Coyote Songs by Gabino Iglesias

Coyote Songs Reviews

• 
  Roxane

  Textured intriguing novel told from multiple points of view This is a story about borders crossings justice the spiritual world There are several characters but Iglesias is particularly at adept in making them distinct The structure of this novel is also admirable how he weaves these threads together and only in the end do you see why and what he has been assembling I also love the use of language the cadence of the sentences Lots to like here
• 
  Sadie Hartmann Mother Horror

  It's a daunting task to review a book like COYOTE SONGS This is not something I feel comfortable looking at through the same bookish lenses I view all my other reads I almost need some other criteria in which to discern my feelings towards it maybe I could wear the hat of an art critic or a wine sommelier?A sommelier has a deep knowledge of how food and wine beer spirits and other beverages work in harmony and I feel like after reading COYOTE SONGS a collection of stories woven together to paint a picture of the Frontera I have developed a flavor palette for this new category of horror Gabino createdYou the honored guest at Mr Iglesias' table are invited to sample strange food served in distinct courses With each character's story that is introduced Pedrito The Mother The Coyote Jamie Alma and La Bruja Mr Iglesias submerges you into that character's culture context and lifestyle Some of the flavor profiles are very intense and you find yourself flinching at the raw abrasive texturesOthers are palatable but they feel dangerouslike maybe it has a great mouth feel but later it's going to hurtAnd hurt it does The gut punches to your emotions and your empathy are endless you need a steel resolve to push through some of the injustice pain and violence But for me a very emotional reader I didn't need any extra convincing to press on the narratives are so undeniably compelling you just have to know where the story is going to leave you The way that Gabino is able to float you through an exotic blend of genres without a misstep is nothing short of a fairytale Actually as I say that it reminds me of the way the language in this book fluidly transitions from English to Spanish and you barely even notice you're reading foreign words Sometimes I had to know what exactly was being said and I Google translated some sentences or words but sometimes I think my mind translated it for me through some kind of barrio noir magicI very much enjoyed that there are some very heavy feminine voices coupled with the voices of children it's very refreshing to find marginalized people groups at the center of a powerful and impactful book like this oneHaving grown up experiencing Mexican culture on my grandpa's side of the family I'm familiar with a lot of the matriarchal and superstitious threads I found pulling all these stories together in the beautiful yet haunting tapestry that is COYOTE SONGSI think it's been said before so I won't even pretend that I own this thought at all but after finishing this book I felt like it needs to be said that this is an important read for our time right now It is EXACTLY what authors need to be doing right now I know that so many people are troubled by the world we live in politically under our current president and that people find it difficult to write because they're so angry or depressed or feel like art is just a distraction or a luxury but the reality is that it's a necessity Stories like this one need to be told It the kind of stuff that gets you up in the morning and makes you feel like we can't be robbed of everything you know?? All is not lostAnyways sorry if this review is a bit all over the place I'm just really excited about this book about authors with voices like Gabino's and that I have ZERO SAINTS on my nightstand to look forward to this is the stuff guys The stuff we live for
• 
  Char

  COYOTE SONGS What can I say? It was brilliant so let's start with that I can't even hope to write a review as insightful and well written as my friend's Michael Patrick Hicks' here All I can hope to do is try to impart to you the way this book make me feel There is a small group of characters living near the USMexican border and we are privy to their lives with all the sorrows and joys therein Unfortunately there are very few joys There is little to look forward to other than poverty misery and crime I uote from the book He opened his eyes to a present that mocked his every wish and shattered any vision that dared go past itWhen every hope you have is dashed when every small good thing in your life is met with ten big bad things what point is there? When you have no hope for your children or yourself again what's the point?Here is where I was going to make a brief political statement but I just deleted it If you don't already feel compassion or empathy for those innocents caught up in this immigration debacle then there's nothing I can say to make you feel for them But Gabino Iglesias has said the words that made me feel even for them than I already did They are powerful words They are words that needed to be said They're not all flowers and sunshine they are violent and dark and represent some of the worst things about humanity You should read those words They are called COYOTE SONGS My highest recommendation period You can and SHOULD get your copy here
• 
  Michael Hicks

