Elements

by Stephen D. Gutierrez

Elements is a wild ride through the barrios of East two homeboys caught in a burglary, a Hollywood weirdo, a loner brooding on a drug deal, and a would-be writer cartwheeling across the landscape, falling down flat and getting up again in a series of stories displaying the confusion and angst, and the joys and beauties, of being Mexican American and being alive.

Genres: Fiction

197 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 1997

Reviews

[MJ Nicholls · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of street-smart (says this pompous ass) stories with a remarkable flair for rhythm and beat. The stories here perform cartwheels, handstands and sly somersaults, sparkle with incendiary slang, and grapple with their own unwriteableness. The suite ‘Elements’ pokes around in East Los Angeles Mexican-American life, alternating between disembodied narrators and unconcealed autobiographical riffs on Steven D. Gutierrez’s tortured existence. As the collection progresses, Gutierrez serves up self-lacerating rants about his Cornell MFA program and the dolts who won’t publish his work—candour that is both somehow universal and laughably selfish. ‘Afterword’ contains three long-ish pieces that are stronger when Gutierrez removes himself from the picture (his life is always tortured, despite his success at teaching and getting laid a lot, which he is keen to tell us), running on a manic energy and sweaty desperation. Because Gutierrez inserts himself into the work he casts something of a shadow—he simply isn’t that likeable, and his views on writing I find unnecessarily stifling (only writing when inspiration strikes or perfect sentences are hit upon). He also tells us of his hatred for A Sentimental Education. At that point he lost me. Good story writer, challenging book.