Mala leche

by Gabriel Carle

Mala leche renuncia al sueño y al futuro, pero no a la belleza, al humor ni a la franqueza del desafío. Este es un mundo que no marcha tras urgencias progresistas, de la post-abundancia donde proximidad más apabullante y la existencia más conectada termina en soledad. Aquí el placer y el tedio ocupan un mismo lugar. Pero el placer reconoce su fertilidad en la carencia y termina corrompiendo y salvándolo todo. Gabriel Carle conoce bien el terreno que pisa y lo domina con el desparpajo de un natural. Narra sin prejuicios, con chispa, soltura, riesgo; con economía y espacio para la belleza, con una sensibilidad rara, un humor compasivo, con sofisticación y certeza.Es imposible no sucumbir a su humanismo y no celebrar el auténtico logro literario que este libro implica. El mundo que narran es uno nuevo, inédito, que estaba a nuestro alrededor, pero no habíamos visto hasta ahora. Un extraordinario debut literario.–Luis NegrónRío Piedras, Puerto Rico

Genres: Short Stories, LGBT, Fiction, Queer, Adult, Queer Lit, Contemporary

101 pages, Paperback

First published May 7, 2024

Reviews

[Sadie Hartmann]

"...but this is Puerto Rico: time flows differently in the Caribbean, where summer never ends and the months melt together into one long hot day."

Thank you to Feminist Press for the advanced reading copy via Edelweiss. This short story collection comes out May 9th, 2024. Several short stories explore themes of queerness, loneliness, drug use, and being a youth in Puerto Rico. The stories range from dreamy, vibrant, drug-induced mayhem through the city streets, to a teen's devastating, raw, testimonial of living out their days isolated and unloved for being queer.
My heart just ached through some of these...confessions; the tortured lamenting of a soul that doesn't belong anywhere and seeking comfort in any way that feels like acceptance.
And other stories are just horny as fuck! Hahah
I enjoyed my time with Gabriel Carle, walking around with them, taking in the sights and smells and vibes of Puerto Rico. Very transportive and vibrating with life--a stong voice.

"There's something in the water or in the air or in the heat that makes us dig our own graves, then climb into them and wait for hurricane season, for water to cleanse us, submerge us, drown us. Then stagnate."

[giada]

The tales in Bad Seed paint a bleak picture of Puerto Rico’s gay youths and their lives: homophobia, the disconnect with one’s family and the constant fear of getting a positive result on an HIV test are some of the constants of these short stories. But among the bad there’s the community, both in internet subcultures (tumblr is mentioned multiple times, it’s the first time I see that name in a book, but so is twitter’s nsfw scene) and in extremely messy friendship groups.

The majority of the protagonists are in high school or university, and I was afraid the target would make it so that the language of the book would be sanitised like the typical YA or NY we get in publishing at the moment — but luckily for us, Puerto Rico shows its independence from the United States by using a colloquial and crude tone, one that you’d expect from a kid in that age range when not supervised. It kind of reminded me of british cult series Skins, in a way (I only watched the first season, and the similarities as far as I can guess are only in the portrayal of young people that have to fend for themselves in a society that doesn’t want them).

One of the short stories puts itself in reference to Larry Kramer’s Faggot which made me want to read that novel as well, but from the plot synopsis I can see how it could be a blueprint for the collection itself.

I would like to see what else Gabriel Carle has to say, and whether a novel with a more substantial plot is in the works. For now this book sits at 3.5 stars.

Thank you Edelweiss and The Feminist Press for giving me access to the review copy!

[Oma]

La verdad, quedé sorprendido.
Fue una recomendación de una amigx y se
la agradezco.
Mi experiencia con literatura de Puerto Rico es una agridulce, aprecio mucho sus características mágico-tropicales pero hay algo en la voz narrativa puertorriqueña que siempre me expulsa de la lectura.
"Mala Leche", no fue el caso.
Gabriel Carle en su mayoría logra escapar ese elemento (del que yo mismo en mis escrituras padezco). Es lúdica y creativa su voz narrativa.
En esta colección de cuentos se encuentran narradores en primera, tercera y segunda (!) persona. Siendo esta última la más que me capturó por su carácter fantasioso.
Los cuentos toman lugar en muchos espacios por los que he transcurrido y esta familiaridad junto a la contemporaneidad de sus temas fueron muy bien recibidos.
Explora la homosexualidad boricua de una manera real y cruda. Desde la crianza en el clóset consumiendo televisión gringa, la vida estudiantil en la UPR en Río Piedras, y los rincones íntimos donde se refugia el paria y sus drogas, y el amor y sexo queer.
Aunque desconozco si es verdad, los cuentos parecerían cargar un peso personal. Son emotivos y honestos. Y aunque quedé enajenado de algunos pensamientos y pedazos de texto, no dejan atrás lo particular que sí aprecio de la ficción boricua: la diversión linguística, la consciencia sociocultural y el atrevimiento.

