In *The Day They Took My Uncle and Other Stories,* Lionel Garcia's short stories run the gamut from the hilarious to the tragic, just as his novels do; he proves to be as deft at presenting pure tragedy as pure comedy, and at his best when they are blended together.

On the one hand, there's "Mammogram," in which language difficulties in the waiting room lead to misunderstanding and, for the reader, great fun. In "West Texas Cowboys," a crew of dumb-and-dumber cowhands destroy their boss's property piecemeal in successive attempts to cover up each disaster. On the other hand, there is the account of a jaded ememgency room orderly who is forced to face a bereaved family and, in doing so, to confront his own situation as well. In another story, a contemporary urbanite goes home to his aging, small-town parents in an effort to recover his lost intimacy with them.

We see a loving young mother place her child on a city bus to ride all night in safety while she works. In this short, simple story, the writer, like a fine cartoonist, draws with a few short strokes rich characters and powerful emotions. In the title story, we watch Uncle Merce --introduced earlier in the autobiographical *I Can Hear the Cowbells Ring*--running wildly through the town, shouting obscene accusations against the mayor's wife; his protective mother and sister then courageously attack the sheriff who comes to take him to the insane asylum. A lonely widow attempts to seduce her plumber. There is even a bona fide ghost tale in the collection.

In the majority of the stories, humor and pathos are blended in such a way that each one heightens the other; it is unusual to find comedy without some significance, or tragedy unrelieved by either humor or hope.

Garcia sees the complexities of the very real individuals who people his stories, grasps their contradictions, and introduces them to us tenderly, humorously and, in most cases, with hope that tomorrow will be a better day for them. Although the stories in this collection are set mostly in South Texas and often in Hispanic families, they are about the foibles, disappointments, and hopes that are common to all of us. Few, if any, leave us untouched.

I have not been able to stop thinking about this book for the past three years, since I read it in a Latino Literature class in college.

The story is of a "white trash" boy who grew up moving around Texas with a dead-beat dad, and an under-protective mother. The plot goes through many twists and turns as the main character (a boy of 8 or so and ending in adulthood)experiences hard times at an early age. This book takes you through the pains of a boy who is abused, through the embarrassment of puberty, though the sadness of losing innocence, and through the hardships of sibling relationships and death.

I have read and loved stories such as Their Eyes were Watching God, the Awakening, Snow Falling on Cedars, etc., and I find Hardscrub to be a piece of literary art along those same lines. The reasons I find Hardscrub to be just as good, if not better, are that the plot is amazing, the characters are fully developed, and even though Garcia is not white, he portrays the hardships of a "white trash" family very well.

I loved this book, and I am sure you will too. It gave me a completely new understanding of those with less money and opportunities than myself and was entertaining at the same time.

"I Can Hear the Cowbells Ring" contains funny, sentimental, memories of growing up in south Texas...and no matter when the reader is from, it is just the type of book that causes one's own memories of childhood--the poignantly happy, as well as the sad--to resurface as reminders of how nice it all really was. Lionel Garcia's shared experiences are worth remembering, from the obnoxious version of baseball to spinning the grandest tale for the town priest, each chapter is a joy to read.