The Miraculous Day Of Amalia G Mez

A Los Angeles Latina woman living in poverty and hoping for miracles “comes to stunning and heartbreaking life” in this novel from an award-winning author (Newsday). On a hot, still day in May, Amalia Gómez sees—or thinks she sees—a large silver cross in the sky. Does this vision foretell a miracle? The pragmatic, twice-divorced Amalia is doubtful . . . Amalia’s neighborhood—a decaying area near a shabby part of Hollywood Boulevard—is under attack from gang wars and the police. Her live-in boyfriend is behaving suspiciously, her “fast” teenage daughter Gloria has become too much to handle, and her teenage son is hinting he’s in serious trouble. Most of all, Amalia is haunted by thoughts of her past and her first-born, dead in jail under mysterious circumstances. As the epiphanies and small omens of Amalia’s day build to a climax as wondrous as it is shattering, PEN Center USA’s Lifetime Achievement Award–winning author John Rechy takes us into the complicated life of a Chicano family living in Los Angeles—in all its spirited, gritty reality, giving us “a novel with more truth in it than a carload of best-sellers” (The Washington Post). “A fierce book . . . [told in] tough, uninhibited prose.” —Hartford Courant “A vivid and touching novel . . . Rough, heartbreaking . . . Rechy is masterful.” —San Antonio Express-News “A triumph, a sad, beautiful and loving book rooted in cultural experience as well as deep intuition.” —Newsday “[An] ardently feminist piece of writing. By portraying her abusive past, the poverty and the narrow choices facing Amalia G[ó]mez, Rechy illuminates the plight of certain minority women who remain locked in the dark ages of female emancipation, shut off from any help . . . Amalia G[ó]mez may be the main character, but poverty and ignorance, injustice and fear, are the real subjects of this engaging novel.” —Los Angeles Times

A moving, harsh, and tender novel about one day in the life of a Mexican-American, by the bestselling author of City of Night and Marilyn's Daughter.

These two novels introduce us to two faces of the same terrain. In The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gomez, Amalia Gomez thinks she sees a large silver cross in the sky. A miraculous sign, perhaps, but one the down-to-earth Amalia does not trust. Through Amalia, we take a vivid and moving tour of the "other Hollywood", populated by working-class Mexican Americans, as John Rechy blends tough realism with religious and cultural fables to take us into the life of a Chicano family in L.A. Epic in scope and vision, The Miraculous Day of Amalia Gomez is classic Rechy.

First Published in 1999. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Bold and inventive in style, City of Night is the groundbreaking 1960s novel about male prostitution. Rechy is unflinching in his portrayal of one hustling 'youngman' and his search for self-knowledge among the other denizens of his neon-lit world. As the narrator moves from Texas to Times Square and then on to the French Quarter of New Orleans, Rechy delivers a portrait of the edges of America that has lost none of its power. On his travels, the nameless narrator meets a collection of unforgettable characters, from vice cops to guilt-ridden married men eaten up by desire, to Lance O'Hara, once Hollywood's biggest star. Rechy describes this world with candour and understanding in a prose that is highly personal and vividly descriptive.

This is the compelling, ferociously relevant story of four teenagers playing deadly games with drugs, sex, and one another. Behind a facade of tough cynicism, on a raging search for kicks, they explore the hot, dusty city, bent on trouble.

A vivid reimagining of the life and legacy of Marilyn Monroe: “A massive, magnetic story by a major American novelist writing at the peak of his powers” (San Francisco Chronicle). When eighteen-year-old Normalyn discovers a letter asserting that Marilyn Monroe was her true mother, she travels from Texas to Los Angeles to uncover the truth . . . and ventures deep into a maze of untold Hollywood history. Through the memories of others, Normalyn recreates Marilyn’s secret life. She encounters David Lange, a prize-winning writer obsessed with the actress’s legend; Mildred Meadows, who once ruled Hollywood—and Washington—with her gossip column; the fabulous nightclub entertainer Troja; Dr. and Mrs. Crouch, once hired by the movie studios to tell any lie and conceal any truth, no matter what the cost in destroyed lives; and Miss Bertha, a gentle old recluse, who may have been the confident of great stars. This startling modern epic by the author of City of Night and The Sexual Outlaw brings to life the beautiful, tragic figure of Marilyn Monroe and two other historical figures crucial to Normalyn’s quest: John and Robert Kennedy. A unique literary creation that explores the origins of legends and their power over truth, this novel introduces in Normalyn Morgan, one of the most memorable heroines in modern American fiction.