[Jorge Rivera]

La primera colección de cuentos de Gabriel Carle me parece más que pertinente para nuestros tiempos. Con una prosa fresca, renovada, despojada de cultismos, lúcida, pensada para los lectores que reconocen los referentes de los ‘90 porque pertenecen a esa generación. Los seis cuentos de Carle me recuerdan un verso del ilustre poeta peruano, César Vallejo: «Zumba el tedio enfrascado». Estos personajes están enfrascados en la cotidianeidad, que también es la marginalidad, en los temas que atañen a la sociedad contemporánea, tanto dentro como fuera de Puerto Rico. Indudablemente el mejor cuento de la colección es «Moñas de Marruecos», pero cada uno tiene su gancho bien preparado para agarrar a cualquier lector que desee adentrarse en la narrativa de un escritor puertorriqueño de calidad indubitable, como lo es Carle.

[endrju]

I don't think there's a bad story in this collection. They are of varying degree of interest, of course, but all of them are written with desire - with desire for other bodies, other places, other times. Most of the stories are as drenched in melancholy as Puerto Rico is in the rain. Favs must be "Luisito" and "In the Bathhouse", awfully bleak but all the more political for that.

[Skylar Miklus]

Brutal and ballsy and fabulous! Bad Seed marks the long-awaited first translation into English for emerging Puerto Rican fiction writer Gabriel Carle. Their prose is red-hot, erotic, and immediate as they investigate an eclectic cast of young queer Puerto Ricans. Everything feels so authentic, raw, ecstatic, and deeply felt.

[Sam Boman]

very strange. good. very good.

[Mayah Reyes]

1 star 🌟 This book was... an interesting read [derogatory]. Throughout most of it, I felt confused and disgusted. Thankfully, it is only 120-ish pages, so I was able to read it fairly quickly. The themes covered kinda reminded me of Agustina Bazterrica's short story collection, and like it, it made me uncomfortable and made me wish it would end asap. However, this one did not feel nearly as well-written or developed as Bazterrica's stories did. I don't want to drag on about what I disliked, so I figured I would make two concise lists of its positives and negatives.
Pros:
- original stories/plots
- diversity & inclusivity
- supporting a new author
- stories/characters connected to each other nicely
Cons:
- incest (with graphic detail of incestual sexual acts)
- child abuse
- drug abuse
- sexual assault & rape that develops into a relationship
- (not that the 3 points above should never be included in books, it just felt a bit out of left field here and very gratuitous)
- I don't know how to explain this very well, but a character purposefully and unremorsefully spreading HIV to his sex partners because he believed it to be a means of population control???
- that same character saying he hates Puerto Ricans - maybe a motive to spread HIV???
- Porn, sex, dick, asshole, cum, fucking, etc. (any other word you can think of to describe sexual acts) being present in *almost* EVERY SINGLE PARAGRAPH - I mean, I understand including sex in a book (especially one about the exploration of sexuality) but that was the basis of nearly every. single. story.
- practically every story is the same as the last, except with new characters/a new location/new sexual acts
- the translation seemed a bit off/unnatural - despite the author claiming the stories were written in English??? im confused

[Katie]

Eh. I could have used a little more context and plot in most of these stories.

[yoursavagegoodboy Toàn]

tập truyện ngắn này sở hữu các truyện ngắn có chất lượng không tương xứng khi chỉ hoặc thiệt hay hoặc thiệt dở.

nhưng "In Heat" về một người queer thích coi TV show, "Luisito" về một người queer bị khủng hoảng danh tính, "Devilwork" lại là về những fantasy về sex của người queer với giáo viên của mình, "The Blunts That Bond Us" thì về mối quan hệ tay ba và sự hứng thú về chất kích thích đã kéo họ lại nhau, "In The Bathhouse" về một người queer bị HIV và bị khủng hoảng hiện sinh, và "Helium" về mother and son issue.

còn lại dở và đáng quên.

recommend đọc:
- In Heat
- Luisito
- The Blunts That Bond Us
- In The Bathhouse

[Amelia Teske]

“I don’t care about air-conditioning. I care about white rice. I don’t care about the meaning of life. I care about masturbation. I don’t care about small children. I care about the liberation of Puerto Rico. I don’t care about love. But then, I do. Then again, I couldn’t give a shit.”

