in the not too distant future. Luis told me, “people think of me as a political writer because I write about border issues, and they invite me to comment on these things, but I think of myself primarily as a spiritual writer,” and I agree. Luis writes about racial conflict between Hispanic and Anglo and between Native American and Anglo peoples, and he takes sides as one might expect, but he is more likely to end his stories in song than any rage. He celebrates beauty; he cares about wonder, often with a sense of humor, whether it is the moment young boys discovered GIRLS in “Mr. Mendoza’s Paintbrush,” or the feel of water on skin in “The Water Museum.”
“Amapola” is a bit of a frightening departure. An Anglo teen boy falls in love with a beautiful Mexican girl, naïvely oblivious to the source of her family’s wealth. There is real terror in this story, which could initially be seen as any boy’s nightmare meeting with his girlfriend’s parent. . . . who has discovered he is having sex with said daughter! And, worst case scenario, is a dangerous man. Thrilling and scary. (Note to self--Consider: Share with sons or yr daughter's boyfriend as a warning?!)
The title story, “The Water Museum,” came about as an invitation from Chicago’s National Public Radio affiliate, WBEZ, that asked several authors to create fictions about water politics. This powerful and sad story, looking at scarcity from a bored teen’s perspective in the near future, has a family visit the Plains Water Museum, where the kids experience a swamp, and rain, neither of which are familiar to them. They are nervous, uncomfortable, a little frightened. All they know is drought. One student begs, “Stop it, Miss! Oh, stop the rain!”
“Mr. Mendoza’s Paintbrush,” about a Mexican graffiti artist from Urrea’s ancestral home, is joyous, and very funny, featuring a graffiti artist in a small rural village. It’s about growing up, with friends, and learning a lesson:
“Girls. We had discovered girls. And a group of these recently discovered creatures was going from the preparatory school’s sweltering rooms to the river for a bath. They had their spot, a shielded kink in the river that had a natural screen of trees and reeds and a sloping sandy bank. Jaime and I knew that we were about to make one of the greatest discoveries in recent history, and we’d be able to report to the men what we’d found out. . .
“We inserted ourselves in the reeds, ignoring the mud soaking our knees. We could barely contain our longing and emotion. When the girls began to strip off their uniforms, revealing slips, then bright white bras and big cotton underpants, I thought I would sob.”
But lest you think this is merely some teen boy fantasy, just wait til you see what Mr. Mendoza does to the boys when he finds them spying. . . .
This story was also made into a graphic novel.
“The Sous Chefs of Iogua” is an often funny story that focuses in part on the coming together of cultures in a Mexican restaurant in a small Iowa town. The Mexicans can’t pronounce the English, the Americans can’t pronounce the Spanish, and so on. It’s a sad story of the difficulty of assimilation. Farm work is drying up, and some people open restaurants in the small town. Some locals suggest Italian! The locals want “American” food. Frustrations erupt, sadly.
“God. Damn. It. Look here. This is my country. We been here, working this land forever. We made our lives here. We planted our crops here. We had our children and buried our loved ones here. Right here! Is it too goddamned much to ask that somebody pay the slightest fucking attention to our traditions and history and stop wrecking everything? Could you learn the language? Could you cook a simple meal that anybody from here would recognize as real food? Am I asking too much?”
“Yeah, jefe. That’s what Geronimo said”—Urrea, “The Sous Chefs of Iogua.”
LOL.
Two brief stories are studies in grief, "White Girl," and "Carnations."
In the final story, “Bid Farewell to Her Many Horses,” a white man, Bobby, whose marriage to Don Her Many Horses’s sister shows powerfully the possibilities and limitations of cross-cultural love. She’s dead, and he returns with her body to the rez to mourn with her family. The community does not welcome him, for they blame her drinking, her unhappiness, on him and his taking her from the reservation. But Bobby loved his wife, and needs to grieve. In the end, Bobby and his brother-in-law briefly connect in their loss, in the cross-cultural language of grief and loss.
Wonderful writing, across the board, with sweetness and humor and deft observation. Loved it. Highly recommended.
August 3, 2015
What a wonderful use of language to express emotions and setting this author has. Sympathetic characters all, trying but failing to push back against cultural boundaries. Loved the first story, Mountains without numbers. There is something so melancholy and realistic about this one. Scenes like this are probably happening in dying towns all over America, people stuck in their lives remembering when their lives seemed much fuller.
Loved to Mr Mendoza, with his use of humor and magical realism, once again what once was, is no more.
The sous chefs, I adored, so cliched and amusing. Done so well.
Water Museum, an apocalyptic of a world running out of water. Almost seems not to fit, but it does because once again something that is gone is mourned. What is not remembered proves frightening.
Such a wonderful collection.
ARC from publisher.
Loved to Mr Mendoza, with his use of humor and magical realism, once again what once was, is no more.
The sous chefs, I adored, so cliched and amusing. Done so well.
Water Museum, an apocalyptic of a world running out of water. Almost seems not to fit, but it does because once again something that is gone is mourned. What is not remembered proves frightening.
Such a wonderful collection.
ARC from publisher.
June 24, 2015
For whatever reason, when I started this book of short stories I was not 100% focused. I could tell the writing was excellent, but the stories just weren't grabbing me. It was the audible version, this happens to me sometimes. However, along came the eponymous story, and I realized that this was brilliant in every way. Very timely and moving. The final story: Bid Farewell to her Many Horses, may have made me cry.
So...I started reading them again in reverse order back to the beginning. They are so much better when one pays attention! I am very interested in stories of Mexico and Mexican people and many of them touch on this. But all of them put me in another world where I lived for awhile. The best thing that stories can do, right?
And I do recommend the audio version. It is read by the author and he does an excellent job. Can't wait to meet him in Petoskey this September.
