■-The stories are satirical and often heart-wrenching, Panch Velasquez, En Contacto
■-A very impressive and interesting first novel, Dr. Genaro Gonzalez, University of Texas at Pan American
■The short stories of Strawberry Fields are like beautiful and colorful blouses made of delicate chiffon------revealing, Jose Ramirez, Jr, author of Squint
■-The dramatic changes that do occur--especially within the protagonist--also reveal a truly American story, Susana de la Pena, Phd
■-Like Tomas Rivera, Chuy Ramirez uses his experiences (field laborer) and his talents to honor the cultural heritage of Mexican American migrants and the American Dream with “Strawberry Fields.”, Karen Tanguma, Phd
■-Strawberry Fields is a reflective reminiscence of Chicano life, providing a glimpse into Mexican-American—and Mexican—migrants interacting at home, in the fields, and along the roads that link them, Dr. John Hart, Boston University of Theology
■-A book to read, Strawberry Fields is candid in illustrating family dynamics in raw form., Mirta Espinola, MA
■-The author’s language in these final scenes and throughout the most critical scenes is poignantly vivid and sometimes heart-rending. Ramirez is deft with his descriptiveness, Dr. Thelma T. Reyna, author of The Heaven Weeps For Us
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Showing posts with label Dr. Genaro Gonzalez. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dr. Genaro Gonzalez. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Chuy Ramirez & Dr. Genaro Gonzalez light up the room with masterful stories
Mid Valley South Texas College Author's Event
A successful event went off without a hitch at the Mid-Valley STC Campus Library in Weslaco, Texas.
See link to pictures provided by South Texas College of event held on July 21, 2010 at 6:30pm. Authors spoke to a wide range of listeners and readers this evening. It was an enthused audience! The two authors would like to thank the college and the audience for their interest and presence that night. It was a great event.
"Valley authors and artists can contribute their time to valley people, youth, and visitors," said one attendee, " it is inspring, perhaps we will see more authors, artists, and actors in the future."
Chuy Ramirez will be appearing at the Barnes and Nobles on 10th street in McAllen, Texas the near future....check out our website, FACEBOOK, and Blog for more details.
A successful event went off without a hitch at the Mid-Valley STC Campus Library in Weslaco, Texas.
See link to pictures provided by South Texas College of event held on July 21, 2010 at 6:30pm. Authors spoke to a wide range of listeners and readers this evening. It was an enthused audience! The two authors would like to thank the college and the audience for their interest and presence that night. It was a great event.
"Valley authors and artists can contribute their time to valley people, youth, and visitors," said one attendee, " it is inspring, perhaps we will see more authors, artists, and actors in the future."
Chuy Ramirez will be appearing at the Barnes and Nobles on 10th street in McAllen, Texas the near future....check out our website, FACEBOOK, and Blog for more details.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Local Texas Authors to speak at South Texas College Mid-Valley Library
Two Local Texas Authors, Dr. Genaro Gonzalez & Chuy Ramirez will be featured at STC Mid-Valley Library Building E on Wednesday July 21st, 2010 at 6:30pm.
Genaro Gonzalez was born and raised in McAllen, Texas. He received his B.A. in psychology from Pomona College in Claremont, California and his Ph.D. in social psychology/personality from the University of California at Santa Cruz. He has taught at The Texas Governor's School at U.T. Austin, Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas, and The University of the Americas in Puebla, Mexico. He is currently a Professor of Psychology at U.T.-Pan American.
Dr. Gonzalez has published four books of fiction: Rainbow's End, Only Sons, The Quixote Cult and A So-Called Vacation. His most recent collection of short stories, The Unearthing and Other Narratives, is currently under review for possible publication.
Chuy Ramirez is an attorney who practices law in McAllen, Texas and is a partner in the firm Ramirez & Guerrero, LLP. He is currently corporate legal counsel for a local south Texas bank, a Texas national bank with branches throughout South Texas and more recently in San Antonio. He grew up in the Rio Grande Valley and is no stranger to the strawberry fields, to which he traveled over the years with his family and thousands of families from South Texas.
Ramirez attended Pan American University at Edinburg, Texas and is a graduate of the University of Texas School of Law. At the law school, he served as Articles Editor for the International Law Journal and published a note entitled, “Altering the Policy of Neglect of Undocumented Immigration from South of the Border, Vol. 18 in 1983. Strawberry Fields is his first fictional work. Toy Soldiers, a young adult short story will be released soon. Ramirez lives in Texas with is wife of 39 years Aida, who is a retired public school teacher.
Strawberry Fields is available for purchase at Amazon.
Sout Texas College
Author Event
July 21st, 2010
Wednesday 6:30pm
Mid-Valley Library
Building E
Weslaco, Texas
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Book Review Strawberry Fields Dr. Genaro Gonzalez
Upon reading the galley proofs for Strawberry Fields by Chuy Ramírez, I was immediately intrigued. My book about a South Texas family working in out-of-state strawberry fields for a summer had been published barely three months earlier. And, as in Ramírez’ work, two adolescent brothers also find themselves locking horns with a formidable father. The intersection of both novels’ themes, published around the same time, seemed an exciting coincidence, a sort of Jungian synchronicity suggesting that one’s ideas and interests aren’t simply fragmented, individual observations but perhaps part of a larger, organic whole.
Chuy Ramírez’ description of harvesting strawberries while living in a squalid labor camp is at once lyrical and sober. There is an adolescent’s sense of adventure on experiencing the world beyond his barrio, yet the wonder is tempered with a more mature portrayal of the hardships of camp life. He incorporates those experiences into the emotional crisis of Joaquín, now a successful attorney who senses that his spiritual tumult is somehow linked to that long-ago summer.
