---Bob Dunton, El Paso Matters
---Ben Fountain, PEN/Hemingway award-winning author of Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk
What a great El Paso Matters Book Club meeting! We has 70-plus in attendance, according to the library staff, and I signed dozens of books and answered great questions about NOBODY’S PILGRIMS! Thank you, El Paso Matters, Literarity Book Shop, the staff at the Sergio Troncoso Branch Library in El Paso, Texas. I love the interactions we had and the stories we shared with each other.
Book review of NOBODY'S PILGRIMS in El Paso Matters, by Bob Dunton:
“The first time I finished Sergio Troncoso’s “Nobody’s Pilgrims,” I realized that I was absent-mindedly petting the cover. His characters had somehow taken up residence in my heart. It was love at first sight.
“And Sergio Troncoso is such a beloved writer of the borderlands, there is a public library branch named for him in El Paso. His 'A Peculiar Kind of Immigrant’s Son' is simply brilliant.”
Thank you, Luis Alberto Urrea!
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/14/books/us-mexico-border-books.html
https://elpasomatters.org/2023/06/14/el-paso-matters-book-club-qa-sergio-troncoso-nobodys-pilgrims/
Pick
you your copy of Nobody's Pilgrims at Literarity Book Shop for the El Paso Matters Book Club's summer selection. My favorite independent
bookstore in El Paso, Texas! I'll see you at the Troncoso Branch Library (9321 Alameda Avenue in El Paso) on
Saturday, July 29, 4 PM.
"Troncoso delivers a surprisingly fast-paced, character-driven story. For example, readers watch Turi evolve from a meek 16-year-old loner to a capable young man who genuinely cares for his 'semi-friend' Arnulfo. At the same time, the road trip keeps the tightly plotted narrative moving across the country, all while villains (there are quite a few) close in. The cast also shines, including one criminal henchman harboring a tender affection for his 'hulking giant' of a partner. The author rounds out his memorable tale by touching on contemporary topical issues, like prejudices against caramel skin and undocumented immigrants. A sublime, diverse cast drives this tale of looking for a safe, welcoming home."
---Kirkus Reviews
https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2023-05-28/american-novels-1001-literary-geography-map-states
***
"These stories are richly satisfying."—Publishers Weekly
"Enthusiastically recommended."—Booklist
"Troncoso really shines when he writes about El Paso and the life of
Mexican Americans there. He has the gift for writing from his heart
outward into his reader's heart."—Bloomsbury Review
"Nobody's Pilgrims offers a stark vision of a country whose social
ills have sullied the path to the pursuit of happiness. Yet its
intrepid protagonists Turi and Molly persevere, charting their own map
and adapting, like generations of dreamers, immigrants, and adventurers
before them, to the latest hurdles of our troubled world. Sergio
Troncoso has given us a timely dystopian tale heavy with anguish but
invigorated by resilience."
--Rigoberto González, author of Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa
https://inthemarginssite.blog/2023/02/09/2023-press-release/