So...I started reading them again in reverse order back to the beginning. They are so much better when one pays attention! I am very interested in stories of Mexico and Mexican people and many of them touch on this. But all of them put me in another world where I lived for awhile. The best thing that stories can do, right?
And I do recommend the audio version. It is read by the author and he does an excellent job. Can't wait to meet him in Petoskey this September.
October 28, 2023
The Water Museum: Stories is an anthology of short stories by Luis Alberto Urrea, some of them published before in different publications, while others are appearing for the first time such as The Water Museum, a chilling story about climate change in the heart of America. Many of these stories had a sharp edge as Luis Alberto Urrea, born in Tijuana to a Mexican father and an American mother, knows about borders. And the borders erected are the heart of this collection of short stories. These characters, Native Americans, Chicanos and gringos all struggle with these borders beneath a Western sky. Among these diverse short stories, my favorite was the shortest story, Carnations. And of course there is the title story, The Water Museum, an apocryphal story about what happens to our planet without water and the resulting drought. This should grab your attention.
"Mountains, too, are doomed to die. But it is their curse to die more slowly than anything else on earth. To weaken and fall, mile by mile, carrying their arrowheads into the gullies, and with the gemstone skeletons of the old ones, and the great stony spines of the elder giants. Even these are mere infants to the falling mountains. All falling as grit on the flats. Tiny hills for ants to climb."
"Up the Raton Pass, Hubbard was assaulted by Colorado. It was like some Maxfield Parrish painting, all electric blues and impossible neon clouds, ridiculous snowy peaks and bright yellow prairies. He pulled over and stared at it. By God, the world was full of color after all. Then he cried."
September 28, 2022
Sep 26, 930am ~~ Review asap.
1115am ~~ The stories in this collection were intense, dramatic, traumatic, and moving. I have read three novels by this author and now these stories, and I am impressed by his work, even though I must admit many of these stories are a bit brutal for my taste, but they are still incredible.
And I learned here that 'Mongols' are bikers, a gang. They were mentioned in the book Into The Beautiful North and I thought Urrea meant people from Mongolia. Learn something every day, right? lol
There are thirteen tales here. And many are dark, with almost evil twists. I wondered why until I read that most had been previously published in various noir magazines. So the genre appeals to him, and he is certainly good at it.
Naturally I had my favorites. The Southside Raza Federation Corps Of Discovery caught me by surprise at the end. I was not at all expecting what happened to our two homeboys and their stolen canoe.
Amapola was scary, intense, and an example of how some people are blind to the world around them. Ignorance may be bliss, but sometimes it sure as heck gets you into a world of hurt.
Mr. Mendoza's Paintbrush was a clever fantasy tale about a resident of one pueblo and the influence he had on the rest of the people.
Welcome to The Water Museum might be reality in the near future. And it surprised me because even while living in the slide to such a future, I had not thought of how the children who are born after the future has been around for awhile will feel about a past they never knew.
Bid Farewell To Her Many Horses was the final story and left me in tears. A white man had married a Sioux woman from the Her Many Horses family. This story is about what happened to him on the day of her funeral.
I've commented about these few, but the collection as a whole is stunning, and I will be rereading Someday. I will also be keeping an eye out for other Urrea titles. I want more!
1115am ~~ The stories in this collection were intense, dramatic, traumatic, and moving. I have read three novels by this author and now these stories, and I am impressed by his work, even though I must admit many of these stories are a bit brutal for my taste, but they are still incredible.
And I learned here that 'Mongols' are bikers, a gang. They were mentioned in the book Into The Beautiful North and I thought Urrea meant people from Mongolia. Learn something every day, right? lol
There are thirteen tales here. And many are dark, with almost evil twists. I wondered why until I read that most had been previously published in various noir magazines. So the genre appeals to him, and he is certainly good at it.
Naturally I had my favorites. The Southside Raza Federation Corps Of Discovery caught me by surprise at the end. I was not at all expecting what happened to our two homeboys and their stolen canoe.
Amapola was scary, intense, and an example of how some people are blind to the world around them. Ignorance may be bliss, but sometimes it sure as heck gets you into a world of hurt.
Mr. Mendoza's Paintbrush was a clever fantasy tale about a resident of one pueblo and the influence he had on the rest of the people.
Welcome to The Water Museum might be reality in the near future. And it surprised me because even while living in the slide to such a future, I had not thought of how the children who are born after the future has been around for awhile will feel about a past they never knew.
Bid Farewell To Her Many Horses was the final story and left me in tears. A white man had married a Sioux woman from the Her Many Horses family. This story is about what happened to him on the day of her funeral.
I've commented about these few, but the collection as a whole is stunning, and I will be rereading Someday. I will also be keeping an eye out for other Urrea titles. I want more!
August 23, 2025
Rec. by: Other work; Olivia's bookshelf
Rec. for: Cholos y veteranos, con el máximo respeto
I won't say I've been binging on Luis Alberto Urrea's work, exactly, but I have definitely been seeking out his name and reading a lot of his books of late. I read his amazing novel The Hummingbird's Daughter earlier this August, and as I write this I'm also reading its sequel, Queen of America.
But this review is about The Water Museum, Urrea's (only) short-story collection so far.
I read this slender volume, which brings together thirteen tales published in various places prior to 2015, during a vacation, and it made a very good traveling companion. All of these stories are at the very least really good, and I thought a couple of 'em were fantastic. As Urrea himself says,
*
As is my habit, I am going to provide brief comments on (or excerpts from, or both) each individual story. And I've adapted the Table of Contents this time from Colorado Mountain College's catalog, of all places.
"Mountains without Number"
"The Southside Raza Image Federation Corps of Discovery"
Shadow and Junior go canoeing on the polluted waters near San Diego—though what they find is rather different from what Lewis and Clark discovered, and also a far cry from the Boundary Waters near Canada into which our family ventured by canoe during our own recent vacation trip.
