Valleyesque: Stories

by Fernando A. Flores

In this exuberantly strange story collection, Flores asks: Whose reality? What rules? --Jean Chen Ho, author of The New York Times Book Review

These are marvelously unpredictable stories, anchored by Fernando A. Flores's deadpan prose and his surefooted navigation of those overlapping territories, the real and the fantastic, where so much of the best contemporary fiction now lives. --Kelly Link, author of Get in Trouble

Psychedelic, dazzling stories set in the cracks of the Texas-Mexico borderland, from an iconoclastic storyteller and the author of Tears of the Trufflepig.



No one captures the border--its history and imagination, its danger, contradiction, and redemption--like Fernando A. Flores, whose stories reimagine and reinterpret the region's existence with peerless style. In his immersive, uncanny borderland, things are never what they seem: a world where the sun is both rising and setting, and where conniving possums efficiently take over an entire town and rewrite its history.

The stories in Valleyesque dance between the fantastical and the hyperreal with dexterous, often hilarious flair. A dying Fr�d�ric Chopin stumbles through Ciudad Ju�rez in the aftermath of his mother's death, attempting to recover his beloved piano that was seized at the border, while a muralist is taken on a psychedelic journey by an airbrushed Emiliano Zapata T-shirt. A woman is engulfed by a used-clothing warehouse with a life of its own, and a grieving mother breathlessly chronicles the demise of a town decimated by violence. In two separate stories, queso dip and musical rhythms are bottled up and sold for mass consumption. And in the final tale, Flores pieces together the adventures of a young Lee Harvey Oswald as he starts a music career in Texas.

Swinging between satire and surrealism, grief and joy, Valleyesque is a boundary- and border-pushing collection from a one-of-a-kind stylist and voice. With the visceral imagination that made his debut novel, Tears of the Trufflepig, a cult classic, Flores brings his vision of the border to life--and beyond.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Fantasy, Magical Realism, Latinx, 21st Century, Book Club

208 pages, Paperback

First published May 3, 2022

About the author

Fernando A. Flores was born in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and raised in South Texas. He is a college dropout, avid film photographer, occasional screenwriter, and makes his living in Austin, Texas, doing all kinds of things.

Reviews

[Ruben · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like weird, strange, bizarre stories this is for you. There is a confused Chopin wandering the streets of Ciudad Juarez and angels eating birthday cakes. All of them set on the US-Mexican border. Many of them were too absurd for me, some were really good fun, but the ones I enjoyed the most were more serious ones, e.g. 29th of April on border violence.

[el · Rating 3 out of 5]

one of those books whose concepts/ideas far outweighed its execution, which i find is often the case with surrealism run astray. i loved the idea of la ropa usada, for example, and the set-up of that story, but the way it all came together left a lot to be desired. definitely a weird, enigmatic collection, and worth picking up if that's your thing.

[Sonia · Rating 4 out of 5]

another collection of delightful intriguing surreal stories based in the rio grande valley! read this one for my book club to make an almost back to back fernando flores marathon

“Bodega? Are you from the fucking Bronx? News flash: a bodega is just a regular-ass convenience store where they can make you a sandwich. Right? Calm down with your bodega talk, buddy. Do you know where you even are? You are in Texas.”

[Amy Biggart · Rating 3 out of 5]

a few standouts in here, but mostly I didn’t feel super gripped by it. I think when a collection of short stories is written over 10 years, it needs to have a stronger thru line!

[✰ Perry ✰ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley, publisher Farrar, Straus & Giroux, and to author Fernando A. Flores for providing me a virtual ARC of this book in exchange for an honest and unbiased review.

Valleyesque is a fever dream of a book in the best way possible. Flores’ combination of the uncanny with the downright absurd is done to highlight the actual absurdity of many harmful institutions that we, as readers, have been desensitized to and have normalized. All of Valleyesque’s stories are set in the liminal spaces of the US-Mexico border and focus on the experiences of the people who negotiate and live in these spaces.