  On an island in the New York Harbor a French woman stands tall proud even Time and ocean have covered her body in a green patina but her torch and all that she stands for still shine A handful of words epitomize the sum of her ideals and those of her country Give me your tired your poorYour huddled masses yearning to breathe freeMore than two thousand miles away migrant children babies women and men fleeing violence in their home country of Honduras are tear gassed as the US Border Patrol fires across the US Mexico border The tear gas is banned in warfare and yet American police routinely and liberally use it against American citizens protesting various causes and politics an authoritarian reminder from the state to its citizens on who has the bigger dick Now despite the Geneva Convention we turn a potent chemical upon the unarmed the weak and the helpless Political asylum seekers awaiting their turn to apply are identified by the numbers marked upon their wrists an image that recalls the Nazi persecution of Holocaust victims in World War II Elsewhere along the border children are torn away from their family many seemingly never to be returned despite US court orders housed in newly erected concentration campsThis is AmericaThis is a young country that has over time built its own mythology full of righteousness and idealism It is a myth that has been sold to its own citizens and the rest of the world in turn predicated upon these inalienable rights that we hold to be self evident a simple and common truth that all men are created eual and endowed with the right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness We then in turn elect to represent us an embarrassing cadre of racists sexists and the moronic people who on a daily basis remind us that the American myth is merely that We elect to the highest office in our land a man who calls white supremacists very fine people and decries all Mexicans as little than rapists and thieves The Christian evangelicals among us demand that we in turn speak of these politicians with deference and civilityThis is America A country built by immigrants its borders drawn upon murder and bloodshed and theft A melting pot of immigrants and the descendants of immigrants who in turn vilify immigrants and condemn immigration Myth versus realityThe tension of myth running headlong into reality is at the beating and bloody heart of Coyote Songs a mosaic novel set along the US Mexican border Through a handful of characters Gabino Iglesias presents to us the life of those living along la frontera characters who are driven by the myths and beliefs of their forebears and who have internalized the myth of America and want in on a piece of the action hoping to flee the impoverishment and violence of their barrios and succeeding only in finding themselves ensnared in an old and familiar cycle of violence and impoverishment elsewhere We have sold them a promise and with it a false bill of goodsPedrito's father speaks English than Spanish believing a fluidity in his adopted language will make their eventual escape into America easier opening for his family the doors of opportunity Alma a multicultural bilingual black Puerto Rican in Texas believes she'll make it big as an artist until she runs headlong into the realization that she's little than a puppet for the rich and entitled whites like Mr Wilson who offers her a free venue in order to capitalize upon her performance and hopefully later her body The coyote runs kids across the border because he believes that such is his mission in life We never learn his name but have no need of it; he is a man defined by his job he is the coyote nothing or nothing less He is a servant of La Virgencita and saving the children by helping them flee into America the land of so much promise is his sole purpose And then in the desert there is the ghost of Inmaculada thirsting for revenge Coyote Songs is ugly at times necessarily and honestly so It's a dusty noir told with a dry desert rasp and it's all the powerful for it Gabino Iglesias is one hell of a writer his voice authentic and predicated upon lived experience observation and honesty I don't know anything about Iglesias's background or his personal history but I know from reading Coyote Songs that he writes with authority and sincerity There's no sugar coating his characters and each come across with a natural rawness Even those with idealism are shaded with the expectation of violence of having to fight for what they believe in knowing full well that they will be handed nothing nor given any uarter because of the color of their skin and the language on their tongue Iglesias spins a compact yet wickedly strong narrative through a revolving door of voices cycling between his characters to share with us the darkness of their lives and the minor bits of light that momentarily befall them Not a word is wasted his sentences punchy and pointed driven into the reader with the practiced smoothness of a skilled craftsman Most important though is its fundamental honesty Iglesias forgoes any kind of romanticizing of la frontera life and he refrains from gilding the American promise in our time of political upheaval and turmoil For those along the border there is no escaping the threat of the orange idiot and the corrupt ICE who kidnap children to sell them to gangs and cartels This book is raw and honest and written so smoothly the pages turn themselves Iglesias has plenty to say and when he throws a punch always properly justified here it lands hard There's a balletic grace to the violence a poetic refinement to the writing and a constant truth that sounds throughout Coyote Songs is a book of and for our times its author a vital voice we would do well to pay attention to
• 
  Mindi

  After reading the amazing review Michael Hicks did for this book I'm kind of hard pressed to come up with anything that could possibly say or add anything original Sincerely read his review It sums up this book so unbelievably well I can say that Coyote Songs moved me deeply and that it's a very important work of fiction Especially now Everyone should read this Especially those of us who know nothing about true poverty or have never feared for our lives The format for this novel is perfect Each chapter is told from the perspective of a person living on la frontera and each person's story is absolutely unflinching and sometimes utterly heartbreaking The opening chapter about Pedrito had me gasping out loud His subseuent chapters are just as hard to read The chapters from the perspective of La Bruja were emotionally devastating and some of my favorites The Coyote needs no name He is his job and ultimately his uest for helping children cross the border will lead him to an unexpected place And then there's Alma A black Puerto Rican performance artist living in Austin who is no longer able to allow rich white men to capitalize off of her art All of these people have stories to tell Stories that will make you have to stop and catch your breath at times Stories that will stay with you for a very long timeThere are characters with chapters in this novel but these are the ones that stuck with me the most and had me wiping tears from my eyes This book is so visceral and sometimes hard to read but it's the most relevant book I've read all year It's horror that is happening right now It's horror that we need to read and discuss as a community I cannot recommend this book enough
• 
  Janie C.