"The National City Reparation Society"
Junior (yes, returning from the last story) actually made it out of San Diego... at least until Chango pulled him back in.
"Carnations"
Just a vignette, really, as Billy goes to get his Pops into the car...
"Taped to the Sky"
We catch up with Hubbard, a newly single New England man, in Louisiana, during his road trip through the American Say-yowth and points west, bless his heart... a trip during which he might just learn a thing or two.
"Amapola"
As all who've seen or read Romeo and Juliet know, the power of young love conquers... well, almost everything.
"Mr. Mendoza's Paintbrush"
Wielded by a maestro, Mr. Mendoza's magical brush tags walls, stones, animals and malefactors alike. I've often fantasized about tagging taggers myself, so I can relate...
"The White Girl"
Long blonde hair and an abandoned bracelet—sometimes 2 Short just thinks too much, ya know? This one's short but high-impact. So to speak.
"Young Man Blues"
Joey is a good kid with some bad history... but tryna do the right thing might not end too well this time. "Young Man Blues" ends at the beginning, which I'll admit I found a little frustrating.
"Chametla"
"The Sous Chefs Of Iogüa"
Cultures are defined by the foods they eat... right? Right? Well, Dexter has some pretty strong opinions on that subject...
"Welcome to the Water Museum"
Urrea saved the story that inspired this book's title for the penultimate spot in his collection. I'd been wondering when it'd come up. "Welcome to the Water Museum" is an atypical venture (for Urrea, anyway) into near-future hard science fiction, a tale that hasn't happened (yet) but is nevertheless all too plausible.
"Bid Farewell to Her Many Horses"
The last story in The Water Museum is indeed about endings... and about family.
*
Although Luis Alberto Urrea seems most comfortable writing at novel length, The Water Museum proves that he's an excellent short-story writer as well, and I would not hesitate to recommend this collection to anyone, either as an introduction to Urrea's work, or for folks who are already fans.
Rec. for: Cholos y veteranos, con el máximo respeto
I won't say I've been binging on Luis Alberto Urrea's work, exactly, but I have definitely been seeking out his name and reading a lot of his books of late. I read his amazing novel The Hummingbird's Daughter earlier this August, and as I write this I'm also reading its sequel, Queen of America.
But this review is about The Water Museum, Urrea's (only) short-story collection so far.
I read this slender volume, which brings together thirteen tales published in various places prior to 2015, during a vacation, and it made a very good traveling companion. All of these stories are at the very least really good, and I thought a couple of 'em were fantastic. As Urrea himself says,
My wife calls this book “the gateway drug.” I call it my Whitman’s Sampler.I have to admit, I'm hooked, either way.
—found at https://luisurrea.com/books/the-water... on 8/22/2025
*
As is my habit, I am going to provide brief comments on (or excerpts from, or both) each individual story. And I've adapted the Table of Contents this time from Colorado Mountain College's catalog, of all places.
"Mountains without Number"
Mountains, too, are doomed to die. But it is their curse to die more slowly than anything else on earth.The arid grip of an Idaho town far from the freeway holds Frankie close, despite everything that's happened... This is a strong beginning for The Water Museum.
—p.8
"The Southside Raza Image Federation Corps of Discovery"
Shadow and Junior go canoeing on the polluted waters near San Diego—though what they find is rather different from what Lewis and Clark discovered, and also a far cry from the Boundary Waters near Canada into which our family ventured by canoe during our own recent vacation trip.
"The National City Reparation Society"
Junior (yes, returning from the last story) actually made it out of San Diego... at least until Chango pulled him back in.
"Carnations"
Just a vignette, really, as Billy goes to get his Pops into the car...
"Taped to the Sky"
We catch up with Hubbard, a newly single New England man, in Louisiana, during his road trip through the American Say-yowth and points west, bless his heart... a trip during which he might just learn a thing or two.
Hubbard's ex had never once cried Oh my God.
—p.84
"Amapola"
As all who've seen or read Romeo and Juliet know, the power of young love conquers... well, almost everything.
"Mr. Mendoza's Paintbrush"
Wielded by a maestro, Mr. Mendoza's magical brush tags walls, stones, animals and malefactors alike. I've often fantasized about tagging taggers myself, so I can relate...
"The White Girl"
Long blonde hair and an abandoned bracelet—sometimes 2 Short just thinks too much, ya know? This one's short but high-impact. So to speak.
"Young Man Blues"
Joey is a good kid with some bad history... but tryna do the right thing might not end too well this time. "Young Man Blues" ends at the beginning, which I'll admit I found a little frustrating.
"Chametla"
The last shot fired in the Battle of Chametla hit Private Arnulvo Guerrero in the back of the head.Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" might be something of a touchstone for this one...
—p.187
"The Sous Chefs Of Iogüa"
Cultures are defined by the foods they eat... right? Right? Well, Dexter has some pretty strong opinions on that subject...
"Welcome to the Water Museum"
Urrea saved the story that inspired this book's title for the penultimate spot in his collection. I'd been wondering when it'd come up. "Welcome to the Water Museum" is an atypical venture (for Urrea, anyway) into near-future hard science fiction, a tale that hasn't happened (yet) but is nevertheless all too plausible.
"I'll know the drought is over," Billy said as the truck bumped toward home, "when the bees come back."Like so much SF, this one carries a stern warning about what will happen "if this goes on." And another caution, as well: kids can get used to anything... which might not always be a good thing.
—p.218
"Bid Farewell to Her Many Horses"
The last story in The Water Museum is indeed about endings... and about family.
*
Although Luis Alberto Urrea seems most comfortable writing at novel length, The Water Museum proves that he's an excellent short-story writer as well, and I would not hesitate to recommend this collection to anyone, either as an introduction to Urrea's work, or for folks who are already fans.