As one progresses through Valleyesque, Flores’ myriad critiques and commentaries become increasingly clear. For instance, by including the scenarios of Chopin's piano getting stuck in customs, an Emiliano Zapata T-shirt coming to life, and a character getting lost in a labyrinth of clothes in a maquiladora, Flores is making a pointed critique of NAFTA and the hyper-exploitation faced by the Mexican working class as a result of that deal.

Additionally, there is a fair amount of meta-commentary within Valleyesque. Take “The Science Fair Protest,” wherein Efe asks “Do you think that once you’ve created a literary landscape, that landscape will be forever leaking back into the world? Even if one has never read this author—these people who don’t read are probably the ones who suffer the most leaks into their lives, actually,” or the entirety of “Nostradamus Baby” which is essentially a conversation between Flores and the reader regarding the motivations and rationale behind this book.

Overall, my reading experience with Valleyesque was somewhat of a rollercoaster. Although I can intellectually appreciate and understand Flores’ employ of absurdity to tell these stories, it didn’t really make for an easy read. A majority of the time, my efforts to parse out the events of a previous paragraph were interrupted by the story twisting and going on a different tangent in the next, which resulted in a cycle of confusion. I think I would have better comprehended and enjoyed Valleyesque if I had read this book at a slower pace with a group of people. I definitely want to return to this collection if/when I find a group of people who want to read this book together.

[Borja · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hace algo mas de dos años leí 'Tears of the Trufflepig', una de las novelas más locas que he tenido la oportunidad de leer donde se mezclaba humor negro, narcos, policías aduaneros, mafiosos, drogas, animales modificados genéticamente, acción y un sinfín de elementos que hacían de aquella historia situada en la frontera entre los EE. UU. y Méjico algo tan único como bizarro.

Su autor Fernando Flores, regresa a estos escenarios fronterizos para traernos una serie de historias cortas que siguen el patrón de aquella novela en cuanto a lo extraño y lo psicodélico. De hecho, no creo que me equivoque diciendo que las historias de 'Valleyesque' probablemente sean aún más asombrosas que las de 'Tears of the Trufflepig'.

Por mencionar algunas, el cuento donde vemos a Chopin intentando recuperar el piano que le han confiscado en la aduana mientras sigue en duelo por la muerte de su madre. Hay otra historia donde vemos a Lee Harvey Oswald, el asesino de JFK, intentando sacar adelante una carrera musical. Otro cuento donde vemos la camiseta de Zapata cobrando vida propia. Mucha crítica social ala gestión migratoria de los Estados Unidos, a las grandes corporaciones y el uso frecuente de palabras en español, algo menor que en su novela anterior,hacen de esta antología algo único.

Al mismo tiempo, es una antología para leer poco a poco. El nivel kafkiano que por momentos tienen las historias hacen que sean de lenta digestión, al menos para mi gusto. En cualquier caso, Fernando Flores tiene un estilo tan surrealista y bizarro que hace que no sea para todos los paladares. Hay cuentos más profundos y otros más superficiales, pero en cualquier caso Valleyesque es una antología totalmente distinta a lo que se puede leer habitualmente.

[Maya Sivakumaran · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was really different from anything I’ve ever read, which is why I picked it up in the first place. It’s essentially a collection of weird short stories that all take place around the border of the US and Mexico, lots in Texas. The stylistic writing of each story was the most interesting part to me. Some varied on the side of fantastical elements, where others just had bizarre elements. I can’t say I necessarily know what the purpose of the book as a whole is, but it kept me captivated and explained stories from the border in ways that I haven’t been exposed to before. Perhaps if I had a bit more personal knowledge of border life, I would’ve found it more understandable or relatable. Nonetheless, it was unique and interesting.

