Six Kinds of Sky: A Collection of Short Fiction

I was introduced to Urrea's work in an upper division literature class at Sonoma State U. this spring. I found the piece that we read and analyzed in class to be absolutely brilliant - a well written and, what I believe to be, an accurate representation of the Latino borderland experience. I invested in this collection of short stories from which the excerpt we read in class was taken from. I was not at all disappointed with my purchase as sometimes happens with collections or anthologies (i.e., you may like one story but not the others), and I look forward to purchasing other works by Urrea.

Three knockout pieces ("First Light," "Bid Farewell to Her Many Horses," & "A Day in the Life") here show Urrea at his best. He writes from a personal sense of mission, and his work reveals a worldview that is acutely aware of the shortcomings of the human race but ultimately optimistic. At his best he can't write a bad sentence; his images and the words he chooses have a visceral impact. Urrea is also the most successful Latino-gringo hybrid ("latingo"?) I know; no one I've read is close to him in his ability to depict both sides of how Mexicans and North Americans see each other (his description of how the workers living at the Tijuana garbage dump perceive the visiting American missionary women is priceless). Also worth reading are The Devil's Highway and The Hummingbird's Daughter.

If you believe Luis Urrea to be only a writer of nonfiction, you owe yourself a few nights with this book. A diverse collection of stories about real people, told with humor, feeling, and imagination, this book comes from the tender heart of a fine writer.

I've read other books of Urrea, both nonfiction, but his novels are always very entertaining so I did not hesitate to buy this book when I saw it. Most of Urrea's stories are spiritual and lead you into making out what the story means. One of his stories about the Tijuna dompes can be found in a previous work. Other then that the other stories were very well written and Urrea has learned to twist one's emotions while they are absorbed in his writing. I am a big fan of Urrea and would recommend to anybody to read this book and also his previous works.