My Chicano Heart

Here's the deal: I was just browsing the selection while waiting for my roommate to wake up so we can go have lunch, when I spotted a beautiful cover. I sent a request, expecting nothing. But I got an email saying that I was approved within a few minutes. With my roommate still asleep, I opened the book, and started reading the first story. I immediately thought I would not like it. But that was just the first paragraph.

Spoilers ahead: The way the main character requested his heart back intrigued me. So I kept going. The way the process of him taking out his heart and giving it, was even better. Safe to say, I kept going and kept liking it more and more.

The second story broke my heart. The third revealed that twist in the end in the best possible way! The author sucked me into these stories, I couldn't stop reading until I finished it.

The author pays attention to very small details. It makes the story feel alive. All the characters are wonderful, and the pages are dyed with their personality in only a few lines. That's expertise for you! And the humor was top-notch!

I will definitely check out more works from this author!

A huge thank you to NetGalley, the publisher and the author for the advanced digital copy!

Beautifully written. Heart wrenching and thoughtful. You can feel every emotion radiating off of this novel, like it’s been dipped in the authors blood and left to dry.

I confess, I initially judged this book by its cover. The artwork, reminiscent of the classic loteria card deck with nods to Frida Kahlo's style, instantly drew me in. The title, "My Chicano Heart," further piqued my interest. As a Chicana romantic myself, I anticipated a series of love stories, and I can say I wasn't disappointed.

Daniel A. Olivas's collection offers a rich tapestry of tales exploring love in its myriad forms—complex, mysterious, and at times, absurd. I found myself nodding along, relating to the desire for appreciation and affection depicted in these stories.

From the opening tale, "My Chicano Heart," with its evocative imagery of a beating heart in a box reminiscent of Poe's "A Tell-Tale Heart," to the unexpected twists of "Quack," where I found myself fiercely protective of Constance, this collection kept me engaged. "Las Dos Fridas" warmed me with its depth, while "Eight" resonated with its portrayal of office camaraderie amidst workplace challenges. "Weatherman" left me speechless with its impactful dialogue, and "Mateo’s Walk" evoked a profound sense of longing.

However, not every story left me equally fulfilled. "The Fairy Tale of the Man and the Woman" and "Willie" left me puzzled and enraged, respectively. "Blue" tore at my heartstrings, leaving me raw.

Yet, through each tale, the thread of love—be it for others, oneself, or something intangible—remains constant. These stories skillfully interweave elements of culture, language, and family, resonating with anyone who has experienced the complexities of love.

What a beautiful book. It was heartbreaking as well as heartwarming. I love when a book can tug at all types of emotions and really have you contemplating life. .This cover art is just beautiful and I have considered tattoos like this so when I saw it I had to look at it and request to read. This was such a fun journey through love as a fun/sad/perfect way of being.

something tricky about collected stories is that some can be amazing and some can feel flat and
that's my case with this book
something we can't take back to Daniel A. Olivas is the diversity and representations that her work contains, even if we can't connect with each story it's worth the ride

thank you netgalley for the copy

Thank you NetGalley, University of Nevada Press and Daniel A. Olivas for allowing me to read the ARC of "My Chicano Heart" in exchange for an honest review.

As many I am sure I was drawn in by the cover of this book, the raw beauty of it and the art style just told me I have to read it, and so I did.

I will not lie and confess, I was quite confused at first, it took me a few moments to get into this book. A collection of short stories all around the topic of love, how it breaks our heart, how it heals it, how it is the reason sometimes our heart beats.

Just like it is with a collection of stories, some will make you feel everything and some will not be your cup of tea, at least this is how it was for me and I would say that is absolutely okay, even those that did not particularly interest me were beautiful written and I feel without them, I might would have missed something, which is a paradoxical thing to say since I just said they were not really pulling at any emotion from me.

Overall, a book enjoyable to spend your afternoon with, cozied up in a blanket with a cup of coffee or tea.

I was immediately drawn to the title and cover illustration so I knew I had to read this! "The Chicano Heart" is a collection of short stories where love serves as the underlying theme throughout. As a Mexican American, I find great pleasure in reading stories that I can relate to, especially those rich with cultural nuances and include some Spanish dialogue. A few stories will stay embedded in my brain for some time with how thought provoking they were more and then there were a few that felt unfinished to me. However, I recognize that this type of writing is an art, and this stylistic choice was likely intentional; other readers may perceive it differently. Overall, Olivas is a creative and talented writer with the ability to craft a diverse array of storylines in an engaging manner.

2.5 stars rounded to 3

My Chicano Heart is a short story collection by Mexican-American authors and attorney Daniel Olivas. The collection includes a mix of previously published and reprinted short stories as well as new ones.

The theme of this collection is love in all its forms. The 31 stories included in this collection range in length. Some are a few paragraphs long while others take up a few pages. Olivas imbues the collection with Chicanx culture.

First of all what a stunning cover. That alone drew me in.

Overall, I found My Chicano Heart to be a mixed bag. It is a well written collection that shines light into the daily lives of Chicanx folks. There are some passages that reminded me of my childhood. It gave me a desire to reconnect back with my culture. Although unified by the theme of love, I found the story collection to lack cohesion. The stories are written in a matter of fact way. I was left yearning for more. I did struggle to finish this collection. Some of the female lacked depth and were written in a way that gave me a little bit of an ick. It felt like the author was trying to write feminist characters but instead depicted caricatures.

Ultimately, this is an introduction to Chicanx culture and stories. The stories are easy to read and if you’re a new reader, some of the shorter stories would be a great way to build the habit for reading since they take about a minute or two to read.

Thank you Netgalley and University of Nevada Press for an ARC of My Chicano Heart.

This was a good book! I loved the Latinx/Mexican American themes and the short stories were all good. I think it would have been better if they all tied together, but it was still good

Thank you to Netgalley, the author, and publisher for this ARC!!

Thank you for giving me this arc.

Mixed between some of the short stories were really interesting and nicely written. And others I found it hard to get into some of the writing and stories.

My rate is 2.75/5

There are some truly excellent stories in this book, including "My Chicano Heart" and "Las Dos Fridas," and several other stories that I really enjoyed, including "Eight," "Weatherman," "The Fairy Tale of the Man and the Woman," and "Quack." But after a strong start, this collection started to lag, and I had trouble staying engaged. Ultimately this collection as a whole did not work for me.

There were quite a few very short pieces and some stories that felt extremely slight, often ending before I could fully connect with the character or storyline. The writing was beautiful, but this collection overall felt extremely unfocused. I really appreciated the author's forward, where he talked about the throughline of love in these stories, but didn't necessarily feel that throughline as I read.

I particularly enjoyed the magical realist/fabulist aspects in some of the stories - especially "My Chicano Heart" - but fewer stories were in that style than I hoped based on the blurb and the opening story. I do plan to check out more of this author's work, particularly his book "How To Date a Flying Mexican," which sounds like it may be more to my taste.

My star rating is 2.5/5, rounded up to 3.

Thank you to Daniel A. Olivas, University of Nevada Press, and NetGalley for generously providing this ARC for review!

This collection of stories was really well written. Stories and vivid writing often brought me back to my own childhood memories. I really enjoyed the representation, capturing spirit of the Chicano identity and experiences. Thank you NetGally let me read this ARC