The Water Museum

"All 13 stories are realistic and unsparing, as unflinching and hard-hitting as they are beautiful. It's difficult to find comparisons to an author as original as Urrea, a kind of literary badass who still believes in love. The Water Museum is a brilliant, powerful collection, and Luis Alberto Urrea is a master storyteller with a rock and roll heart."—NPR.org

"Urrea skillfully evokes the semi-comic experience of the sensitive observer who is both part of and outside of a community... Magic."—The Washington Post

"Like Urrea, we care deeply for his characters. He writes with compassion and humor and with a nod to the creeping darkness within us all."—The Oregonian

"Pitch-perfect and penetrating,The Water Museum traverses the rich borderlands of the human heart with humor, mystery, and grit."—Ploughshares

"Urrea, celebrated for his historical sagas and nonfiction, offers 13 stories that reflect both sides of his Mexican-American heritage while stretching the reader's understanding of human boundaries...Urrea's command of language is matched only by his empathy for his characters."—Kirkus (Starred Review)

"Urrea has a wonderful eye for details and captures each story's context with wonderfully sharp observations... These stories are vibrant, tender, and invoke a strong sense of place."—Publisher's Weekly

"Urrea's poetic instincts often lead to his most moving asides."—The Santa Fe New Mexican

PRAISE FOR INTO THE BEAUTIFUL NORTH:

"Deliciously composed...[Urrea writes] in a sweet but serious style...The plot gathers as much strength as the prose."
—Alan Cheuse, Chicago Tribune

"Awash in a subtle kind of satire...A funny and poignant impossible journey...Into the Beautiful North is a refreshing antidote to all the negativity currently surrounding Mexico."—Roberto Ontiveros, Dallas Morning News

"Magical."—Vanity Fair

"A spirited and enjoyable fable."—San Francisco Chronicle

"Riotously funny....A wonderfully entertaining novel."—Philadelphia Inquirer