[michelle]

brilliantly weird

[Zack Ashkar · Rating 3 out of 5]

Favs: the 29th of April, Nostradamus baby, a portrait of simón bolívar Buckner, pheasants, the Oswald variations

Least favs: queso, nocturne from a world concave, possums

Hated that it started out with its weakest short stories bc I was ready to give up which meant I would’ve missed out on some of the coolest surreal shorts and I would have never discovered that JFK’s killer was actually known and I just never knew?…

[ExtraGravy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the third publication from Flores, his second of short stories. I enjoy the focus on the Texas-Mexico border area which his writings have as their setting. Surrealism mixed with really likable characters. His characters are so down to earth and normal; unsung type people. I'm looking forward to his next novel. This was well worth a read and will keep me sated until his next novel comes out (hopefully soon).

[Samadhee Ismail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Valleyesque is a collection of short stories that will take you to an unforgettable journey. These stories takes place in the Texas Mexican border and will give you lessons about the values of life.

My favorite stories including old Frederic Chopin who finds his old piano and is grieving at the death of his mother. Being a piano teacher and the fact that Chopin is one of my favorite composers, this story actually fascinated me. The other story that fascinated me was Lee Harvey Oswald--the person who assasinated John F Kennedy in 1963. and in the story, young Lee Harvey Oswald embarks on his musical career. There were some heartbreaking ones as well as some funny parts that will make you laugh out loud.

Overall, if you looking for a good set of short stories, I recommend this book for you all--truly the author has done an amazing job of drawing the reader into the story and making the reader feel like they are part of the story. Worth five stars!

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC. The review is based on my honest opinion only.

[Kristine Hall · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading these stories of life (sometimes realistic, sometimes fantastical) along the Texas-Mexico border felt like experiencing Gabriel García Márquez stories blended with Salvador Dali paintings.

Fernando A. Flores's words are vibrant and colorful, magical and improbable, and often quite funny and irreverent. The eclectic mix of plotlines are all over the place including re-imagined stories of Frédéric Chopin, who's lost his piano, and Lee Harvey Oswald as a budding musician, a vintage clothing warehouse that holds parallel dimensions, and oh -- possums who read, write, and run for office. But no matter how far-fetched the story, threaded among the stories in Valleyesque are the constant truths and thinly-veiled metaphors for the very real world of life along the border.

I fully expect this one to be on lots of awards lists.

[Henry Begler · Rating 4 out of 5]

really fun and surreal stories with a lot of heart. i think this is the first book of the 2020s i’ve read that doesn’t feel manufactured and workshopped to an inch of its life and it’s the first book where the author seems like someone i would want to hang out with. even a scene in one story where the immigrant protagonist chews out the trump loving neighbor didn’t provoke an eyeroll from me bc i was fully on the authors side and didn’t feel like he was trying to sell me something. didn’t rock my world but just enjoyable stories that feel like they exist bc the author wants to write fiction and not bc he wants to be An Author.

[Jonathan Katabira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird

[giuli · Rating 5 out of 5]

RATING: 4.5

Thank you to NetGalley, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, and author Fernando A. Flores for an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

This anthology is one of the greatest examples of organizing a living and breathing world can be. "Valleyesque" is a glimpse into the reality of the Texas-Mexican Border society, discovering its people and culture, way way way beyond the known Mexican and Latine stereotypes we're used to seeing in media. It goes even further to being so authentic and specific, it actually reached some sort of universality - it's Mexican, but it could be so many unique cultures.

"Valleyesque" is, in its own way, a great word to describe this collection's way of presenting the world to us. Fernando has managed to find a very absurd and weird language - in a good way -, therefore making simple very powerful in their way of communicating. Close to Kafka, but also Zafonesque. I chose to start talking about this topic of the anthology, because I do think it is one of its strongest points, one of its main attractive points too, due to the fact this just won't be another ethnic story you'll be reading. It will feel like a magical world, a truthful yet misterious dimension of reality, where sadly a lot of awful things happen but it still manages to find itself alive. This language borders magical realism and absurdity, which sometimes disconnected me from the plot and made me feel confused, but not enough to make me give up on the book. In fact, Fernando is VERY consistent with the book's themes and developments, making "Valleyesque" one of the best anthologies I've ever come across.

