Kafka in a Skirt: Stories from the Wall

by Daniel Chacon

This is not your ordinary short story collection. In his newest work, Daniel Chacón subverts expectation and bends the rules of reality to create stories that are intriguing, hilarious, and deeply rooted in Chicano culture. These stories explore the concept of a wall that reaches beyond our immediate thoughts of a towering physical structure. While Chacón aims to address the partition along the U.S.-Mexico border, he also uses these stories to work through the intangible walls that divide communities and individuals—particularly those who straddle multiple cultures in their daily lives.

Set in El Paso and other Latinx-dominant urban spaces, Kafka in a Skirt is an immersive look into the myriad lives of the characters who inhabit these culturally diverse areas. Chacón masterfully weaves elements of the surreal and fantastic through a shining tapestry of fiction, creating moments of touching realism in contrast with scenes that are fascinatingly unfamiliar. Occasionally teasing the ghosts of Jorge Luis Borges and the Argentine poet Alejandra Pizarnik, this collection disregards boundaries and transports readers into a world merely parallel to our own. Kafka in a Skirt unravels the intricacies of culture, sexuality, love, and loneliness in a collection that shows the personal implications of barriers while remaining hopeful and bright.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

168 pages, Paperback

First published October 29, 2019

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this imaginative group of stories. The start of it, in which the author suggests an order in which to read the stories, was a weird start, but onward I read and enjoyed it. Thanks, book gifter!

[Mary S · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read! I took ‘path 2’ in terms of the order I went through the book. This is the sort of book you read multiple times because you know you will discover something new every time you pick it up.

[Micah · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked it

[Dionisia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short story collection divided into four parts. Early on the author offered a few suggested reading orders dubbed the Hidden Order Of Things.

Path One
"If you look for thematic meaning in a text,..."

Path Two
"If you spent your childhood imagining that you could enter into other dimensions,..."

Path Three
"If you are interested in what makes this book 'Chicano,'..."

Path Four
"Open the table of contents and skim over the titles. If one strikes you,...read it."

I felt drawn to Path Two. I was that kid and I was looking to escape from the stresses of the world. Like reading a choose-your-own-adventure book, I made my choice and forged ahead flipping from one section of the book to another. It did not feel like an escape. Something about reading in this way did not work for me. I found I enjoyed this book more once I just started from the beginning and turned the pages as they came.

Characters and objects from one story reappeared in the background of others. There were futuristic, fantastical elements sprinkled about. But, it also felt grounded in reality. That last story packed an unexpected wallop. "The Barbarians" and "Bien Chicano" were also standouts.

[Piyali Mukherjee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first time reading this author and I'm surprised by how much I liked it. This is a collection of short stories that explores the Chicano identity. Some of the stories are connected together through common themes and common characters, which is a literary tool I always love. Why recreate an emotionally complex situation through two new characters when the same old ones can explore it in a different lens again?

The stories are also fascinating as they are based on the concept of the Wall® which essentially is a giant cloud repository of all data collected everywhere ("If you could take a snapshot of all the images ever stored in it, it would be like looking at the face of God"). The Wall is also omnipresent in the characters' lives as the USA-Mexico border that separates the two nations.

From science-fiction to goth to diaspora stories, the stories are told through sensitive narrators who are masterful at leaving things unsaid. They include a man who cannot tell a woman he loves her in his native language, a queer Chicano student struggling to find his library's vandalizers, waiters serving invisible guests and a guy who took his date to his ex's funeral.

[Sylvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I followed the Chicano read suggested by this book, then I started reading here there and everywhere, following my intuition. Y es que the author follows Julio Cortázar and Ana Castillo's experiment of providing "guidelines" on how to read this book. That is one of the many ways in which Daniel Chacon experiments with form and challenges our reading.

That being said, you gotta read this. I laughed so much and was moved for the struggles, adventures, and situations of these characters. Favorite story? Fuck Shakespeare.

[Jay Koester · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was blown away by Hotel Juarez, so immediately began searching for more from Daniel Chacon. I was excited to find he had a new selection of short stories out, and this was another great collection. It might not have reached the dizzying heights of Hotel Juarez, but Kafka in a Skirt definitely had stories in it that had me thinking for days afterward. Highly recommend checking out this author.

[J.J. Amaworo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a mind-blowingly enjoyable piece of work. The energy of the prose and the resonance and breadth of the themes give us a fresh perspective on the world we inhabit. For Borges and Cortázar fans!

[Lone Star Literary Life]

Reviewed by Chris Manno for Lone Star Literary Life.

[Troy · Rating 4 out of 5]

“He was fifty, and he had no job, and all he did all day was read and think and write, and drink a lot of wine.”