  This book is beautiful in its use of language potent in its exclamations of agony and passionate in its gravitational pull between love and hate Spirits both human and supernatural transcend their own boundaries to spill blood and tears of oppression into the earth Poetically written and savagely honest in its presentation of horrific injustice this is a book to be savored and absorbed Even if it hurts
• 
  Emily

  God works in mysterious waysbut he gets really fucking weird when it comes to poor people and dangerous places Coyote Songs was my introduction to Gabino Iglesias' books and I am happy to say that it was a fantastic introduction This book is so gorgeously written and I feel like nothing I say can do it justice This is a mosaic novel these can be hit or miss for me but Iglesias is very successful at writing in this format I want to say upfront that I'm not entirely certain that I understood everything about this book I feel like I might catch things if I reread it and I hope to one day That being said I was completely captivated by this story everything is woven together very well Coyote Songs is a difficult read It deals with a lot of heavy topics and it will not work for unsympathetic readers You know what you're getting into when you read the synopsis of this book and if you're a heartless garbage person you probably won't enjoy this book Coyote Songs shows many sides to humanity people are multi faceted; they are both good and bad and sometimes people believe they're doing the right or wrong thing when it's really the opposite At the core of this book we are shown that people are just human and deserve to be treated as suchThis book was a blend of genres the cover calls it barrio noir but there's a bit of something for everyone here again unless you're a heartless garbage person I noticed elements of horror crime literary fiction magical realism and probably even things that I missed The writing is poetic and it reads as both a novel and a collection I wasn't sure how I was going to do with switching back and forth between Spanish and English I ended up enjoying it I know a bit of generic Spanish and I am much better at reading it than speaking I was rusty but doing much better by the end of the book It was fun to see how much I could figure out and Google Translate was my best friend Gabino Iglesias is definitely an author to watch and I can't wait to see what else he comes up with I highly recommend this book and I enjoyed reading discussing with a group of friends Thank you to reviewer friends Tracy Mindi Shane and Michael for yelling at people about how you love this book
• 
  Richard

  Whatever is happening there smells like blood and bad news Gabino Iglesias's novel Zero Saints was one of my favorite books I read in 2016 I also mentioned in that review that it was completely original and unlike anything I'd read before This latest work follows that trend and goes even further It's even harder to pin down than that previous book The silence on the other side of the door struck him as forced pregnant with something tense something that belonged to the world of screams but that was forced to stay uiet Coyote Songs almost completely defies description I won't even try And good luck trying to pin it down to a genre It's eual parts magical realism crime noir supernatural horror manifesto and who the hell knows what else It's a mean and poetic ballad of la frontera a place that's even darker than la frontera explored in Zero Saints this is a place filled with monsters both human and otherwise This book isn't for everyone and I admit that I probably didn't understand all that it offered But I was held rapt by it's imagery and language a reading experience unlike anything else this year Books like this make me happy that there are writers like Gabino Iglesias out there in the world and publishers like Broken River Books brave enough to publish them La frontera es un sitio malo especially if you start caring about shit La frontera es un sitio donde hay ue ser un hijo de puta para sobrevivir You have that mijo Don’t lose it Nunca”
• 
  Tracy Robinson

  “You don’t want to sleep because you’re hungry uieres sangre”I’m writing up a review for wwwscifiandscarycom so stay tuned for my full review very soon I’ve highlighted 20 passagesthe writing is beautiful Full review from my Sci Fi and Scary entryThis barrio noir is a stunning example of a mosaic horrorcrime novel that pulls the reader through vastly different yet similar experiences The sections are titled with the focus characters Pedrito heartbreakingrevengecoming of age horror The Mother insanityhorror The Coyote justicevigilante Jaime crimefamilyfinal showdown Alma art vs lifebody horroradvocacy vs insanity and La Bruja deathsorrowhorrorvengeance The novel cycles through all of these and returns back to them as the book progressesPedrito is the first section and I must say it contains one of the most shocking unexpected scenes I have ever read It starts this book off with the force and movement I have come to expect from a novel by Iglesias The stories featuring Jaime and La Bruja while different are two other standout sections for me Jaime struggles with life and expectations and family; his story and the ending showdown just resonated with me La Bruja broke my heart and terrified me at the same time Her story for me is close to what I consider the heart of this book All of the other characters have their own experiences with real life horror psychological darkness and a fight against something larger than themselves While these tales can be appreciated separately there is something A common thread exists that ebbs and flows as the story reuires allowing each separate piece to both stand alone and take its place with the others simultaneously This isn’t a “smash you in the face” connection I could just feel the fit if that makes any sense at all And I love it I’m here for it I mostly know why but there is something intangible that I just can’t adeuately convey This is the second novel I have read and loved by Iglesias I opened October with his novel Zero Saints and closing out the month with Coyote Songs is as near to perfection as I can hope for Pick up this book Read it Inhale it This is not one to miss
• 
  Tim Meyer

  Goodreads maxes out at a five star rating but this book deserves every star the sky can offer Perfect and satisfying on every level Horrifying and heart wrenching Gabino captures a brutally honest look at life on the border I didn't want the stories within these pages to end but as Gabino writes Every end is guaranteed A strong contender for my favorite book of the year