With Falling Angels, Olga García Echeverría delights us with urban tales and poems of characters who sound like real people on a street in Whittier, CA. This brief collection honors the linguistic heritage of East LA, where bilingualism means not only navigating between two languages but also refers to the capacity to code-switch and coexist between two cultures that are not always in sync.
Olga García Echeverría (OGE), East LA Chicanx writer and professor, digs into the city’s consciousness to create stories and poems that are as colorful as they are political. Like a wordsmith, a food truck vendor entertains his clients by spinning the sweet word “donut” with dexterity into jokes and metaphors, while the author makes a profound political statement on police brutality. A conversation between two dead cockroaches—with all the difficult visual images that go into this amusing chat—reveals a profound knowledge of bilingualism in our urban culture. A beautiful coming-of-age story, speaks loudly of identity while the reader smiles at the innocence of two girls going through puberty. A prayer in the mouth of a 17-year-old girl reflecting on her living conditions creates the imagery of slum housing, where numbers and flying cockroach wings scurry between verses.
García Echeverría’s urban characters and setting are centered in hyperreality where politics of class, race, and immigration intersect. They hit the reader with humor and witty wisdom to leave us speechless at the truths revealed.
The brief and impactful stories will linger for a while, calling on the reader to continue exploring OGE’s fabulous website with curiosity. Those who do will discover an online jewel where academic research, curiosity, and creativity explode in color to gift us a glossary of idiomatic expressions in Spanish, an article on the use of cardboard, a reflection on adjunct teaching, and a homage to public libraries, plus literary resources for Latinx writers and readers. In all her writing, OGE’s writing drips with humor and sharp wit, both in Spanish and English.
Falling Angels is a true joy to read. I invite all of you to read this collection. Flip the with the right arrow, or move between stories by scrolling up and down, even if you have to move quickly through the images to avoid the cockroach like I did.
You’ll laugh.
- Read Falling Angels: Cuentos online: https://olgagarciaecheverria.com/cuentos/
- Read Falling Angels: Poemas online: https://olgagarciaecheverria.com/poemas/
About the Contributor
Lisbeth Coiman is a bilingual author and an avid reader. Her debut book, I Asked the Blue Heron: A Memoir (2017), explores the intersection between immigration and mental health. Her poetry collection, Uprising / Alzamiento (Finishing Line Press, 2021), raises awareness of the humanitarian crisis in her homeland. Her book reviews have been published in the New York Journal of Books, Citron Review, The Compulsive Reader, LibroMobile, and Cultural Daily, to name a few. She lives in Los Angeles, where she works and hikes.
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