Come Together, Fall Apart

I read this for a college class regarding Latina experiences and found myself near tears at the end of this beautifully written book. It opened my eyes and is written gorgeously. I want to read more from her!

This book was absolutely wonderful. Through her understated prose and organic characters, Henriquez creates an incredibly poignant picture of Panama, in both its beauty and its turmoil. She is at her absolute best in the stories "Ashes" and "Mercury," but each piece is spellbinding. I appreciated that the Panamanian setting is not overwrought, so that the reader isn't really presented a collection of stories about Panama. Henriquez writes about relationships. Her description of Panama is nevertheless clear and gripping, and makes for a truly enjoyable book.

this is really a wonderful collection of stories. it is not written for any particular group or age and i have no doubt that anyone who reads it will be glad that they did. while it deals with politics there are no political agendas being pushed and while the stories are all set in panama, it is not a bunch of stories about panama. they are about people and relationships...friends, families, strangers and all of the wonderful and awful things that come with these relationships. the characters are written warmly and richly and the stories run the gamut of emotions without indulging in one for too long. i was curious what other people thought of this book after i read it and i was surprised that i could not find ONE negative comment. not one. considering how much people like to point out flaws these days, i found that to be exceptional. there is really no good reason why you should not give this collection a read.

This set of short stories whisked me away to another world. A world full of life-like characters with real flaws, ambitions and circumstances. Each story takes place in a seemingly distant Panama with imagery that is fantastic. Cristina took us through a fantastic journey on her first published book. I could not put down this book and found myself losing sleep in order to find out what happened to the love-able and sometimes not at all likeable characters. This book really could appeal to anyone, regardless of age, gender, or cultural background. I cannot wait to read this young author's creative burst.

Cristina Henriquez's debut is astonishing---honest, vivid, and completely unique. This book is peppered with mind-blowing writing, including the description of a fireworks display in the first story, Yanina ("High in the sky, the fireworks sprouted arms and fell, breaking apart in the air") and a line from Ashes, which first appeared in the New Yorker: "Memories are thin, watery and fragile like gas rising off the pavement on the hottest days." Perhaps even more impressive than the writing itself are this young author's insights into human relationships; she is particularly skillful at writing about longing. The grand finale to the eight stories in this book is the novella, Come Together, Fall Apart, a heart-breaking depiction of life in Panama in the days before Noriega's collapse. If you read one collection this year, be sure it is this one.

COME TOGETHER, FALL APART begins with a marriage proposal. And just like that you are dropped inside a world both unlike and like your own. Worlds filled with empty appliance shops, humid beaches, dying loved ones, and unplanned pregnancies. It is a beautifully written book and Henriquez writes with a fierce sincerity. And when reading her you feel as if you could bump into any one of her narrators around the corner or plop down beside them in a coffee shop (even though her stories take place in Panama). Cristina Henriquez has a brave, artful voice. Ultimately, the story Henriquez bravely tells is what it is to be human and the love we all hold on to. The book begins with a marriage proposal and ends with the only thing that matters, the love we share, the love we give away: "And I tell my story----about my mother and my father and me----and how in that story was all that I knew about love." This is an unusually smart and beautiful book.