Alex Mindt

Reviews

Pushcart Prize–winner Mindt deftly captures in his debut collection men, and those around them, as they negotiate moral binds rooted in masculinity’s unwritten dos and don’ts. A high school chemistry teacher transplanted from Wisconsin to West Texas flunks the star quarterback and incurs the wrath of the townsfolk—and eventually transforms his marriage in the title story. In “Stories of the Hunt,” a 12-year-old boy on his first deer-hunting expedition with his father recognizes that his father lied about his experience as a courageous woodsman. The African-American dentist of “An Artist at Work” recognizes too late that his decision to move his family from Boston to a Norman Rockwell suburb has fatally alienated his teenage artist son. Similarly, in “Free Spirits,” a grown son has to come to terms with his psychotic hospitalized father, who can be as violent as he is sympathetic. Mindt does not present easy choices for his characters, like the heartbroken elderly Mexican-American father in the beautifully composed opener, “Sabor a Mi”: he treks to Taos, N.Mex., on the occasion of his adored daughter’s marriage to another woman. Though his characters are distinct, Mindt concentrates less on people than on their conflicts, and the resulting discord is tense and surprising throughout. (May)  — Publisher’s Weekly

A deeply traditional Hispanic father hitchhikes to his gay daughter’s wedding; a football coach in deepest Texas risks everything by flunking the high-school football star — In “MALE OF THE SPECIES, Alex Mindt brings deft hands to deeply affecting matters of dusty grandeur and triumphant endurance. — Jacquelyn Mitchard, author, The Deep End of the Ocean and Cage of Stars

Alex Mindt has the extraordinary ability to take on the many different worlds that make up America, as if he has lived in all of them with the most vivid understanding of each. This collection of stories expands the reader’s vision of a country that must hold together with the love and compassion with which Mindt himself holds it together. His stories are inspired, and inspire. — David Plante, National Book Award Nominee for The Family

Alex Mindt writes stories with muscle, moral intensity, and language that is both brisk and readable. His variation on the familiar “teen-age son goes deer-hunting with his father” theme is priceless. But so is every other story in this remarkable, memorable, artful collection. — Michael Curtis, Fiction Editor – Atlantic Monthly

In this remarkable debut, Alex Mindt skillfully portrays a series of unique and compelling worlds. The result is a captivating collection that is a joy to read. — John Searles, best selling author of Strange But True

The stories in Alex Mindt’s debut collection begin at a turning point in the lives of his characters and then proceed, with supreme skill and unerring pitch, to a miraculous moment of quiet revelation and grace, when their full humanity is revealed and our understanding of human nature is enlarged. This Chekhovian empathy for the wide-ranging cast of people who make up today’s America is a rare gift, and one of the highest order. These unforgettable stories already feel like classics. — Jaime Manrique, Award Winning Author of Latin Moon Over Manhattan and Our Lives are the Rivers