May 4, 2015
I devoured this book and want to go back and take my time going through it again, letting each story linger with its beauty and its insight. There is a common thread tying these pieces together - how we care for, or don't care for, each other, including the way in which we use this planet and how that may look down the road. As someone who lives in a drought state, "The Water Museum" has been hard to shake.
These stories are beautiful not because of flowery language or happy endings, though Urrea certainly does know how to craft a sentence. They are beautiful because of their deep honesty, their cutting reality, and the way they will not let you off the hook. They are short stories at their best.
These stories are beautiful not because of flowery language or happy endings, though Urrea certainly does know how to craft a sentence. They are beautiful because of their deep honesty, their cutting reality, and the way they will not let you off the hook. They are short stories at their best.
September 16, 2016
Short stories aren't my favorite books to read. I'm working on a reading list, where reading a collection of short stories is required. I chose this one because I've read this author before and liked his style. I really enjoyed the first two stories in this book. I was thrilled that I was actually liking it, ... that is when it started unraveling for me. I didn't enjoy the rest of them as much. But I loved the writing. I like how he addresses cultural differences and how life is as an illegal in America. I like how he offers food for thought.
May 31, 2021
These thirteen beautifully detailed stories share a common thread of grief and redemption. Every story is strong – my favorites being “Carnations” and “The White Girl,” both are brief snippets, but reach deep into your chest. Urrea elicits such empathy for his characters, addressing race relations in the American west with a variety of literally styles and realistic scenarios. Literal and figurative borders. Solid collection!
July 15, 2015
urrea should be the mega million seller of books he's written,not some dead hackish lady, or some uk twat and her owls and stuff.
it was a delight to revisit (some of these stories were in his first book Six Kinds of Sky: A Collection of Short Fiction ) mr. mendoza and his biting paint brush graffito in our rural and dying mexican town, and the professor and the indian somewhere in southeast wyoming shooting the dear wife's already dead volvo.
plus too there are stories taken from previous published akashic noir series Phoenix Noir and San Diego Noir that are deliciously dirty and rough, and as always, funny!
but some new stories too , 'water museum" and 'sous chefs..' that are firsts here first (why didnt subtitle just say "stories new and old" or something?) that enforce more than ever that urrea is as humane, creative, and hilarious as sherman alexie's skindians, steinbeck's wine bums, twain's miners, marquez's retired generals, rushdie's border trolls.
for short story lovers, for bedtime readers, and laughoutlouders...
it was a delight to revisit (some of these stories were in his first book Six Kinds of Sky: A Collection of Short Fiction ) mr. mendoza and his biting paint brush graffito in our rural and dying mexican town, and the professor and the indian somewhere in southeast wyoming shooting the dear wife's already dead volvo.
plus too there are stories taken from previous published akashic noir series Phoenix Noir and San Diego Noir that are deliciously dirty and rough, and as always, funny!
but some new stories too , 'water museum" and 'sous chefs..' that are firsts here first (why didnt subtitle just say "stories new and old" or something?) that enforce more than ever that urrea is as humane, creative, and hilarious as sherman alexie's skindians, steinbeck's wine bums, twain's miners, marquez's retired generals, rushdie's border trolls.
for short story lovers, for bedtime readers, and laughoutlouders...
March 7, 2024
Written by the incomparable Luis Alberto Urrea, this collection of 13 short stories alternates from heartbreaking to hilarious. Almost all of them are about identity and community—those who are safely on the inside and those who are left outside.
Many conclude open-ended, which leaves the reader hanging…and thinking. What happens next? Well, that's for the reader to fill in. It felt frustrating at first, but it also meant I couldn't stop thinking about these stories and their deeper meanings.
In a word: brilliant!
Some of my favorites:
• "Mountains Without Number" is the story of a middle-aged woman barely making a living in a diner she owns and operates by herself in a small, economically depressed town in the desert Southwest. She keeps staring out the window at the nearby butte which is covered in brightly-painted numbers: high school graduation years. The ending is so powerful that I had to stop reading for a few minutes.
• "The Water Museum," the title story of the collection, takes place in a drought-stricken United States where children don't know what it's like to have enough water—so much so that one little town has a museum about water. A middle school field trip there ends in a heartbreaking way.
• "Amapola" is a sweet and sexy teenage love story—until suddenly with an undercurrent of brutal violence, it's the scariest thing I have read in a while. (It won the Edgar Award!)
• "Taped to the Sky" tells the story of a teacher from Cambridge, Massachusetts whose wife has left him. He stole her car and is driving around the country trying to forget her—from Lafayette, Louisiana to Vidor, Texas to El Paso and up the Raton Pass to Colorado and finally to Wyoming where his car dies. What happens then is the heart of this story.
• "Young Man Blues" is the story of Joey, a young man who works on Mondays caring for a wealthy and very sweet 92-year-old man. Joey's dad was in a gang, and is now in prison, but some of his gang member buddies are now threatening Joey. They want to rob the old guy, and Joey is their ticket. Will he be an accomplice?
This is an imaginative and exceptional collection of short stories that are smart, perceptive, and thought-provoking.
Many conclude open-ended, which leaves the reader hanging…and thinking. What happens next? Well, that's for the reader to fill in. It felt frustrating at first, but it also meant I couldn't stop thinking about these stories and their deeper meanings.
In a word: brilliant!
Some of my favorites:
• "Mountains Without Number" is the story of a middle-aged woman barely making a living in a diner she owns and operates by herself in a small, economically depressed town in the desert Southwest. She keeps staring out the window at the nearby butte which is covered in brightly-painted numbers: high school graduation years. The ending is so powerful that I had to stop reading for a few minutes.
