Everything Begins and Ends at the Kentucky Club

Benjamin Alire Sáenz's stories reveal how all borders-real, imagined, sexual, human, the line between dark and light, addict and straight-entangle those who live on either side. Take, for instance, the Kentucky Club on Avenida Juárez two blocks south of the Rio Grande. It's a touchstone for each of Sáenz's stories. His characters walk by, they might go in for a drink or to score, or they might just stay there for a while and let their story be told. Sáenz knows that the Kentucky Club, like ...