Mundo Cruel

Mundo Cruel is a 91 page book containing nine short stories detailing sadness, absurdity, cynicism, and moments of compassion in a small community of Puerto Rico. Although the stories carry a gay theme, the author does a great job of not making it the main focus, but rather weaves it into the stories as an aside. What stands out is the overall human familiarity of people caught up in the everyday pulse of life.

The author’s purpose for the book is to shed light on the gay experience; however, he uses the writing commonalities of emotions and storytelling to spin and weave some interesting situations. My favorite story is “The Vampire of Moca” where a guy does everything to impress his new renter, but things don’t quite work out quite as he thought. The author does a perfect job of capturing character emotions and thoughts in this story. It’s a scenario that would fit into any slice of life – homosexual or heterosexual.

The third story is centered on a guy trying to get money to stuff his dog to keep for posterity after it is euthanized. It’s both funny and sad in a strange sort of way, but then that’s the author’s skill in working your emotions. The ending has a great twist and is not at all what you’d expect.

All the stories are intriguing, and because most are written in first person point of view, it lets you get into the various characters’ heads. The one story uses a third person point of view at the beginning and then goes straight into dialogue capturing two women gossiping. This story titled “So Many,” captures the poverty, ignorance, and prejudice found in a typical neighborhood; a very skillful use of dialogue.

This book is an easy read and very informal. It’s definitely intended for adults, but only because of its wit, humor, and sarcasm. This is a good book to read and is definitely interesting.

Source: Book was provided by author for review. It was reviewed by Corina Martinez Chaudhry.

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