I love this collection! It had a great use of characterization, and just a few pages, the writing was propulsive, and I really felt for the characters whether they were all good or all bad or a mix of in between

Guatemalan Rhapsody, Jared Lemus, pub 2025

Another goal of mine is to include stronger, more realistic, male voices in my reading. (Read: Less vampire, fae, alpha freaks, more average human vibes!) That is absolutely what attracted me to this book and I think it hit it out of the park!

This is collection of short stories, most centering men. The stories capture a view into their lives at a pivotal time when the next decisions could make a great impact on their lives. We see the socioeconomic and psychological challenges folks in their position face when trying to thrive, and not just survive. 

Pro: Cheers for diverse reading! I'm not Guatemalan, but the book held many references that I think would mean a lot to person familiar with the culture. The references to music, movies, food, places and events gave the imagery great texture. The characters were equally as colorfully drawn. It helps they don't always make the decisions I think most people would. But, I get it. When you feel like you're hustling from the bottom, you can feel like the world has taken so much from you, who cares what happens to anyone else? Besides, people will form opinions about you, based on what they think they know. As I myself did too quickly in some of the stories! That tension, frustration, and sometimes the sense of urgency to get no where fast, is well maintained throughout each story.

My favorite stories are the ones that stuck with me long after they were done: So Long To The Rearview, about a drunk driver a community decides to defend, even though he was wrong. And, Whistle While You Work, a maybe funny story about an often disrespected housekeeper getting some justice.

Cons: This might be a hard read for women in some spaces and could use a trigger list. Especially Fight Sounds, where most of the story unfolds from a male POV that hates women. There is some misogyny and violence. Almost like we are listening in on men in a barbershop. I've long explained to men, those stories there friends tell in private spaces - imagine if their daughter was at the center of them. Is it still funny?

Overall, these stories made me pause and question my moral compass against my inner desire for social righteousness. I received the audio copy and I thought the narrator did a great job. Especially considering the different characters and range of emotion throughout. Lovers of Kiese Laymon's Heavy or Xochitl Gonzales Olga Dies Dreaming - will enjoy these stories!

Guatemalan Rhapsody by Jared Lemus is a well written collection of heart-breaking, gritty, and vulnerable short stories that leave you misty eyed by the end of each. The characters are very flawed yet relatable. Some of these stories will stay with me for a while like:
- “Bus Stop Baby”
- “Scrimmages”
- “Dark Road with Disel Stains”
- “Hotel of the Gods’’
- “A Cleansing’’
I love seeing Central American representation in the publishing world and I look forward to reading Lemus’s future work. The narration by Christian Barillas was excellent. Many thanks to NetGalley and Harper Audio for a copy of the audio in exchange for my honest review.

GUATEMALAN RHAPSODY by Jared Lemus (#gifted ty @eccobooks @netgalley) is a collection of short stories that wormed their way into my heart, over and over again. Some are set in Guatemala, while others are diaspora narratives, but all are united in how their characters try to break free from the hard knocks life has given them. The human interactions are where the sparks fly, whether with tension or with tenderness, in passing or with lasting ties. My favorite stories include:

🚐 “So Long to the Rearview”—a passenger van driver who happens to be transporting drugs gets into a conflict with an American kid on a stretch of the highway

💰 “Saint Dismas”—after Los Ojos Locos decimate their village, four brothers turn to highway robbery

🖌️ “Heart Sleeves”—an aspiring tattoo artist makes questionable decisions to try to catch his lucky break

🚏 “Bus Stop Baby”—a casual decision turns out to be pivotal for a busboy on the brink of precarity and addiction

🎥 “Fight Sounds”—Hollywood comes to Quetzaltepan and forces a dude to confront his own sleaziness

🏨 “Hotel of the Gods”—a brother’s plan for revamping the family’s motel business starts attracting more tourists…what could possibly go wrong?

🧺 “A Cleansing”—a lavador (laundry cleaner) takes in a pregnant girl with nowhere else to go

Lemus has a knack for getting you to very quickly care about his characters. They’re far from perfect, but they’ve faced more than their fair share of life’s bitterness, and you can’t help but want a way out for them. These are realist, vivid tales that I’d recommend to folks who enjoy the short story form; I’m definitely reading whatever Lemus writes next! I did some of these on audio and Christian Barillas does a fantastic job with the narration. 4.5 rounded up to 5

Overall, I really enjoyed the book. I found each story to be interesting and intriguing. I wanted to spend more time on some more than others. Really liked the representation it gave.

Guatemalan Rhapsody clearly demonstrates how talented Jared Lemus is as a writer. The stories are engaging and reflect examples of the diaspora that most Latin populations experience. Though a variety of stories, he allows us to immerse ourselves several socioeconomic experiences. Unfortunately, these experiences sometimes do not ring true or authentic because of the language they are expressed in.

Given some of the character's experiences and explanations of social circumstances, the characters felt too educated for their life experiences. For example, the dialogue for some of the characters, felt a little highbrow. In my experience, even those of the lower socioeconomic classes, like those in my family, will code switch when talking to their peers even when they speak proper English or Spanish and are educated. This impression was exasperated by the narrator, While I applaud that a native Guatemalan was chosen as the narrator, the narrator range didn't change significantly between the prose and dialogue, This is the only reason it gets a 4 out of 5 stars for me.

Thank you HarperAudio Adult | HarperAudio and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to this ARC. All opinions are my own.

Four stars for an impressive debut short story collection. Lemus's stories are all told from the perspective of Guatemalan men, showcasing the diversity and the often hardscrabble reality of surviving both in and out of the country.

All of his narrators are flawed, troubled, and memorable in some way: an orphaned teen whose brothers randomly stop cars on the highway to rob them, an old man who guards tourists' cars as they swim in the lake, an immigrant custodian at a small university in the US who falls in love with the new nighttime security woman, and so many more.

The struggle for money, yearning to escape to a better life, and the quotidian challenges of love are themes throughout all the stories - but despite these hard topics, there's light and humor throughout the collection. It's even more fun to read these if you've been to Guatemala and can spot the instantly recognizable hallmarks of the country, like the trafficky mountainous roads, the Pollo Camperos, and the garish chicken buses.

My only complaint - one that rings true for many short story collections - is the abrupt ending to the majority of the stories, almost like Lemus couldn't quite figure out how to wrap up the conflict, so he just ends with a neat, memorable sentence and moves on to the next one.

This book was very well written and enjoyable overall. Most of the stories included this book were pretty sad but some ended on a hopeful note, like the last story. However, some of these stories are pretty dark.

The main characters and setting of each story is really diverse. I think the author should have included at least one story in this collection in which the main character was a woman or girl. Even so, each main character was different from the last. Most are poor (but a few are comfortable), some are old, some are young, etc. The setting also varied from story to story and a few stories take place in the US, not Guatemala.

I learned a little bit more about the country of Guatemala and its culture from this collection of short stories. It was especially interesting to learn about Mayan mythology and the various gods that the Mayas worshipped from the Hotel of the Gods short story. I was also fascinated by the belief system featured in the Ofrendas short story.

I’m looking forward to reading this author’s full-length novel. I hope I won’t have to wait too long to read it.

A collection of stories about Guatemalans & their experience in country or as an expat. Family ties, shady dealings, government/military brutality shine though. Each short story is different, no real theme. There is a lot of illegal activity & drug use. A very real, gritty look at the challenges Guatemalans face in daily life.