• "The Water Museum," the title story of the collection, takes place in a drought-stricken United States where children don't know what it's like to have enough water—so much so that one little town has a museum about water. A middle school field trip there ends in a heartbreaking way.
• "Amapola" is a sweet and sexy teenage love story—until suddenly with an undercurrent of brutal violence, it's the scariest thing I have read in a while. (It won the Edgar Award!)
• "Taped to the Sky" tells the story of a teacher from Cambridge, Massachusetts whose wife has left him. He stole her car and is driving around the country trying to forget her—from Lafayette, Louisiana to Vidor, Texas to El Paso and up the Raton Pass to Colorado and finally to Wyoming where his car dies. What happens then is the heart of this story.
• "Young Man Blues" is the story of Joey, a young man who works on Mondays caring for a wealthy and very sweet 92-year-old man. Joey's dad was in a gang, and is now in prison, but some of his gang member buddies are now threatening Joey. They want to rob the old guy, and Joey is their ticket. Will he be an accomplice?
This is an imaginative and exceptional collection of short stories that are smart, perceptive, and thought-provoking.
February 7, 2022
What a fantastic short story collection from a phenomenal writer! The Water Museum features a memorable mix of characters, many of them indigenous, Mexican, or Mexican-American, reflecting Urrea's own background. Themes of grief, loss, and painful coming of age are prominent throughout the collection, and yet the stories are often funny. My favorites included the very first story, "Mountains Without Number," in which we meet a middle-aged woman running a cafe in a dying small town, still scarred by a beloved high-school tradition gone tragically wrong years ago. I also loved the title story, "Welcome to the Water Musuem," which is set in a drought-stricken near-future dystopia. When young Billy's class takes a field trip to The Water Museum, they get to experience a simulated rainstorm there. While Billy and his classmates are upset by their primal response to this watery phenomenon they've never known, in contrast, the parent chaperones are all filled with a pleasant nostalgia for the weather of their memories.
I'm so glad I listened to this one on audio, read by the author, because Urrea gives it a superb reading that adds to the humor and emotional depth of his stories.
I'm so glad I listened to this one on audio, read by the author, because Urrea gives it a superb reading that adds to the humor and emotional depth of his stories.
May 28, 2015
I'm sitting in the catbird seat. Late to the party, having never read anything by Luis Alberto Urrea before, I now have a trove of his novels, stories, poetry and nonfiction to look forward to!
It wasn't love at first sight. His stark story, "Mountains Without Number," the first in his new collection, "The Water Museum," didn't seduce me. It's the story of a dying town near Idaho Falls, all the young people have wisely moved away and the remaining aged residents meet up at the diner each morning to reminisce about the fulgent past. But, hold the phone, the second story, "The Southside Raza Image Federation Corps of Discovery," grabbed me at the first paragraph:
"So this was New Year's Day. This was sunlight. Seventy-eight degrees. This was the sound of the barrio awakening from the party: doves mourning the passing of night, pigeons in the dead palm trees chuckling amid rattling fronds, the mockingbird doing car alarm and church bell iterations in Big Angel's olive trees in front of the house. Junior pulled the pillow over his head — it was those kids with their Big Wheels making all that noise."
Right away I know I'm in the hands of a trustworthy narrator, someone with keen and questioning vision who will bring to life this urban San Diego jungle with his muscular, lush language and varied sentences.
Junior is a closet reader who doesn't fit in with the immigrant community in which he grew up, nor with the white kids at the community college. A friend steals a canoe and when the two set off on an adventure, one says, "Louie and Clark, homes. Like, let's go discovering." They steer the canoe through a fetid slough polluted with runoff from a slaughterhouse, around upended shopping carts and a washing machine, they see people staring at them from the shore, "Gaunt, haunted faces. Silent Mexican men hiding from the border patrol." The story, like many in this collection, does not end happily for Junior and his friend.
Borders inform this collection as the stories navigate the tenuous connections between class, cultures, families and individuals. In "Amapola" a white teenager falls in love with a beautiful Mexican girl, much to the chagrin of her sinister, wealthy father who, when he smiles, looks like a "moray eel in a tank." What starts out as sweetly innocent takes a very dark and violent turn as the source of the family's wealth is revealed. In the laugh-out-loud story, "The Sous Chefs of Iogua," racial tensions between Latino and white community members in a small Iowa town are explored through language and food. When a Latina makes a generous and almost successful attempt at cooking a Thanksgiving meal but ruins it with a misunderstanding of mashed potatoes and gravy, an old farmer loses it and delivers a rant about food, and heritage and respect and tradition. He's frustrated and embarrassed by his outburst, by his emotions, for on a deeper level, this old man is grieving over the death of his wife, he, like all of us, wants to feel known. Juan, the man across the table speaks up. '"Yeah, Jefe," he finally said. "That's what Geronimo said.'"
The eponymous, "Welcome to the Water Museum," is a lovely, lyric, dystopian story about an arid future where school children are taken to a museum to hear recordings of rain and frogs, to feel a quick spritz of mist on their faces. They are so used to drought, the water mystifies and frightens them.
Loss reverberates throughout the collection. Two brief stories are studies in grief, "White Girl," and "Carnations." Though each only a few pages, their shadows loom large, intensifying the tone. In "Taped to the Sky," a man whose wife has left him takes his grief on the road. He steals his wife's Volvo and drives across the country seeking violence and love to feel alive, then self-medicating to numb his pain. "Bid Farewell to Her Many Horses," closes the collection with another grieving husband. Bobby, a white man, comes back to his wife's reservation to bury her. The community does not welcome him, for they blame her drinking, her unhappiness and her death on her departure from the reservation. But Bobby loved his wife and Urrea unflinchingly portrays his determination to grieve among those who will always see him as an outsider. Bobby stays in the uncomfortable borderland, and in the final paragraphs, an opportunity for communion arises, between Bobby and his brother-in-law, the two are connected in their loss, the two find a way to comfort one another through the universal language of pain.
