by Ernesto Quiñonez
Bodega Dreams pulls us into Spanish Harlem, where the word is out: Willie Bodega is king. Need college tuition for your daughter? Start-up funds for your fruit stand? Bodega can help. He gives everyone a leg up, in exchange only for loyalty—and a steady income from the drugs he pushes.
Lyrical, inspired, and darkly funny, this powerful debut novel brilliantly evokes the trial of Chino, a smart, promising young man to whom Bodega turns for a favor. Chino is drawn to Bodega’s street-smart idealism, but soon finds himself over his head, navigating an underworld of switchblade tempers, turncoat morality, and murder.
Bodega Dreams
Ernesto Quiñonez was born in Ecuador, but arrived to New York City he was eighteen months old and was raised in El Barrio, East Harlem. Quiñonez is also the author of Bodega Dreams and Chango's Fire. Quiñonez is an Associate Professor at Cornell University, where he teaches Creative Writing, Latino Fiction and Magical Realism, among others.
ISBN: 9780375705892
Publisher: Vintage
Binding: Paperback
Pub Date: March 14, 2000
Copyright Date: 2000Pages: 224
-Puerto Ricans -New York (State)
-New York -Criminal behavior
-New York (N.Y.) -Coming of age
-Bildungsromans -Fiction
-Uncorrected proofs (Printing) -United States