Painting Their Portraits in Winter: Stories

by Myriam Gurba

In this artfully crafted collection of new short stories by award-winning author Myriam Gurba, nothing is as it seems on the surface. A Mexican grandmother tells creepy yet fascinating ghost stories to her granddaughters as a way to make them sit still ("How Some Abuelitas Keep Their Chicana Granddaughters Still So That They Can Paint Their Portraits in Winter"). A Polish grandfather spends the night in a Mexican graveyard after a Dia de Muertos celebration to discover if ghosts really do consume the food that has been left for them ("Even This Title Is a Ghost").

Unforgettable characters inhabit these cross-border tales filled with introspection and longing, as modern sensibilities weave and wind through traditional folktales creating a new kind of magical realism that offers insights into where we come from and where we may be going.

A native Californian, Myriam Gurba earned a BA with honors from UCBerkeley. Her writing has been published by Manic D Press, Future Tense, City Lights, and Seal Press. Her first book, "Dahlia Season," won the Publishing Triangle's Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction and was shortlisted for a Lambda Literary Award. She blogs often for the "Rumpus" and Radar Productions.
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Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Queer, LGBT, Fantasy, Latinx, Paranormal

160 pages, ebook

First published April 7, 2015

Reviews

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The delightfully wild Gurba goes in a folklorish direction here, with stories cloaked in ghost whispers and funny turns-of-phrase. These tales are deeply felt and beautifully executed. Abuelita would be proud.

[Christina Kenway · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first short story was so promising. I absolutely loved it and wanted more of exactly that, but the rest of the book did not deliver. This was yet another book with yet another round of wordy MFA-style writing that makes no sense. I stopped reading at the line that went something like, "She smelled like inertia and decrepit pussy."

I'm sorry, but what? What does that even mean? Inertia does not have a scent. Are you just trying to sound witty or something?

Anyway. It had potential but I couldn't continue.

[Sean Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stories that read like whispers into the ear that are meant to make the other ear jealous.

[Kookie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Other than the first story and a few isolated moments in others this was disappointing.

[Carol Tilley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Raucous, creepy, and playful.

[Meg Tuite · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant! Read it!

[Hawk Mcfadzen · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF. I can only handle so much transphobic and homophobic language, even from a queer person. Also, Gurba’s writing seems unfocused. I never know where she is taking me and what I should focus on; the story arc is hard to find if it exists at all. I trust that in the end, she brings it all more or less together, but I couldn’t finish the rest of it. This makes me sad because I really do love her analysis, subject matter, and philosophies. Her word play is whimsical even if the topic is heavy, which I adore. If love to have some tea with her, but probably won’t read another book of hers for a while.

[MariNaomi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Myriam Gurba has the most unique writing voice of any published author today. Myriam Gurba has a wit like molasses; it will wrap itself around you and you'll be laughing so hard you won't notice it's also suffocating you (gently). Myriam Gurba is a better writer than you. This book is brilliant. It's a giant slab of flourless chocolate cake. It will fill your head with confusing ideas. This is such a good book. Fuck.

[Nicole Levay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gurba’s storytelling wraps fantasy with memory and a good old-fashioned ghost story together to create a captivating collection of what I can only describe as motifs. There’s a lot of teasing of ideas; and it’s fine that some never fully get fleshed out. I liked it that way!

The actual editing of this book is bad. I have the Kindle version, so this might not be a problem in print. Some words are smashed together. Are they supposed to be? I can’t remember the exact phrases, but it was something like “whether the” becoming “whetherthe.” Is it storytelling? Does the book end on an open parentheses? That’s fine if it does; but it could be a busted Kindle feature.

Multiple times “peek” is misspelled as “peak.” Not Gurba’s fault! It does draw the reader out of story. A future edition could tighten these corrections up.