Like Urrea, we care deeply for his characters. He writes with compassion and humor and with a nod to the creeping darkness within us all.
It wasn't love at first sight. His stark story, "Mountains Without Number," the first in his new collection, "The Water Museum," didn't seduce me. It's the story of a dying town near Idaho Falls, all the young people have wisely moved away and the remaining aged residents meet up at the diner each morning to reminisce about the fulgent past. But, hold the phone, the second story, "The Southside Raza Image Federation Corps of Discovery," grabbed me at the first paragraph:
"So this was New Year's Day. This was sunlight. Seventy-eight degrees. This was the sound of the barrio awakening from the party: doves mourning the passing of night, pigeons in the dead palm trees chuckling amid rattling fronds, the mockingbird doing car alarm and church bell iterations in Big Angel's olive trees in front of the house. Junior pulled the pillow over his head — it was those kids with their Big Wheels making all that noise."
Right away I know I'm in the hands of a trustworthy narrator, someone with keen and questioning vision who will bring to life this urban San Diego jungle with his muscular, lush language and varied sentences.
Junior is a closet reader who doesn't fit in with the immigrant community in which he grew up, nor with the white kids at the community college. A friend steals a canoe and when the two set off on an adventure, one says, "Louie and Clark, homes. Like, let's go discovering." They steer the canoe through a fetid slough polluted with runoff from a slaughterhouse, around upended shopping carts and a washing machine, they see people staring at them from the shore, "Gaunt, haunted faces. Silent Mexican men hiding from the border patrol." The story, like many in this collection, does not end happily for Junior and his friend.
Borders inform this collection as the stories navigate the tenuous connections between class, cultures, families and individuals. In "Amapola" a white teenager falls in love with a beautiful Mexican girl, much to the chagrin of her sinister, wealthy father who, when he smiles, looks like a "moray eel in a tank." What starts out as sweetly innocent takes a very dark and violent turn as the source of the family's wealth is revealed. In the laugh-out-loud story, "The Sous Chefs of Iogua," racial tensions between Latino and white community members in a small Iowa town are explored through language and food. When a Latina makes a generous and almost successful attempt at cooking a Thanksgiving meal but ruins it with a misunderstanding of mashed potatoes and gravy, an old farmer loses it and delivers a rant about food, and heritage and respect and tradition. He's frustrated and embarrassed by his outburst, by his emotions, for on a deeper level, this old man is grieving over the death of his wife, he, like all of us, wants to feel known. Juan, the man across the table speaks up. '"Yeah, Jefe," he finally said. "That's what Geronimo said.'"
The eponymous, "Welcome to the Water Museum," is a lovely, lyric, dystopian story about an arid future where school children are taken to a museum to hear recordings of rain and frogs, to feel a quick spritz of mist on their faces. They are so used to drought, the water mystifies and frightens them.
Loss reverberates throughout the collection. Two brief stories are studies in grief, "White Girl," and "Carnations." Though each only a few pages, their shadows loom large, intensifying the tone. In "Taped to the Sky," a man whose wife has left him takes his grief on the road. He steals his wife's Volvo and drives across the country seeking violence and love to feel alive, then self-medicating to numb his pain. "Bid Farewell to Her Many Horses," closes the collection with another grieving husband. Bobby, a white man, comes back to his wife's reservation to bury her. The community does not welcome him, for they blame her drinking, her unhappiness and her death on her departure from the reservation. But Bobby loved his wife and Urrea unflinchingly portrays his determination to grieve among those who will always see him as an outsider. Bobby stays in the uncomfortable borderland, and in the final paragraphs, an opportunity for communion arises, between Bobby and his brother-in-law, the two are connected in their loss, the two find a way to comfort one another through the universal language of pain.
Like Urrea, we care deeply for his characters. He writes with compassion and humor and with a nod to the creeping darkness within us all.
June 13, 2015
Luis Alberto Urrea's new book, The Water Museum, is extraordinarily well timed. As California undergoes the "mega-drought" it is a fitting reference to dry places where water is hard won. Urrea shares the story of those that live in these water-scarce lands. Perhaps a few years ago, these concepts may seem foreign to many readers, but now many more can make the connection here.
Some of these short stories are continuations of themes found in Urrea's previous work Into the Beautiful North, but most are completely original. They cover a landscape of sorrow, hardship, and resignation. These are the stories of people out of place, in dust strewn lands, with the thirst for something that goes beyond water. My favorites stories added an element of magical realism such as Mr. Mendoza and his paint brush, the life experience inside the head of a soldier in Chamtla, the dream of water in The Water Museum (very Ray Bradbury), and the sorry of separateness in Her Many Horses.
Urrea shines the most when he is stretching his genre. He cares about people and it shows in his writing. We see their stories, the strife, and hardship. However, it is the magical realism aspects of the story that are truly fantastic and memorable. The imagination and power is very focused here.
Favorite passages:
Mountains, too, are doomed to die. But it is their curse to die more slowly than anything else on earth. To weaken and fall, mile by mile, carrying their arrowheads into the gullies, and with them the gemstone skeletons of the old ones, and the great stony spines of the elder giants. Even these are mere infants to the falling mountains. All falling as grit on the flats. Tiny hills for ants to climb. p8
It wasn't like Junior only hung with white people now. But he didn't see much Raza, he'd be the first to admit. Not socially. That's why you leave home, right? Shake off the dark. p. 35
We were in the car in ten minutes. We sped out of the foothills and across town. Phoenix always looks empty to me when it's hot, like one of those sci-fi movies where all the people are dead and gone and some vampires or zombies are hiding in the vacant condos, waiting for the night. The streets are too wide, and they reflect the heat like a Teflon cooking pan. Pigeons might explode into flame just flying across the street to escape the melting city bus. p. 39
Some of these short stories are continuations of themes found in Urrea's previous work Into the Beautiful North, but most are completely original. They cover a landscape of sorrow, hardship, and resignation. These are the stories of people out of place, in dust strewn lands, with the thirst for something that goes beyond water. My favorites stories added an element of magical realism such as Mr. Mendoza and his paint brush, the life experience inside the head of a soldier in Chamtla, the dream of water in The Water Museum (very Ray Bradbury), and the sorry of separateness in Her Many Horses.
