The Last Known Residence of Mickey Acuna

New York: Grove Press, 1994. AU2 - An uncorrected proof paperback book SIGNED by author on the title page in very good condition that has some bumped corners, light foxing on the page edges, light discoloration and shelf wear. Mickey Acuña is a man suspended between a vague past and a vaguer future. Dagoberto Gilb is fast becoming recog-nized as a powerful and important new talend in American fiction. Fresh, funny, relentless, and beautifully crafted, his writing possesses that rare Chekhovian ability to perfectly capture the nuances of ordinary life - and make it resonate with unexpected meaning, The Last Known Residence of Mickey Acuna is his unforgettable first novel. 9"x6", 265 pages. Satisfaction Guaranteed. Mickey Acuña is a man suspended between a vague past and a vaguer future. Emerging from the landscape of the Southwest, buffeted by life and licking his wounds, he moves into a YMCA to wait for a check that is coming to save him and that demands an address. As days and then weeks pass without its arrival, he picks up work - first odd jobs and then shifts at the cash register of the Y - and hangs out with his neighbors, playing handball, drinking coffee, shooting pool, getting drunk, falling in love or lust with women he meets, works with, passes on the street. In the vacuum of the Y, Mickey finds himself becoming the unwitting center of a community starved for human contact and for meaning: Sarge, with his fast-food coupons; Omar, with his drunken rages and obsession with the vanished Lucy; Rosemary, who will not stop leaning into him with her monstrous breasts. Gilb captures the rhythms of the Y's residents - desolate, resigned, needing love - going about their daily lives. And Mickey, who is detached and suspicious, not quite one of them, fights to maintain his distance and his freedom, until the narrative converges abruptly around him in a profound and shocking conclusion. The Last Known Residence of Mickey Acuña confirms the arrival of an extraordinary new voice in American fiction.. Signed by Author. Paperback. Very Good/No Jacket as Issued. 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. Advance Reading Copy (ARC).