[Natasha Vhugen · Rating 4 out of 5]

i really enjoyed this short book of short stories, though i’d call it less a collection of stories and more one long story that’s told in a non-linear fashion and is broken up in bite-sized chunks. simultaneously close to folklore and family memoir, it’s riddled with ghosts and girls and fruit. the voice is strong and clear, and the prose is a good balance of descriptive and digestible. there were a few noticeable places where the voice seemed to break down and become more conversational, and i found those distracting. but overall a fun, spooky, transporting read. in the same vein as Carmen Maria Machado and Kim Fu’s writing.

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The collection as a whole, filled with witty prose and wordplay, magical characters and world-building, and insightful social analyses and philosophies, made for a thoroughly enjoyable read. Some short stories were better than others, but I enjoyed the story "Petra Paramo," so much I wrote and presented a research paper on its themes of queer feminist utopia. A few scenes in this story resonated with me so deeply, and withdrew such an inexplainable feeling of peace and intrigue and comfort, that I will never forget them.

[Judy King · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't usually read short stories . I'm do happy I made an exception and read a good selection of these tales. Having lived in Mexico for 30 years means I was drawn to the stories about los abuelos and the happenings and scenes in Guadalajara...what a rich delicious treat they are. I gained another of understanding from the section about la llorona...her of legend and her of the evening news.

What a great start to Latinx Heritage Month.

[Romeo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Myriam Gurba is definitely a great writer. There are some sentences in this book that just jump out at you and either make you laugh, make you angry or make you want to cry. The mix of sorrow and happiness is almost spot on. For me it was just a little disjointed in the stories. Will be reading more of her work soon.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this. Both lyrical and irreverent I laughed aloud as often as I was transfixed by the language. Mostly a collection of stories focused on one narrator and her family, each story stands alone and works as a part of the whole. I’m definitely going to read Gurba’s other work.

[judy-b. judy-b. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Myriam Gurba has a keen mind and sharp wit, and she slices up delightful characters and stories with it. She's someone I'd want to sit next to at a boring corporate dinner. Or anywhere, really, but especially someplace where there are people to observe and habits to deconstruct.

[Kayla Letra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this collection of short stories was very powerful and often heart breaking but I also felt like the fact that I wasn’t part of the author’s communities and worlds made me feel detached and that I could fully grasp the concepts being explained

[Robert Morgan Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most gifted writers of her generation. These stories, this book--very special.

[Vivienne Strauss · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great writing, amazing prose that at times will make you squirm.

[Mary Pace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hair raising playful stories

[fer pacheco · Rating 2 out of 5]

meh, no lo acabé y no pienso acabarlo. los primeros cuentos y uno como a la mitad están muy chidos pero los siento muy estereotipicamente morra con familia mexicana. me quedo con mean

[Straw · Rating 3 out of 5]

I give 5 stars for being a queer writer, as they are so limited. That being said, it felt like a hodgepodge of good and not so good stories.

[Cynthia · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book and the first story hinted at so much potential.
Maybe it was just not my style of writing, maybe it just read as too self-congratulatory, maybe I was hoping for more than fictional retelling of disjointed childhood anecdotes.

[Yvonne Flores · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Did she really just say that?!" I would read a passage, pause, and ask myself that question while I was reading How Some Abuelitas Keep Their Chicana Granddaughters Still While Painting Their Portraits in Winter. I thought it was fabulous, and I enjoyed laughing out loud and remembering that I was in the now and in the present, as the people in my presence were startled with my outbursts of "Hah!" or "Did I just read that right?" The book had me captured with each short story and I can't wait to read more of Myriam Gurba's work.

The writing is real, raw, and has a lot of cultural mysticism that a Latinx like myself can relate to.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Myriam Gurba's mind. There were so many turns of phrase that caught my breath in these delightfully lyrical, irreverent, puckish stories. A pornographic poster of a naked woman is "Georgia O'Keefing you." Raindrops on a roof are "dull bullets from a failing revolution." Praise to her for the fantastic story title, "The time I rewrote the first two pages of The Bell Jar from a melodramatic Chicana perspective and named it The Taco Bell Jar." Her metaphors are so observant, evocative juxtapositions that will make you either cry or laugh.