Urrea shines the most when he is stretching his genre. He cares about people and it shows in his writing. We see their stories, the strife, and hardship. However, it is the magical realism aspects of the story that are truly fantastic and memorable. The imagination and power is very focused here.
Favorite passages:
Mountains, too, are doomed to die. But it is their curse to die more slowly than anything else on earth. To weaken and fall, mile by mile, carrying their arrowheads into the gullies, and with them the gemstone skeletons of the old ones, and the great stony spines of the elder giants. Even these are mere infants to the falling mountains. All falling as grit on the flats. Tiny hills for ants to climb. p8
It wasn't like Junior only hung with white people now. But he didn't see much Raza, he'd be the first to admit. Not socially. That's why you leave home, right? Shake off the dark. p. 35
We were in the car in ten minutes. We sped out of the foothills and across town. Phoenix always looks empty to me when it's hot, like one of those sci-fi movies where all the people are dead and gone and some vampires or zombies are hiding in the vacant condos, waiting for the night. The streets are too wide, and they reflect the heat like a Teflon cooking pan. Pigeons might explode into flame just flying across the street to escape the melting city bus. p. 39
July 13, 2021
Stories all (mostly all?) set in the western U.S. I loved the stories featuring members of the Her Many Horses family and Big Angel's family in San Diego. But sometimes I couldn't get into the "voice" of the different stories. It felt a bit contrived at times or that the author was just trying too hard.
October 24, 2015
This book of short stories "grew" on me as I became more familiar with author's style. I did wish that I knew more about Spanish and the Mexican culture. I think I would have gotten even more out of it if I had. Different stories had me crying or laughing out loud. Always a good sign.
November 9, 2022
I enjoyed every one of these stories - timely with strong characters, funny and thought provoking. I think "The Water Museum" is my favorite - it encapsulates our possible future in an understated, brilliant way.
August 29, 2015
I read this slowly so it wouldn't end but eventually it did.
April 20, 2023
I've really enjoyed Luis Alberto Urrea's books especially Into the Beautiful North and The Hummingbird's Daughter. When I saw this volume of his short stories, I was eager to read it. It was entertaining and I especially enjoyed his title story, The Water Museum. Nevertheless, I felt that this book wasn't his best work.
October 13, 2016
I became interested in The Water Museum after reading the starred review it received from Kirkus. Upon further basic Internet investigation, I learned that Urrea is indeed an accomplished craftsman of contemporary literary fiction. Since I read a lot of literary fiction each year, these facts were enough to recommend the work as one likely to reward my time and effort.
Indeed, I was ultimately glad I discovered Urrea's writing. In this story collection, his narratives and the characters that peopled them were subtly rendered in skillful prose appropriate to that intended subtlety and the thematic depth maintained.
While I found it worthwhile reading, I did not find it a particularly outstanding work among those released last year. It was just a bit over-hyped, IMHO. One relative weakness I observed of Urrea's work that compared negatively with other quality lit fic was a tendency of his writing to veer extensively into pretty vague lyricism when the subtlety and style could have been preserved with more precise language as well as definite, dramatic resolution of the plots. <--The stories are not particularly fast-paced or even memorable as such, by the way, dear reader.
I apologize for my poor writing here; I thank you for reading my thoughts and hope they prove somehow useful to some of you. Note: I received a free copy of this work in a Goodreads giveaway in order to encourage my posting of an honest review upon completion.
Indeed, I was ultimately glad I discovered Urrea's writing. In this story collection, his narratives and the characters that peopled them were subtly rendered in skillful prose appropriate to that intended subtlety and the thematic depth maintained.
While I found it worthwhile reading, I did not find it a particularly outstanding work among those released last year. It was just a bit over-hyped, IMHO. One relative weakness I observed of Urrea's work that compared negatively with other quality lit fic was a tendency of his writing to veer extensively into pretty vague lyricism when the subtlety and style could have been preserved with more precise language as well as definite, dramatic resolution of the plots. <--The stories are not particularly fast-paced or even memorable as such, by the way, dear reader.
I apologize for my poor writing here; I thank you for reading my thoughts and hope they prove somehow useful to some of you. Note: I received a free copy of this work in a Goodreads giveaway in order to encourage my posting of an honest review upon completion.
May 17, 2015
"Urrea's writing is wickedly good." That's a blurb from the jacket of one of his books. For some reason it has stayed with me. This is one of my favorite writers. I think the first work of his that I read was The Hummingbird's Daughter. I loved it. It's a fictionalized account of the life of Urrea's actual great-aunt Teresita. He researched historical records and family accounts for years before he had it all down in print. It is story telling at its best.
Urrea is not only a novelist. He writes non fiction (The Devil's Highway was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.) The Water Museum is a collection of short stories. He also writes poetry and memoirs and has won numerous awards.
Some of the stories in The Water Museum have appeared in other publications. Some were written specifically for this collection. All are excellent. "Amapola" appeared in Phoenix Noir and won an Edgar award in 2010 for best mystery short story.
I would urge anyone who has not read this author's work to give him a try. I doubt you will be disappointed.
