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REVIEW: THE HOUSE OF ORDER by John Paul Jaramillo


  
 
“You can’t tell a man’s story unless you are for sure about the facts.”   –Uncle Neto


Anaphora Literary Press


So begins this stark and poignant collection of intertwined short stories about the Ortiz family. At the center of these tales is Manito, who is trying to piece together the tattered bits of his father’s life. Unfortunately for Manito, his main source of information is his unreliable drunkard Uncle Neto, whose memories are full despair, hunger, resignation, and defeat.

Neto and his brother Relles grew up in Southern Colorado on Spruce Street, best described as “a nest of cabrones,” where husbands are unfaithful and the girls wear a tough beauty; where wives make it all the way to the Greyhound terminal but never get on the bus to freedom; where boys grow up too fast in order to put food on the table; where the army doesn’t always make you a better man; where poverty and unemployment corrode family values.

Each story in Jaramillo’s collection stands alone, but together they make a powerful combination, with vivid descriptions, realistic characters, and strong emotions that will make readers cry, laugh, cringe and hope.###


ABOUTH THE AUTHOR:   John Paul Jaramillo is an Associate Professor of English at Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield, IL. His writing has been featured in various publications, including Acentos Review, the Copper Nickel Review, Antique Children Arts Journal, InDigest and Verdad magazines. Visit him at www.llcc.edu/jpjaramillo.
  
  

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