Every Night Is Ladies' Night

This debut collection of ten interconnected short stories revolves around the inhabitants of El Monte, a blue-collar Los Angles suburb best known for a 1995 sweatshop raid that raised awareness of the plight of indentured workers within American borders. Los Angeles occupies such a large place in American popular culture and myth that stories of its surroundings tend to be overshadowed -- but with these marvelous stories, the reader is offered a dramatic view of one such place. About 12 miles east of downtown LA, El Monte is a largely Hispanic community of 115,000 people clustered around the intersection of the 5 and 605 and Southern Pacific railway. Like Oscar Casares' excellent stories about Hispanic-American Texas in Brownsville and and Sandro Meallet's great debut novel Edgewater Angels, about the San Pedro area of LA, Jamie-Becerra has captured the everyday people and everyday dramas of El Monte with great skill, subtlety, and heart. Unfortunately, the book seem to have been missed by the general public and consigned to the Hispanic-lit ghetto, which is a big shame. The stories are mostly set in 1984-89, with one diversion back to 1956, and one story which switches back and forth between the late 1989 and 1940s. Characters come and go throughout the stories, and it takes a very good memory to keep track of them all -- I'll try to make most of the connections here. The possible linchpin (if there is one), is an auto repair shop run by an old Anglo named Georgie. The fifth story, "Georgie and Wanda" goes back to 1956 to tell about Georgie's career as a stock-car driver and wooing of the Mexican beauty queen who becomes his wife. One of Georgie's mechanics at the garage is the subject of the third story, "The Corrido of Hector Cruz". Set in 1984, it's one of the more social-realist stories, as the hardworking man and his pregnant wife Mini are suddenly faced with providing a home for their nephew Lencho, who is coming out of juvenile detention. Five years after getting a job at Georgie's garage with his uncle, Lencho is the focus of the sixth story, "Riding with Lencho." Fellow mechanic Manny narrates, as he and Lencho take a road trip to the Baja coast to take a break from Lencho's problems with his girlfriend Josie. Hector and Mini come back in the last story, "Buena Suerte Airlines", another social-realist story focusing on the couple's money problems and Mini's decision to go back to work at McDonald's. Another set of interrelated people include teenage Gina and her boyfriend Max who are introduced in the slight 1987 story "Practice Tattoos," narrated by Gina's little brother. The couple reappears two years later in "Gina and Max", as they take a bus crosstown to go to a Christmas party thrown by Max's friend Benny. This Benny turns out to be a rather dark and nasty dude who runs with some cholos, and the party takes a rather uncomfortable turn. However, Benny's better side can be seen in "La Fiesta Brava", also set in 1989. This story i

One of the truths revealed by Los Angeles fiction is that it includes, by necessity, tales from those small cities that adhere to the ragged edges of Los Angeles proper. In Michael Jaime-Becerra's subtle and beautiful debut collection, "Every Night is Ladies' Night," we are introduced to one such city: El Monte. Jaime-Becerra spins ten interlocking stories around the hub of El Monte, a working-class community of just over 100,000 people, the vast majority of whom are Latino. The stories bounce back-and-forth from 1984 to 1989 with one leaping thirty years further into the past. The protagonists reappear all tied to streets like Valley and Live Oak, businesses such as Road Runner Liquor, Pick-A-Part, Tortillerilla Bienvenida and the ubiquitous McDonald's. People scrape together livelihoods as mechanics, fast food managers, tattoo artists, truck drivers and musicians. We see how children, teens, parents and grandparents try desperately to fit in, keep their dreams alive, fall in love. Most of the characters we meet are members of the Cruz family. Jaime-Becerra knows that not all life experiences lead to grand epiphanies or dramatic personal growth. With great skill, he shows us that we often battle just to stay in place. This is a beautiful, accomplished debut. (A longer version of this review appeared in Southwest BookViews.)

This book wove a spell around me as I read into the night. This book that puts a shine on the struggles, successes and heartbreak of a specific community but with characters that are universal in their hopes and longings. Becerra makes those who we pass on the street every day become real, making us their neighbors as well.

I read "Media Vuelta" in At Length Magazine (www.atlengthmag.com), and was blown away by the story. Michael Jaime-Becerra has a unique voice, and his evocation of an old mariachi's quixotic quest for love was really beautiful and fun to read. The other stories in the collection meet "Media Vuelta"'s high standard. Highly recommended.

This is a gorgeous book, distinguished by Jaime-Becerra's determination to offer each of his characters (and the town their stories comprise) the gift of seeing them with a clarity that doesn't preclude hope and with a hope that doesn't preclude clarity. Astonishingly generous, utterly engaging. This is what fiction is for.