This anthology feels like a living being, too. It not only showcases vivacity in its situations, but it's also somewhat timeless. I started to read it before the Ukrainian conflict started, and somethings took a whole another meaning after this new situation came to be in my own wordly reality. And what is very important to note here is, Fernando is shouting at us what generations and generations of Mexican immigrants have been trying to tell us about their living situation and their culture and feelings, and about the hipocracy they experience, much like any other ethnic "minority" anywhere else - including my country. I was able to find multiple passages that relate to the current indigenous situation in my country (Brazil), and was also able to identify with many other aspects as a Latina woman (myself) facing white culture.

The metalinguistic aspects of it too are important, questioning the Literary Industry and the Industry's way of putting cultural and individual works out there, of how it values authors and their stories. Fernando never misses an opportunity to use it as a metaphor for other things too, but it almost diverges from fiction when it stops to reflect on the book itself as a book, reminding us that "Valleyesque" is a portrait, thus a real world , not a fantasy (perception we get closer to due to the language when in fact, the absurdity just makes the cruelty of the real world more palatable).

If you're a fan of Carmen Maria Machado's "In The Dreamhouse", Franz Kafka's "The Trial", Cho Nam-Joo's "Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982" and Fredrik Backman's "A Man Called Ove", you should give this one definitely a try.

I hope this one gets awards and hype, because it deserves it so much!

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an honest review provided in exchange for an advance review copy, courtesy of NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

'Valleyesque' is a collection of short stories centered on the idea of otherness, with a particular focus on the alienating and absurd experience of an immigrant. 

Flores' stories range from humorous to disturbing, but even the least impressive ones gain clarity and bite after a second reading. With a slanted look at gangsters, news blackouts, a baby made of earwax, grackle soup, a sassy angel, the revamped life of John F. Kennedy's assassin Lee Harvey and much more, 'Valleyesque' is both a treat and a challenge to a mind governed by logic.

It makes sense, then, that both magic realism and absurdism seize control of the world we enter, toppling reason and demanding an emotional reading of the puzzle within. Trying to crack the meaning of life, to stitch together the fragments of purpose, is a recurring theme. Through astonishing imagery, Flores exposes our fear that the absurdity of our existence will suddenly become apparent.

In 'Nocturne From a World Concave', F. Chopin remembers reading "that we live in a half-world and we are all half beings". Tales of encounters with a feathered angel fail to impress the protagonist's friends in 'Pheasants'. The dreamlike events captured on a mural in 'Zaputa Foots the Bill' are perceived indifferently, since "nobody ever got it, and Salamanca never bothered explaining the story using words". Similarly, in 'The Science Fair Protest', the protagonist wonders whose literary reality it is "that is leaking into our lives?"

The use of magic realism, which is a chiefly Latin-American narrative strategy, both reinforces the air of disinterest and explains Flores' succinct writing style. It's somewhat reminiscent of Ernest Hemingway and George Orwell, who condensed language by stripping away adjectives and descriptions in search of a forceful, blunt narrative that would render reality plainly. 

The prose in 'Valleyesque' takes on the same stark feel, presenting a dispassionate account of otherworldly events. Here, however, it's used to turn the notion of reality on its head. The contrast between the two is quite exhilarating at times, particularly in 'Queso' and 'The Oswald Variations', the stories that open and close the collection in drastically different tones.

Flores' ability to manipulate emotion, to dissect and shelve feeling within each story, is also quite impressive. Beneath the glaze of alienation that binds the stories together is the isolation central to the narrative. This otherness appears in the form of a different mother tongue, a splintered view of normality, a darker appearance, or the scarcity of talent. It spreads melancholy across the page, but also intersperses it with humor, causing a ripple effect. Most importantly, it feeds on untethered feelings. 

There's a sense of detachment between the characters and their surroundings, an alienation that keeps their engagement with life, and the logic that rules it, permanently fettered. Flores allows this indefinable quality to complement the eccentricity of his world, which in turn creates a self-sufficient ambiance. A great example of this can be found in 'A Portrait of Simon Bolivar Buckner', in which Gabriel's unshakable curiosity about the identity of the man whose portrait he's holding keeps him from reacting to the bee stings disfiguring his face. 

