Reviews of Not a Matter of Love
From Front Porch Journal 4:
"From a bird's-eye-view, Alvarado's stories are. . .montage. In 'Phoenix,' as in several other stories, the point of view shifts between mother and child. Perspectives mesh. The characters' interior lives--as when Gloria and Danika drive to Phoenix, discussing and avoiding topics of sex and love--are equally weighted. Where, the reader might initially ask, is the eye, the focus, to land? But this roving point of view becomes Alvarado's strength rather than her weakeness. The story's last lines playfully allude to the itinerant viewpoint: 'Maybe I should drive,' Danika said. When they got out of the car to change places, the air was still hot. The sky looked like a dark ocean, full of waves made silver by a moon that was nowhere in sight.' Alvarado's fluid structure successfully and unpretentiously mimics life; the result is evocative. . . .
"Alvarado's storylines are cleanly crafted and unambiguous, her details raw. In 'Limbo,' Alvarado tells the tale of a Hispanic mother whose only son, Rey, is killed in a shootout. In the story's opening, an anonymous woman phones the mother, Lena, and says, 'I have your son's liver.' The claim, like the circumstances of Rey's demise, remains impossible to verify, though Alvarado reconstructs the shooting for the reader from Lena's perspective. . . .
"In this way, Alvarado's fictions are, in a manner reminiscent of Alice Munro, subtly metafictional. But Alvarado's collages are all her own, made from the rough ocotillo and saguaro-peppered stuff of the American Southwest."
--Link to the review by Rebecca Hall in Front Porch, Texas State University at San Marcos
From Tucson Weekly:
"Alvarado's great strength is exploring the intricate mazes of her characters' hearts. In "What Lydia Thinks of Roses," we meet a high school woman whose determination to rise above a boyfriend. . .is both believable and steady. Alvarado's measured development of Lydia leads us to first understand her as a character who struggles with that all-consuming fire many teenage girls feel: the desire to please the boy, but feel confident as well. . . .
"Whether describing a young boy whose sister has been shot and whose parents are separated or revealing two mothers who share children and had their turn with the same husband, Alvarado is able to straddle tension in the hearts of her characters, presenting to us a world with a tapestry as rich as any that great short story writers have given."
--Link to the review by Luke Reynolds in Tucson Weekly, Dec. 14 2006
"Alvarado's storylines are cleanly crafted and unambiguous, her details raw. In 'Limbo,' Alvarado tells the tale of a Hispanic mother whose only son, Rey, is killed in a shootout. In the story's opening, an anonymous woman phones the mother, Lena, and says, 'I have your son's liver.' The claim, like the circumstances of Rey's demise, remains impossible to verify, though Alvarado reconstructs the shooting for the reader from Lena's perspective. . . .
"In this way, Alvarado's fictions are, in a manner reminiscent of Alice Munro, subtly metafictional. But Alvarado's collages are all her own, made from the rough ocotillo and saguaro-peppered stuff of the American Southwest."
--Link to the review by Rebecca Hall in Front Porch, Texas State University at San Marcos
From Tucson Weekly:
"Alvarado's great strength is exploring the intricate mazes of her characters' hearts. In "What Lydia Thinks of Roses," we meet a high school woman whose determination to rise above a boyfriend. . .is both believable and steady. Alvarado's measured development of Lydia leads us to first understand her as a character who struggles with that all-consuming fire many teenage girls feel: the desire to please the boy, but feel confident as well. . . .
"Whether describing a young boy whose sister has been shot and whose parents are separated or revealing two mothers who share children and had their turn with the same husband, Alvarado is able to straddle tension in the hearts of her characters, presenting to us a world with a tapestry as rich as any that great short story writers have given."
--Link to the review by Luke Reynolds in Tucson Weekly, Dec. 14 2006
From University of Arizona Poetry Center Newsletter Book Reviews:
"Beth Alvarado's collection of short stories, Not a Matter of Love, doesn't feel like a first book. It is a well-mulled over study of human connections and struggle. Not a Matter of Love is filled with characters that form a community of addiction, abuse, and other universal challenges. Characters aren't interconnected story to story as much as related by their shared pain and, sometimes, joy. . . We identify with Alvarado's characters because she writes people we have loved, people we are, or people we have barely escaped becoming. . . This empathy is the quintessence of good story-telling as Alvarado reveals in Not a Matter of Love."
--Kristen Nelson, Spring 2006
From Booklist:
"Family is at the center of the stories in this debut collection set in the Southwest: contemporary biracial families, Latino, Anglo, Indian; parents, children, step-children; their strength and their fragility across generations. . . . Love, jealousy, grief, betrayal, and guilt drive the action and reveal universal truths."
--Hazel Rochman, American Library Association
Links
Necessary Fiction -- there are some great, innovative, and very short stories here.
Third Coast -- "Susan and the zunis," an essay will appear in the Fall 2009 issue.
Thin Air -- excerpts from Anthropologies appeared in the Winter 2008 issue.
Cimarron Review -- "Clarity," an essay excerpted from my memoir, Anthropologies, will be published in the Winter 2009 issue.
The Seattle Review -- excerpts from my memoir, Anthropologies, are now out in the 2009 issue.
Ploughshares -- "Just Family," a story from Not a Matter of Love, first appeared here.
The Seattle Review -- excerpts from my memoir, Anthropologies, are now out in the 2009 issue.
Ploughshares -- "Just Family," a story from Not a Matter of Love, first appeared here.
Spork Press archives -- These journals were works of art in every sense. You can link to "How I quit heroin and other toxic substances" or "Emily's Exit," a story from Not a Matter of Love, here.
Cue: A Journal of Prose Poetry -- An excerpt from Anthropologies was published in the Winter 2006 issue. Website is coming soon.
Cutthroat, A Journal of the Arts -- I was the guest fiction editor of the Summer 2007 issue. It's available online. In fall 2008, I started as the regular fiction editor. Along with Al Dixon and Cara Blue Adams, who is now an editor at Southern Review, I read through stacks of great stories to come up with 5 that we decided to publish in CUTTHROAT VI. You can follow the link to find out about the current fiction and poetry contest or to find submission guidelines.
Esme Schwall and Kindall Gray are the assistant fiction editors starting in fall 2009.
Alligator Juniper -- is the award winning journal for Prescott College. Their 2008 issue had a special "Genre Blur" section.
University of Arizona Poetry Center --Readings, workshops, upcoming events.
News: Check out my story, "The Motherhood Poems" on www.necessaryfiction.com. There are some quirky stories on this site.
Also: Dedicated to the People of Darfur: Writings on Fear, Risk and Hope, an anthology of essays that will benefit the Save Darfur Coalition, is available now, but on Amazon. You can learn more about it on UANews or at Rutgers' University Press. Essays by Nadine Gordimer, George Saunders, Phillip Lopate, Ann Cummins and many other wonderful writers.
