Ruben Reyes Jr. pulls off what can only be described as an exquisite—and heartbreaking—magic trick… you find yourself in the hands of a terrifically talented storyteller.” — Washington Post
“This electrifying short-story collection about migration and reinvention is not to be missed.” — People
"A scintillating collection...Shot through with genuine pathos and astute social commentary...Reyes shifts effortlessly from absurdism to satire to sci-fi. These dynamic tales herald the arrival of a promising new talent." — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Haunting, tender, and profound...Tethered to historical fact and enlivened by speculative elements, Reyes’ fiction brings into focus the troubling legacies that stalk so many Central American nations." — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"An extraordinary debut of speculative fiction...the stories in this collection plumb a labyrinth of identity and duality explored through motifs like border crossings, citizens and immigrants, the imagined vs. the real, bisexuality, and the resurrection and destruction of family." — Booklist (starred review)
"The stories in this collection are playful, hilarious, queer, and delightfully speculative. They imagine new worlds and write into boundless futures." — Electric Literature
"Ruben Reyes Jr. has announced himself here in impressive fashion. This wonderful debut collection displays a virtuosic fictional range, often in the realm of what some would call the speculative, but in any case the depth of emotion, the insight into the lives of immigrants, and the potency and warmth of the writing in each story will leave you saying, This is real. This is true. When you read There is a Rio Grande in Heaven, your mind will be sent in many thrilling directions, and it will be powerfully deepened." — Jamel Brinkley, author of Witness and A Lucky Man, finalist for the National Book Award
"In this rich, lively and imaginative collection, Reyes' presents the richness of the American Latine and immigrant experience, not as we are perceived, but as we know and recognize ourselves to be. In Reyes' hands, robots, alternative colonial histories, and dream sequences are more than storytelling devices. They are as real and vivid as the grief, abandoned love and homelands these characters are trying to reconcile with their American realities. These are stories to treasure and ponder, long after the last page has been turned." — Xochitl Gonzalez, New York Times bestselling author of Olga Dies Dreaming
“As stunning as it is surreal, There is a Rio Grande in Heaven bravely exposes the circuitry of our society––as well as its myths and lies––in ways that are jolting, jarring, and joyful. Capturing migrations domestic, international, and even interplanetary, Ruben Reyes Jr.'s debut depicts the astronomic costs so many incur in attempting to start anew, as well as the faith required to believe that a better tomorrow is possible. Wildly funny, so damn creative, and inspiring all the feels, Reyes and his work are out of this world.” — Mateo Askaripour, New York Times bestselling author of Black Buck and This Great Hemisphere
"In There Is A Rio Grande In Heaven, Ruben Reyes Jr. has written Salvadorans into every single corner of the imagination. I have been waiting, dreaming of short stories like these—stories not bound to existing narratives, but stories where we Central Americans have agency. Fearless, imaginative, revolutionary. These stories will expand your vision of the world and will leave you forever changed. Ruben Reyes Jr. is a revelation." — Javier Zamora, New York Times bestselling author of Solito
"This beautiful collection announces the arrival of an important voice in U.S. fiction. Ruben Reyes Jr. is a wonder. With equal doses of surrealism, intelligence, and wit, these genre-bending stories redefine identities, and give birth to a powerful new imaginary." — Héctor Tobar, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Deep Down Dark and The Tattooed Soldier
“Ruben Reyes Jr. is one of the most imaginative writers I've read in some time. A collection of beautiful and healing stories, There Is a Rio Grande in Heaven moves seamlessly through a time and space that confidently centers the plight of survival and imagines what could have been. Reyes Jr.'s writing is insightful and daring, full of heart and intelligence.” — Alejandro Varela, author of Town of Babylon, finalist for the National Book Award
★ 2024-06-15
A debut collection of stories centered on the Salvadoran diaspora.
Salvadoran American storyteller Reyes threads together tales blending family dynamics and the migratory challenges of the Latin American diaspora with an edge of the uncanny, surreal, and outlandish. In “He Eats His Own,” Neto, a successful professional in Los Angeles and the child of Salvadoran immigrants, takes increasingly dangerous steps to satisfy an obsession with homegrown mangoes even as it unravels his relationship, leads to the deaths of relatives, and threatens to imprison his only surviving relation, an orphaned cousin who sobs when Neto gifts him a mango sapling, “an intense fear spreading from his throat all the way down to his green thumb.” In “My Abuela, the Puppet,” the narrator’s grandmother slowly morphs into a marionette, beginning with her oversize orthopedic sneakers, until her knockoff Louis Vuitton handbag transforms into felt and her thinning frame leaves errant tufts of wool on bedsheets and her wheelchair. Abuela the Puppet hangs on a wall in the living room until one night she sings out in a strong voice: “Ay, ay, ay, ay, canta, y no llores.” A series of searing vignettes punctuates the collection. Each one is titled “An Alternate History of El Salvador or Perhaps the World,” and they reimagine infamous episodes from Salvadoran history, such as the quick defeat of 16th-century colonizers or the ghastly rearrangement of Indigenous remains into the shape of a dinosaur that will be namedMaximilianodon, for the tyrant dictator who thought “drawing a little bit of blood once in a while was part of the job.” Tethered to historical fact and enlivened by speculative elements, Reyes’ fiction brings into focus the troubling legacies that stalk so many Central American nations: the enduring “belief that we can bury our monstrosities underneath a pile of ash and bones.”
Haunting, tender, and profound meditations on the experiences of Central American migrants and their families.
