Synopses & Reviews
Fiction. Latino/Latina Studies. Nothing is easy when you are thirteen, and it's especially challenging when everyone thinks you're eight because you are tiny; your father is an abusive, tyrannical lout; your siblings are determined to strike out on their own to escape constant drunken rages; and your mother is deeply depressed. In THE SCOUNDREL AND THE OPTIMIST we meet Edmund, a hapless but irrepressible redheaded teen whose magnificent strength of spirit makes him a giant among men. Despite roadblocks and bad advice, Edmund is determined to win the heart of Ingrid Genera and to become a great guitar player. But his most notable accomplishment is teaching his father, Filastro, the value of integrity and optimism. After a prolonged episode of debauchery, Filastro discovers just how horrifying abuse is. Edmund nurses him back to health and in the process teaches him that love is mightier than fists and is worth great sacrifice. At once humorous and touching, THE SCOUNDREL AND THE OPTIMIST is a delightful read.
Review
"It won't take long for the reader of Maceo Montoya's first novel, The Scoundrel and the Optimist, to realize that the author is writing against the grain of much of modern fiction. His preoccupations -- first love, the relationship between father and son, the redemption of a 'lost soul' -- seem to come from a different era. Readers accustomed to novels more self-conscious about their form and structure might even be tempted to dismiss Montoya's first book as simply old-fashioned, out of touch. This would be a mistake." Zach Czaia, Rain Taxi (Read the entire )
About the Author
Maceo Montoya grew up in Elmira, California. He comes from a family of artists, including his father, Malaquías Montoya, a renowned artist, activist, and educator, and his late brother, Andrés Montoya, whose poetry collection The Iceworker Sings and Other Poems won the American Book Award in 2000. Maceo graduated from Yale University in 2002 and received his Master of Fine Arts in painting from Columbia University in 2006. He lives in Woodland, California, where he paints and writes. THE SCOUNDREL AND THE OPTIMIST is his first novel, and it features one of his own works of art on the cover.