Overall, 'Valleyesque' starts off strong and ends on an equally high note. As with all collections, not all stories possess the same momentum, but every single one begs to be recontextualized once finished. The itch to return and reread certain passages certainly speaks to its success.

[Scott Semegran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Valleyesque by Fernando A. Flores is a book of short stories that are psychedelic, satirical, and surreal. The book description from the publisher describes it best: “No one captures the border--its history and imagination, its danger, contradiction, and redemption--like Fernando A. Flores, whose stories reimagine and reinterpret the region's existence with peerless style. In his immersive, uncanny borderland, things are never what they seem: a world where the sun is both rising and setting, and where conniving possums efficiently take over an entire town and rewrite its history. The stories in Valleyesque dance between the fantastical and the hyperreal with dexterous, often hilarious flair. Swinging between satire and surrealism, grief and joy, Valleyesque is a boundary- and border-pushing collection from a one-of-a-kind stylist and voice. With the visceral imagination that made his debut novel, Tears of the Trufflepig, a cult classic, Flores brings his vision of the border to life--and beyond.”

Flores’ follow-up to his surreal novel Tears of the Trufflepig is the short story collection Valleyesque. These stories are all surreal, trippy, and some are quite funny. Sort of a mashup of Márquez, Burroughs, and Bukowski (these are high level comparisons), trying to pin down Flores’ actual style is difficult as it is wholly unique: the ultimate compliment for a writer. Many of the stories take place in the small towns of the Rio Grande Valley, but some are also set in what seems like Austin, Texas. The stories are filled with beautiful similes and metaphors which often transform into the actual settings of the stories; Flores does this beautifully and seamlessly. Some of my favorite stories are: The Science Fair Protest, Nocturne from a World Concave, The 29th of April, Nostradamus Baby, Ropa Usada, and my favorite You Got It, Take It Away. These stories are highly imaginative and utterly entertaining, my favorite book of Flores’ so far. If there is one negative of this book, then it is that it is too short. I could have lived in the world of these stories a little longer.

I really enjoyed this book and I highly recommend it. I would give this book 5 stars.

[Bekah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gosh, I love surrealist fiction. Specifically: bizarre stories that give you an experience rather than an intellectual “aha” at the end. It’s a nice brain-break, a reminder that the broader world is wonderful, weird, and beyond me.

Anyway. My favs were “The 29th of April” and “Ropa Asada.”

[Ellie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this collection of stories from Flores. Each story is its own world - blending reality with surrealism and magical realism to mimic the bent reality of life on the border. Absolutely worth your time. Getting into Flores's imagination is thrilling and full of unexpected twists and turns. Get a copy asap!

[Eric]

…i sent in a request of an ARC for this, and I used the wrong publishers name in the email…how wonderful. you won’t be seeing me receive an ARC for this any time soon

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many unique stories. Hard to pick a favorite.

[Aaron Dehn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of complicated thoughts on this one, thoughts that required some untangling because I couldn’t quite figure out why I was lukewarm on these stories. I love fabulism & magical realism & surrealism, and then adding Texas centered narratives on top of that seemed extremely up my alley.

So I kinda had to pick apart why these are different than the fabulists Joan Aiken or Kelly Link and then further distinguish it from the magical realists Marquez or Borges who, like Flores, use the framing to explore similar topics of decolonization and Latino narratives. (And here’s the caveat of me being a white guy picking apart a Chicane writer’s stories which is I why I wanted to think about this seriously but I do think it goes beyond just being unable to connect with the Tejane/Chicane characters).

To me, the prose is dry (especially in contrast to Garcia Marquez) but more so, the surrealist additions are delivered with an almost apathetic disregard. The uncovering of the fantastic elements—such as psychedelic transition through dimensions—are handled as quiet, almost free-association additions rather than with colorful wonder.

