Hola and Goodbye: Una familia in stories

Reviews/Quotes

“Life,” Donna Miscolta writes in Hola and Goodbye, “was not about running away, but running toward something…” The characters in this intricately linked and exquisitely structured collection of stories do just that. For better or worse, they rush toward life, future-minded despite the past whispering from behind, and fueled by the clashing forces that make us human—courage and recklessness, wisdom and hope, the need to belong and the undeniable instinct to strike out on your own. Miscolta writes with the precision demanded by the short story, but with the range, scope, and generosity we crave in the novel, and what results is an unforgettable reading experience. Hola and Goodbye is a thoroughly satisfying book from a very talented writer. – Lysley Tenorio, author of Monstress Hola and Goodbye is a marvelous and assured story collection. Each story is surprising, moving, humorous, and smart. With deftness and nuance, Miscolta captures three generations of one American family and their sometimes-flawed humanity as each generation works to find their place in the world. There is a poignancy as every generation, with their singular desires, strives to create their own lives, all while experiencing different kinds of dislocation. Miscolta isn’t afraid to tackle race or gender – she is unflinching. This book tells a new kind of immigrant story, a new kind of story about what it means to be a family. This is a superb collection whose range is not only impressive, it’s remarkable. – Nina McConigley, author of Cowboys and East Indians Donna Miscolta brings the old streets to burning life. I can hear these voices, I can smell the cooking. The ghosts step out of these alleys as if they’d never left. Wonderful stuff. —Luis Urrea, author of The Water Museum Lively prose and vivid characters invite you into these stories. There’s an undercurrent of humor that increases the poignancy of the lives of these people. Some of the stories end in hope, others in longing, but all are utterly human. The characters are Latino but their stories have a universal appeal. – veritasaequitas, Amazon reviewer "Hola and Goodbye" is a beautiful and moving collection of stories. Each of the characters is unique, fully-realized, and three-dimensional. Miscolta's prose is graceful and fluid. She writes with great love, insight, and humor about three generations of a Mexican-American family trying to come to terms with questions of cultural allegiance, personal identity, friendship, loyalty, assimilation, dreams, and disappointments. Once you start, you won't be able to put this book down --the characters are too captivating. You will come to love the Camacho family, with all their human quirks and foibles, like your own. – horseygirl, Amazon reviewer REVIEWS: “Beyond the Confines of Race and Culture: Hola and Goodbye: Una Familia in Stories” – review by Kim Fay in the Los Angeles Review of Books, April 12, 2017 “Hola and Goodbye: a warm portrait of a multi-generational family” – review by Agnes Torres Al-Shibibi in the Seattle Times, January 12, 2017 New Book of the Week, Phinney Books newsletter, January 4, 2017 “Touching linked stories trace the assimilation of a Mexican clan” – review by Kathe Connair in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, December 9, 2016 “I like to be in America” – review by Paul Constant in the Seattle Review of Books and The Weekly, November 8, 2016