Strawberry Fields provides a subtle yet moving account of migrant farm work, but it is much more than that. Through a series of flashbacks, Joaquín first allows us to experience his world in San Felipe, the South Texas town where the decision to work in Michigan and Indiana is conceived. He recreates the barrio’s sights, sounds and mindset with an uncanny sensitivity. A writer with a myopic eye or with cultural blinders would likely have overlooked San Felipe as a stereotypical, sleepy border town, but for Ramírez it proves a treasure trove. He shows how such communities, although insulated by status and segregation, are seething with nuanced ambition and anxiety. Even minor characters possess memorable peculiarities, so that San Felipe is presented less as an abstraction than as a town made up of individuals with their idiosyncrasies.
A recurring theme in Strawberry Fields involves Joaquín’s conflictive relationship with his father, a Mexican immigrant married to a Chicana. The father sustains a somewhat schizoid relationship with his motherland, criticizing its corruption yet in the next breath defending it against American cultural influence. This ambivalence, which often characterizes expatriates, proves one of the more interesting elements in the book. He tries to transfer his nationalistic pride to his children through ritualistic trips across the border. Yet the perceptive Joaquín realizes that it’s ultimately an empty gesture, since the offspring’s native-born status virtually disqualifies them from ever being bona fide mexicanos in their father’s eyes.
The work’s secondary title, A Collection of Short Stories, leads one to expect a number of stories independent of the main plot, yet the short fiction seems more like embedded and interspersed vignettes than stand-alone material. These narrative islands throughout the book are interesting in their own right. However, once the dark mystery at the book’s center develops fully, it takes hold of one’s interest in the same way it consumes Joaquín’s energies and waking moments. At that point the additional “stories” in the narrative almost get in the way, as the reader glosses over them so as to pursue any clues that may explain the mystery. This is unfortunate, since the occasional dash of local color and the cameo studies of minor characters do add to the reader’s overall, imagined sense of San Felipe; a few of the more poignant episodes or anecdotes even stand out afterwards in one’s memory, like small gems. One gets the sense that the “stories” might have been better served in a future collection of short fiction or might have found their way into another novel. But in the end these minor criticisms—like the occasional unnecessary accents in the text--are minor quibbles over an impressive and very interesting first novel.
Genaro González’ first novel, Rainbow’s End, was nominated by Rudolfo Anaya for an American Book Award. This was followed by Only Sons, a collection of short fiction. His third book, The Quixote Cult, is an autobiographical account of his days as a Chicano activist in South Texas. His most recent book is A So-Called Vacation. Dr. González is currently a Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas-Pan American.
Chuy Ramírez’ description of harvesting strawberries while living in a squalid labor camp is at once lyrical and sober. There is an adolescent’s sense of adventure on experiencing the world beyond his barrio, yet the wonder is tempered with a more mature portrayal of the hardships of camp life. He incorporates those experiences into the emotional crisis of Joaquín, now a successful attorney who senses that his spiritual tumult is somehow linked to that long-ago summer.
Strawberry Fields provides a subtle yet moving account of migrant farm work, but it is much more than that. Through a series of flashbacks, Joaquín first allows us to experience his world in San Felipe, the South Texas town where the decision to work in Michigan and Indiana is conceived. He recreates the barrio’s sights, sounds and mindset with an uncanny sensitivity. A writer with a myopic eye or with cultural blinders would likely have overlooked San Felipe as a stereotypical, sleepy border town, but for Ramírez it proves a treasure trove. He shows how such communities, although insulated by status and segregation, are seething with nuanced ambition and anxiety. Even minor characters possess memorable peculiarities, so that San Felipe is presented less as an abstraction than as a town made up of individuals with their idiosyncrasies.
A recurring theme in Strawberry Fields involves Joaquín’s conflictive relationship with his father, a Mexican immigrant married to a Chicana. The father sustains a somewhat schizoid relationship with his motherland, criticizing its corruption yet in the next breath defending it against American cultural influence. This ambivalence, which often characterizes expatriates, proves one of the more interesting elements in the book. He tries to transfer his nationalistic pride to his children through ritualistic trips across the border. Yet the perceptive Joaquín realizes that it’s ultimately an empty gesture, since the offspring’s native-born status virtually disqualifies them from ever being bona fide mexicanos in their father’s eyes.
The work’s secondary title, A Collection of Short Stories, leads one to expect a number of stories independent of the main plot, yet the short fiction seems more like embedded and interspersed vignettes than stand-alone material. These narrative islands throughout the book are interesting in their own right. However, once the dark mystery at the book’s center develops fully, it takes hold of one’s interest in the same way it consumes Joaquín’s energies and waking moments. At that point the additional “stories” in the narrative almost get in the way, as the reader glosses over them so as to pursue any clues that may explain the mystery. This is unfortunate, since the occasional dash of local color and the cameo studies of minor characters do add to the reader’s overall, imagined sense of San Felipe; a few of the more poignant episodes or anecdotes even stand out afterwards in one’s memory, like small gems. One gets the sense that the “stories” might have been better served in a future collection of short fiction or might have found their way into another novel. But in the end these minor criticisms—like the occasional unnecessary accents in the text--are minor quibbles over an impressive and very interesting first novel.
Genaro González’ first novel, Rainbow’s End, was nominated by Rudolfo Anaya for an American Book Award. This was followed by Only Sons, a collection of short fiction. His third book, The Quixote Cult, is an autobiographical account of his days as a Chicano activist in South Texas. His most recent book is A So-Called Vacation. Dr. González is currently a Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas-Pan American.
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