I think you can definitely write stories without an internal logic but to then pass along this irrationality as mundane or even inconsequential with stiff description makes the world feel flat. Characters move without walls, without conflict, with little change, and the dry description then undercuts any strange whimsy that would be entertaining.

I enjoyed “Possums” and “Ropa Usada” and “The 29th of April” and “El Ritmo de la Noche” but the rest felt closer to random stream-of-consciousness on the part of the writer which, with really beautiful prose, would’ve been counterbalanced. Maybe I just need to feel some awe with my magical realism.

[Mathew Zuniga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Flittering between a dream-like state and an all out fever dream, Valleyesque is an unpredictable collection of short stories grounded in the absurd and understated. The proud father of an ear wax baby, an explorer of a dangerous thrift store land, Opossums up to no good and more coalesce to create a truly surreal reading experience. Fernando A. Flores balances complete absurdity and carefully inserts it into otherwise mundane life to shape stories of border life that are submerged in surrealism and ask to be read again. Some stories will make you consider what is real, some will make you feel, and some will make you take part in a choose your own adventure Lee Harvey Oswald story.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

An absolutely stunning read. Takes you into other worlds while leaving your tired self behind and coming back a recharged human being.

[Swan Bender · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed some of the stories but found I did not understand or couldn't follow other stories and didn't have enough faith in the author to let go and believe in his words.

[Zachary Houle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie once gave a lecture about the dangers of what she calls “the one story.” In this talk, she explained that, when it comes to certain people and certain areas of the world, we have a narrative that has been fed to us that is one-sided and doesn’t accurately portray the whole story. She used, as an example, Mexicans because this was something she admitted she had developed one story over — strictly based on what she had heard through the American media. So, you may have heard that Mexicans have been detained at the U.S. border, separated from their families, and put in cages. You may have heard stereotypes such as that undocumented Mexicans are taking jobs away from white Americans. You may have heard a whole lot of stuff that is probably outright racist. Well, Mexican American author Fernando A. Flores is here to give you the whole story as to what it’s like to be Mexican American or Mexican. In his latest short-story collection, Valleyesque, he writes of the lives of people who live on the U.S.-Mexican border in the Rio Grande Valley (or RGV, as he calls it). However, these are stories that are strange and unusual — and often defy convention.

There may be a reason why Flores often writes in such a fabulist style. One of them is that writing a realist story might be simply too painful a tale to tell. Another reason might be that life — and especially life as a person of colour — is simply absurd, and how could you render such life in a conventional style? Either way, the bulk of the stories in this volume are really weird, even by my weird-loving standards. I honestly feel that I’m probably not the best person equipped to write about them, as they are often — to a white, cis-gendered male with privilege — so far out in left field that the true understanding behind them is sometimes incomprehensible to me. So, it is thus that I found that the story I was most drawn to was “Nostradamus Baby,” a tale about a Mexican American couple who make a sculpture of a small child out of earwax that they’ve collected from their own ears. That’s just the framing device, however. The story is really about a writer who spends his time listening to other would-be writers describe their works in progress and offering critiques or encouragement on them, even though it’s obvious that these pieces in the making are quite terrible. Flores writes of privilege and the types of people who are likely to get stories published — usually NOT people of colour — and the story is a bit of a thesis statement on why Flores writes and why he writes the way he does.

Read the entire review here: https://zachary-houle.medium.com/a-re...

[Carey Calvert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Among the many authors I hope to see at next month’s Texas Book Festival, Fernando Flores (Tears of the Trufflepig), is certainly one I can’t miss.

The writer, who lives in Austin, and whose writing most embodies Keep Austin Weird, grew up in South Texas.

His latest, this dazzling collection of short stories enmeshed in a subjective reality (isn’t that all fiction?), speak not only to his roots, the “cracks of the Texas-Mexico borderland” but to the absurdist hinterland that exists in all of us.

Flores is simply not afraid to admit it.

These stories were drafted between 2010 and January 2020 while Flores was working in the food industry or as a bookseller to make money.

