AKA this motherfucker right here.
Hello friend! Below find a reprint of a fave book from Gabino and you can listen to me review his latest while you read. WOW what service!
Okay my babes. Buckle in cause I’m about to go in on the homie Gabino Iglesias.
If you haven’t been with me for a while, Gabino is one of my favorite writers. I wrote a review on his book Zero Saints here. Open that in a new window and read it next.
SO lets GET INTO THIS. Coyote Songs* by Gabino Iglesias.
[image description: the cover of the book Coyote Songs by Ga book cover with a weathered but beautiful Virgin Mary, the title is in yellow Coyote Songs below that the authors name, Gabino Iglesias]
The short version is, holy fuck this is an amazing book. It is not for everyone. The TL:DR is coming at you.
It took me weeks to read this book. It isn’t the longest book nor does the frequent Spanish slow me down, it is so fucking rich and beautiful and bloody, it hurt me to read. Yes it is very violent, it is graphic, it is intimate and reaches into your heart and it is so beautifully written. It is fucking brutal and the kind of beating I crave as a reader.
Yeah I know some of y’all are gonna nope out because it isn’t fluffy and that is fine. For me, this type of hard hitting, gut punch writing is my escape.
This book is gorgeous. It is a bloody mouth I would kiss and be happy. I also want to note, if you are averse to needing to look up some Spanish it is also not for you. My Spanish isn’t awesome but, what I couldn’t figure out I looked up and it is worth it.
Gabino has such a masterful touch with the way he uses language. One of my personal favorite things in any type of literary art is when a writer can use use violence with grace. Gabino is excellent at this. There were a lot of times I just put it aside, to let the blood dry and I liked it.
This is gory but not mindless. The depth and care that obviously goes into the violence in Gabino’s work transcends the ew factor. I am not really a fan of silly gore in books. I’ve never been into gore for gore sake horror. I don’t really like the gross out because most of the time it is some shitty bullshit punchline and I don’t fuck with that. What I do like is the use of violence and gore etc in a manner that is both helpful to the story but also just beautifully done by itself.
For me, this is the same thing that allows me to visually enjoy certain filmmakers because I do love something terrible done with grace and beauty. This is also why, when I was a baby potato writer, my favorite writer was Nabokov. For me, the art of transcendence in the context of using your medium to lift the work out of the pile of shit is just magical.
Gabino’s work, especially in this book hits those buttons for me.
Gabino’s work in this book, is transcendental art.
I don’t want to give a lot of plot away because I hate that. I want to talk about a few of my favorite characters.
Alma the artist. I love all of these characters but she feels special to me. This is what got me:
She wanted to shine on the institutionalized racism that made this country a pain for anyone on the “wrong” side of Otherness.
Bruh. The entire passage is so real and so deep. Gabino has an ability to write women, diverse women so well. Yes, even women who have been violated or victims of violence there is that same grace he brings to the other violence in his work. These aren’t tropes. These aren’t vaginas meant to forward a dudes story. That is so important and I want other male writers to do this level of work.
In this book, the characters each have a pulse. They have heartbeats, they are weighty and meaty and some of them are awful.
The prose in general, goddamn. There are multiple times in the book where I thought to myself, you mother fucker that’s amazing. I just love a writer who makes me feel a little jealous. This is beautiful, writing full stop.
Lastly.
This book is a sterling example of why #ownvoices is important. Nobody wants to get dragged like Jeanine Cummins, and really why read that when you can read this?
Listen. You can google #ownvoices and all the reasons why it is important. What I’m going to tell you is this. If you want publishing to be better, read better. Dassit. Read better and talk about what you’re reading.
Gabino Iglesias is a deeply important writer to me. The literary canon fucking needs him. I need him. Real talk, I revisit Zero Saints (THAT ENDING U BASTARD) often. Y’all. I’m a fan. I’m an admirer. I’m down for this human.
SO go check him out. He hustles hard and has a LOT of things to read so start at twitter kids. You won’t be sorry.