Each of Us a Desert by Mark OshiroMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Mark Oshiro presents: And Now For Something Completely Different. Shifting away from the hard-hitting examination of systemic racism in Anger is a Gift, they now dive deeper into their Latinx roots with a new story set in a distant desert world, magical realism about a young woman in search of love - if only she didn't have to wander far and wide and avoid the monsters, metaphorical and literal, terrorizing her. Magical realism and fabulism have always been something of a hit-or-miss for me - hits with lovely, dreamy prose, but misses for me not really understand what the story is about, whether from the plot being confusing, thin, or both. But Oshiro leans much more into the latter this time, interspersing the prose with frequent Spanish, including Spanish poetry - not to mention the bleak beauty of this desert environment, inspired by the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. And when you get to the acknowledgments at the end and realize that Oshiro took a lot of inspiration from their relationship with their late partner Baize White, then things make a lot more sense. As much as I'm looking forward to moving to Oregon, this book has also made me want to take a road trip someday to Arizona and see the wonder for myself. Maybe even get some inspiration of my own.
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