Urrea is not only a novelist. He writes non fiction (The Devil's Highway was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.) The Water Museum is a collection of short stories. He also writes poetry and memoirs and has won numerous awards.
Some of the stories in The Water Museum have appeared in other publications. Some were written specifically for this collection. All are excellent. "Amapola" appeared in Phoenix Noir and won an Edgar award in 2010 for best mystery short story.
I would urge anyone who has not read this author's work to give him a try. I doubt you will be disappointed.
March 12, 2016
Can I have special dispensation to give this book seven stars instead of just five?
I finished the Water Museum last night. I had bought it some time ago ( I think I pre-ordered) from Audible. I LOVE his work, but I especially love it when he is reading it, and yet because I am not a fan of short stories, AT ALL, I'd not started it, until I saw that the book had put Urrea and this book into the short list, the top five for the PEN/Faulkner. Then I binge read (listened) to the 13 stories and loved each more than the one before and the one after....They are fabulous....
My normal complaint is that just as I get involved with the characters it is over. That wasn't the case here. He wrapped each up so well that I was satisfied (like after a great meal satisfied) with each story and with the resolution.
It is a GREAT read, and worth it at any price. No wonder it's made that short list for this award; this man is golden. In fact, I may start over today, and listen to the entire book again...I'm missing it already.
I finished the Water Museum last night. I had bought it some time ago ( I think I pre-ordered) from Audible. I LOVE his work, but I especially love it when he is reading it, and yet because I am not a fan of short stories, AT ALL, I'd not started it, until I saw that the book had put Urrea and this book into the short list, the top five for the PEN/Faulkner. Then I binge read (listened) to the 13 stories and loved each more than the one before and the one after....They are fabulous....
My normal complaint is that just as I get involved with the characters it is over. That wasn't the case here. He wrapped each up so well that I was satisfied (like after a great meal satisfied) with each story and with the resolution.
It is a GREAT read, and worth it at any price. No wonder it's made that short list for this award; this man is golden. In fact, I may start over today, and listen to the entire book again...I'm missing it already.
February 3, 2016
Very mixed feelings about this story collection, partly let down because it appeared in our local library's collection of books, most critically acclaimed works of 2015. Also, I had read Urrea's novel Into the Beautiful North and heard him talk as part of our community read, so I expected another "win." The stories are very uneven. I almost gave up on the collection a couple of times, especially when he has male characters trying to be "cool"--throwing around their slang, but not very effectively. I was reminded of Junot Diaz's How to Lose Her, which I also didn't enjoy much. Strangely, Urrea seems better with his female characters (true of Into the Beautiful North as well). The last few stories in the collection, including the title story "The Water Museum" about a dry Western town struggling through a drought, were poignant and memorable. . .a lot of other ones, I won't care to remember.
November 14, 2017
Beautiful writing. But not the most interesting prose.
Short stories don't always do it for me. Frankly, they can be hit or miss. Every now and then I like to read a new short story collection, and I've been pleasantly surprised with some. But with The Water Museum, I had a hard time staying interested in the stories. Perhaps it was too high caliber for me. Perhaps it was the fact that the short stories were somehow loosely connected to one another, a loose thread somewhere, but not enough to really keep me interested. I had a hard time placing the setting of the stories...specifically, the time period. It's probably done on purpose to keep the reader guessing, but the vagueness was lost on me.
I'm sure some will find this collection of short stories intriguing, and others will find them a haphazard dive into the water museum.
Short stories don't always do it for me. Frankly, they can be hit or miss. Every now and then I like to read a new short story collection, and I've been pleasantly surprised with some. But with The Water Museum, I had a hard time staying interested in the stories. Perhaps it was too high caliber for me. Perhaps it was the fact that the short stories were somehow loosely connected to one another, a loose thread somewhere, but not enough to really keep me interested. I had a hard time placing the setting of the stories...specifically, the time period. It's probably done on purpose to keep the reader guessing, but the vagueness was lost on me.
I'm sure some will find this collection of short stories intriguing, and others will find them a haphazard dive into the water museum.
November 20, 2022
A collection of short stories that run the gamut from science fiction to ____. The title story could be about our possible soon-to-be world; where drought exists almost everywhere and the "water states" have border patrols to prevent the drought dwellers from invading their land. The drought has lasted so long that the youngsters taken to the Water Museum are frightened of the images and sound of a rainstorm: They've never experienced one themselves.
Another favorite of mine was "The Sous Chefs of Iogua" with its snappy ending.
"The grass looked like Marilyn Monroe's hair. Horses swept through it like combs." from Bid Farewell to Her Many Horses.
Another favorite of mine was "The Sous Chefs of Iogua" with its snappy ending.
"The grass looked like Marilyn Monroe's hair. Horses swept through it like combs." from Bid Farewell to Her Many Horses.
September 1, 2015
What a terrific collection and Urrea does an excellent job narrating. Looking forward to meeting him, at Booktopia Petoskey.
September 18, 2020
Like any collection, some of these stories resonated with me more strongly than others. That said, every story immediately drew me into the world it created, whether it was a world I wanted to inhabit or not. With a few nods to magical realism, most of these stories are of the slice-of-life variety, opening a momentary window into the current situation of each character. Most of these individuals are grappling with trauma - external, self-inflicted, current, past, all kinds - and you can't help but root for them to have a change of luck, a change of heart, a change of habit, or some kind of positive resolution. Some stories suggest that change may be possible (and not always for the better), but in general they are left unresolved when that brief window closes.
This collection creates an empathetic and nuanced portrait of these characters and builds vivid worlds with beautifully efficient language.
This collection creates an empathetic and nuanced portrait of these characters and builds vivid worlds with beautifully efficient language.
June 19, 2021
So excellent. Deserves a real review someday, maybe when I inevitably reread it.
Displaying 1 - 29 of 215 reviews