Each and every one of these stories totally engulfed me into their unforgiving erotic griminess and queer hedonism. Well done.

[Clara]

Not for me.

[Translator Monkey]

A nice collection; I admit, only half of the stories really grabbed me, the others seemed to be variations on the exact same theme, with frankly LITTLE variation. Carle is clearly a talented writer, and I look forward to reading what else he has on tap.

[Matthew]

Daring in style and format, this free-flowing book of short fiction centers on young queer people in working-class Puerto Rico. Carle is definitely an author to watch.

[d]

these stories would be so good if they had been published on Substack lol

[sara]

"so i've come to the conclusion that love doesn’t actually exist—or maybe it does? maybe i've felt it, for real, outside a momentary hormonal flash? no, i know better. love is just a perfect illusion that escapes all reason."

this was such an amazing collection of stories about queerness from a pov/lense i've never read from. gabriel carle has a way with words that make you flinch from how honest and sensual they are you feel like you need to look over your shoulder every few minutes to make sure nobody's reading along with you. some of my favorites were "in heat" "luisito" and "in the bathhouse"

[Emma Lynn]

As much as I really wanted to like this series of short stories I really didn't. I think their is an audience for it and I hope this book finds that auidnece, but I am not it. What drawed me to the book was the topics that it wanted to disucss: social inequality, social pressurss, coming of age, sexuality, gender, and so much more topics that are important and effect so many readers and characters and Luisito was my favoerite short story of the collection because I felt that it touched upon all of those topics but the other stories I really struggled with.

[Sam Hughes]

I am so thankful to Feminist Press and Gabriel Carle for granting me advanced physical access to this book before it hits shelves on May 7, 2024. Bad Seed is a short read, but an impactful one, touching upon our storyteller’s time growing up in Puerto Rico in and out of the closet, from his youth to his young adult and later on years. I really enjoyed how liberating these tales were for our narrator, and feel it will be the perfect read for PRIDE Month in the next several months.

[Anwen Hayward]

Most of these stories felt a bit like being stuck in an elevator with someone who won't stop telling you that they smoke weed. It's like, we get it. You smoke weed. What floor do you want to get off at? Do you want me to push the button for you? Have you missed your floor? Oh, you have? Because of the weed? Cool. Cool, cool, cool. Oh, shucks, this is my floor, actually. Yeah, I'm getting out now. See you later? You'll be smoking weed out the back? Yeah... probably not, then.

[Kimberly Macias]

I actually really enjoyed this book more than I thought since i’m not the hugest fan of sexual scenes in books, but I feel like the ones in the book were different, like they needed to be in the book to shine more light on the problem of homophobia in puerto rico and how it had affected the main character into feeling like they needed to be desired or validated to feel fulfilled.

[Kyle]

A very gritty and harsh collection of short stories dealing with queerness in Puerto Rica with a further emphasis and college courses in the humanities. An interesting and raw group of stories that provoke a lot of thought.

[Matthew Chapman]

Absolutely beautiful writing. The pros read like poetry. The problem is all of the beautiful writing, was not terribly interesting. I’m glad I read it, but I don’t know who I would recommend this book to.

[Szymon]

If I looked for love the way I look for dick, pieces of my heart would end up in every library urinal

Mid, out-of-context stories of Latinx queers. One or two that I liked (the one abt longing and throuples was nice) but otherwise, meh. Had to skip a few, too.

[Jadyn]

Not sure if I gave up on the book or the book gave up on me.

[gabriella]

4.5 - short story collections by queer puerto rican authors have my whole heart

[Claudi]

A great debut collection. My reading of this book flew by.

[Soggy Spice]

I really enjoyed this. It was gritty and dare I say uncut..

[Gabrielle Zimerman]

I love queer, coming-of-age stories, and this one was very unique! Some parts were challenging to follow along.

[marv]

Everyone read this book rn

[John]

In the Bathhouse is the best of the lot by far. The rest felt very average.