I Review “Before the End, After the Beginning” by Dagoberto Gilb
“What is it I gotta do?’’ the Mexican asks the cop who suspects him of burglary but has no actual evidence. Several cops arrest him on the catch-all charge of disturbing the peace and resisting arrest, although it appears the cops are doing the most of the disturbing and all of the fighting. The unnamed Mexican narrator is not entirely blameless – he’s been fooling around with his married ex-girlfriend, and like many of the characters in these stories, has a checkered and shady past. “You were born,’’ the cop answers. “Until you die, the rest is on you.’’
Click the image below to read my review in the December 5, 2011, edition of the Boston Globe.
You can buy Before the End, After the Beginning at Barnes & Noble.
