The Consequences by Manuel Munoz

Source of book: Borrowed from the library

 

Manuel Munoz is a “local” author for me - he was born and raised in Dinuba, one of many small San Joaquin Valley farm towns. Despite his family’s poverty and his missing plenty of school to help his parents with field work, he did well, and got into Harvard, earning a degree from there and another from Cornell. 

 

Munoz currently teaches at the University of Arizona in Tucson. But really, it is his writing that stands out. He has won a number of awards, and just this year made the news for winning a MacArthur Genius Grant. I put in a request for this book some months ago, and waited in line behind other patrons. It was well worth the wait. 

 

This collection of ten short stories is all about the experiences of Latino-Americans who feed America through their farm labor. It is also about the losses and the compromises that come with poverty and its aftermath. In addition, about half of the stories involve gay characters - Munoz himself is gay, and his stories reflect the difficulties of growing up gay in a patriarchal subculture. 

 

First, let me say that these stories are wonderfully written. Munoz shows great skill with his use of words, his careful and spare way of saying more with less, of bringing out the emotional depths of his characters without making lists - true showing rather than telling. 

 

The characters range from young to old, are male or female as the case may be, gay or heterosexual. There are moments of cruelty, hardship, and pain; but also of care, love, and beauty. The full complexity of the human experience is found in these tales. 

 

The setting for the stories is mostly in the 1980s of the author’s childhood, and in the small towns that populate California’s farm country. There are some exceptions: Los Angeles and Fresno, and also a similar small town in Texas, but the Central Valley connection ties all of the stories together. 

 

The title story, “The Consequences” occurs midway through the book, and is connected to the final story, “What Kind of Fool Am I?” as they both examine the death of a young gay man from different perspectives. The first, from the perspective of the man’s final lover, who only realizes his love when it is too late; and the second from the viewpoint of the man’s sister, who has given up a chance at love for herself in order to keep rescuing her brother. 

 

Several of the stories mention a common practice of cheating farm workers out of their wages. On the day payment for the week is due - Friday - the contractor calls ICE. The workers either escape (and lose the week’s pay) or are caught and deported. The contractor is able to cheat them out of a week’s wages either way. This would typically be done at the end of a job - once the harvest is complete, for example. Having talked with a number of former and current farm workers, I had heard this before. It is an ongoing issue, and will be as long as we have our current grossly unjust immigration laws. 

 

I’ll mention a few stories here: “Anyone Can Do It,” about a woman whose husband has been deported, who takes a risk to feed her family and is taken advantage of by another equally desperate woman. “The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA,” about a young wife who travels to Los Angeles to meet her husband, who has crossed back over the border after being deported, and who befriends an even younger and more naive woman doing this for the first time. These characters are viewed briefly in a later story. “The Pink House at the End of the Street on the Other Side of Town,” the shortest story and the longest title, which tells of revenge taken for adultery. 

 

Munoz also looks at teen pregnancy and the sexual double standard which is particularly prevalent in Machismo Culture, in “The Reason is Because.” I particularly liked one line in this story. Nela is the young girl who has had a child, and is now suffering the consequences in multiple ways. She is convinced by her friend Luz to sneak out and go to the carnival, but it turns out that Luz mostly wants cover for meeting her boyfriend Alonzo. Nela comes to realize that Luz and Alonzo have been smarter than her - they look “good” on the outside, which allows them to find subtle ways to get out from under their parents’ control. 

 

Like Luz, Alonzo was practicing a careful rebellion. Like Luz, he was biding his time until he was out of his parents’ grasp. 

 

There is a lot of me in that passage. My parents went from being nurturing parents when I was a child to increasingly authoritarian in my teens, as they got involved with Bill Gothard’s cult. I was, at heart, a “good” child and a “good” teen. I didn’t do drugs, drink, have sex, or really get into any trouble. I worked hard, studied hard, did a LOT of things for the family from being the primary grocery shopper to voluntarily doing home maintenance projects. But I was increasingly frustrated by the need to control me, and practiced (in my own way) a careful rebellion until I could get out from under their control. Unfortunately, they never really took my independence as an adult well. 

 

The stories involving gay men are fascinating as well, with a variety of takes on the experience.

 

“Presumido” examines the class divide that Juan experiences as part of a largely white and middle-class gay subculture. Particularly frustrating for him is the way these white men act like they never came from poverty or small towns (which they did in many cases.) 

 

“Compromisos” is a particularly heart-rending story. Mauricio is gay, but married with children. The problem is, like most in his situation, he is still very, very gay, and ends up seeking sexual encounters with other men. He is thus torn between his sexuality and his genuine love for his wife and children. This never ends well, as so many stories have shown. 

 

I already mentioned the two related stories. 

 

The collection is rounded out by “Susto,” a ghost story of sorts; and “Fieldwork,” a particularly poignant story of a father who has suffered a debilitating stroke, leading to physical and mental deficits, as well as devotion from his wife and son. (This particular story is semi-autobiographical.) 

 

I really enjoyed this collection, and intend to read more of Munoz’s writing. The perspective from the San Joaquin Valley is unique, as is his particular insider look at the experience of being a gay Latino from an impoverished background. And the writing is really excellent too. Give Munoz a try.