The first story, “Queso,” a 3-page smack in the face sets the tone.

“The trick, I’ve learned from the best, is that you gotta co-opt their culture. Hijack it and sell them back a cheaper version.”

The eggs, already cracked, from a container … ‘this touch is important.’

“It is what will let us advertise them as ‘fresh.’”

I'm new to Flores and for those whove been with him since day one, Flores will "never sacrifice compassion for weirdness" - there are still gentrifying possums, earwax as teddy bear - standard Flores stuff.

Oh, and Johnny Canales.

As with all short story collections however, we have our favorites. After I finished reading Valleyesque, with its own absurdist Daliesque cover, I scanned my notes for this review but found only one.

Not even a scribble.    

It read April 29th.

The actual title of the story is “The 29th of April.”

It is the one most grounded in reality, but this point is merely coincidental.

A tear-jerker – even this term would seem out of place - that grabs you from its first line:

“I am going to tell you a story about your birthday.”

The 29th of April falls on the same day Rosa died. Rosa had two sons. Each affected by an innate and intrusive violence that becomes them – “Listen to what’s going on here in this moment.”

… and you may have even heard a similar telling.

Just not the way that Flores tells and writes … anything.

[J. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to both NetGalley and Farrar, Straus and Giroux/MCD x FSG Originals for providing me an advance copy of Fernando A. Flore’s literary fiction novel, Valleyesque, in exchange for an honest review.

Valleyesque is a collection of short stories that alternate between the genres of literary fiction and magical realism. The author has a unique writing style and the subject matter is rather eccentric, but there is something lyrical and innovative in the prose that compels the reader to finish the journey.

The author is imaginative and clever, referencing numerous artistic works and socioeconomic issues; rarely mentioning them directly. The author speaks in allusions, but in such an oblique way that the reader may miss the reference if they fail to read closely. Then, again, this style of writing and some of the topics may not be everyone’s cup of tea. Hence, the 3 stars (though I would give it a 3.75 if possible).

Notable stories:
- The Science Fair Protest
- Nocturne From A World Concave
- Zapata Foots The Bill
- Possums
- Ropa Usada
- Panchofire & Marina
- El Ritmo De La Noche
- You Got It, Take It Away

I will definitely be on the lookout for the author’s next novel.

[Patrick Quinn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Political stories making up probably the most hit-or-miss collection I’ve ever read. These are either genius, emotional ideas or just total bullshit. I wouldn’t describe these as strange or weird as I’d more call them random. In several stories here Flores fictionalizes real people and I’m not a fan at all of that. Like “Nocturne from a World Concave” was a cool idea itself, but I couldn’t get past the protagonist. It just seems so lazy to me, and I don’t think Flores knew Frederic Chopin—it seems kind of disrespectful and unfair to me to depict somebody you don’t know in any way, living or dead. Because, these people WERE real, so anything here is just a lie. It also makes a lot of these stories pointless.

But Flores hits the jackpot a few times. The idea behind “Ropa Usada” was so so good. “The 29th of April” almost brought me to tears.

Though for the most part, I’m not so much lost in this valley as I am confused or bored by it.

Favorites: Queso, The 29th of April, Nostradamus Baby, Ropa Usada

[Jacob MacDonald · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Flores's first collection on a recommendation, and was confused by it more than I loved it. I wasn't put off, but the stories seemed to ask for a lot of work, never quite cohered for me. Valleyesque started as a more challenging read, but started to really come together around Possums. There's a clear interleaving rhythm to things up to that point: A weird story, something a bit more grounded. But the dichotomy breaks down, and by the middle of You Got It, Take It Away, the book is daring the reader to categorize what they are currently reading. How important are the Lynchian objects? Do the metatextual elements carry their own weight? As far as the latter question, I felt that the stories got stronger as subject matter shifted back to music and I took in the book like an album. Nostradamus Baby was the heart of things on this first read. Tito's bodega-Texas rant was the comedic highlight. I thought I had escaped the need for diagrams until the very end.