Synopses & Reviews
When his father died, Harrison Candelaria Fletcher wasnand#8217;t quite two. His mother packed up his fatherand#8217;s belongings, put the boxes in a hall closet, and closed the door. The and#8220;man in a boxand#8221; remained a mystery, hardly mentioned, and making only rare appearances in stories when Fletcher or his siblings inquired. Meanwhile, his young Hispanic mother transformed herself into an artist, scouting the back roads and secondhand shops of New Mexico for relics and unlikely treasures to add to her and#8220;little shrines,and#8221; or descansos. and#8220;Look closely,and#8221; sheand#8217;d say to her son. and#8220;Everything tells a story.and#8221;and#160;
This book is Fletcherand#8217;s literary descanso, a piecing togetherand#8212;from moments and objects and wordsand#8212;of a fatherand#8217;s life, of the life lived without that father, and of his own mixed-race identity. Fletcherand#8217;s reflections unfold like a collage, offering a rich array of images and stories of life with his single mother, organizing weekend family car trips to explore graveyards and adobe ruins; of growing up on the fault lines of class and culture; of being a father who never had one of his own to learn from. From incidents and observations, Fletcher assembles a beautifully crafted portrait of his familyand#8217;s unspoken affliction with loss over the decades, a portrait that finally evokes the father at its heart.
Review
“Sleep in Me is a sharp portrait of place, culture, and growing up male and confused in weird America while at the same time being a tender elegy for those lost. Written with the intimacy and immediacy of a diary and the attention to language and sound of a prose poem, this is a superlative and heartfelt memoir by an excellent new writer.”Greg Bottoms, author of Fight Scenes and Angelhead: My Brothers Descent into Madness
Review
"Jon Pineda turns a simmering lens on his tween and teen years as his family, splintered and stoic, copes with the aftermath of his sister's incapacitation and demise. In Sleep in Me, Pineda explores, rather than resolves, whether such trauma made him stronger or simply more attuned to heartbreak."—Lisa Romeo, Foreword Lisa Romeo
Review
“Pineda lays bare his struggles with family duty and identity in this literary standout.”—Julie Kane, Library Journal Julie Kane
Review
"Sleep in Me is essentially pure rendered memory, a book that can be taken down from the shelf and opened to any chapter, any moment however random and fleeting, and can make us feel the grand weight of tragedy, and the victory when we fight it."--Noah Renn, Virginian-Pilot Gina Webb - Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Review
“[Pinedas] muted, lyrical messages, to be savored at length, remind us of the value of listening deeply, to ourselves and others.”—Gina Webb, Atlanta Journal-Constitution Rigoberto Gonz�lez - Critical Mass
Review
“Pineda has built his reputation as a poet, but he expands his literary territory with this powerful portrait of love and loyalty between siblings.” —Rigoberto González, Critical Mass Library Journal
Review
"Pineda's account of his sister's cheerleading and overnight transformation makes for a powerful survey of the impact of tragedy on a young boy's coming of age in this outstanding, vivid family memoir." —Diane C. Donovan, California Bookwatch Rigoberto Gonzalez - Critical Mass
Review
“A powerful survey of the impact of tragedy on a young boys coming of age in this outstanding, vivid family memoir.” —Diane C. Donovan, California Bookwatch Noah Renn - Virginian-Pilot
Review
“In this memoir Pineda explores the difference between self and sufferer—whether that sufferer is his sister or a wrestler hes pinned or a fish or himself—and sometimes, most beautifully and wrenchingly, they merge.”—Disability Studies Quarterly Diane C. Donovan - California Bookwatch
Review
"An homage not only to his dad but to Harrison's own boyhood joys, sorrows and searching, the book makes clear the author's expansive literary sensibilities."and#8212;Kirkus Reviews
Review
"Fletcher's prose is simply gorgeous, and Albuquerque's cultural heritage is richly depicted in this book of essays, which adds to our understanding of family, landscape and their role in the formation of identity. An exquisite literary debut."and#8212;Rigoberto Gonzalez, El Paso Times
Review
"Ultimately it is language and a sharp eye for detail, not suspense, that pulls the reader along. . . . In a memoir-drenched era of publishing, Descanso is refreshing."and#8212;Jana Fornario, Southwestern American Literature
Review
"Descanso for My Father is laced with stories about people encountering ghosts. Candelaria Fletcher may not be clairvoyant, but he conjures up the spirits of his ancestors in this unusual and moving book."and#8212;Jenny Shank, High Country News
Review
andquot;Like the dreamlike shadowboxes of Joseph Cornell, Fletcher assembles scraps of imagery and inherited keepsakes into an enchanting quest to understand his family's stories. . . . In the same way a painter applies the principles of negative space to a composition, Fletcher, who understands the endless possibilities of the essay form, relies on memory and observation, while safeguarding the sense of absence, the space of silence in his prose.andquot;andmdash;Jericho Parms, Rumpus
Review
and#8220;Fletcher deftly shows us the meaning of the word and#8216;questand#8217;and#8212;investigation, dream, and religious pursuit all cohere around the essential mystery of one manand#8217;s life. In the process, the author faces his own relics, making a large picture out of the bright shards of memory and uncertainty.and#8221;and#8212;Judith Kitchen, author of Distance and Direction
Synopsis
Against the backdrop of his teenage sisters car accident—in which a dump truck filled with sand slammed into the small car carrying her and her friends—Jon Pineda chronicles his sister Ricas sudden transformation from a vibrant high school cheerleader to a girl wheelchair bound and unable to talk. For the next five years of her life, her only ability to communicate was through her rudimentary use of sign language. Lyrical in its approach and unflinching in its honesty,
Sleep in Me is a heartrending memoir of the coming-of-age of a boy haunted by a family tragedy.
A prize-winning poets account of the irreparable damage and the new understanding that tragedy brings to his Filipino American family, Pinedas book is a remarkable story maneuvering between childhood memories of his sister cheerleading and moments of monitoring her in a coma and changing her adult diapers. Pineda adeptly navigates between these moments of idyllic youth and heartbreaking sadness. Vivid and lyrical, his story is an exploration of what it means to live deeply with tragedy and of the impact such a story can have on a boys journey to manhood.
About the Author
Harrison Candelaria Fletcher teaches in the MFA in Writing Program at Virginia Commonwealth University. He is the winner of a New Letters Literary Award, High Desert Journal Obsidian Prize,and#160;Pushcart Prize Special Mention, and has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award and PEN Center Literary Award.
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