Come Together, Fall Apart

Features of Come Together, Fall Apart

With eight short stories and a novella that travel from dusty city streets to humid beaches Cristina Henrquez carves out a distinctive and unforgettable vision of contemporary Panama The stories of Come Together Fall Apart combine to create a seamless fictional world in which the varied landscapes and shifting culture of a country in transitionand the insistent voices of its young peopleare vividly representedIn Yanina a young mans fidelity is tested when a new living situation strains his relationship with his girlfriend For the young woman in Ashes the very notion of fidelity is shatteredand her lovers philandering is only one link in a chain of traumatic events that begins with her mothers death In Mercury an American girl visits her grandparents in Panama while her parents divorce at home and attempts to connect with her ailing grandfather in broken Spanish that hell never understand Again and again characters find their fates irrevocably tied to those of their familiesin Beautiful as fortunes rise and in Come Together Fall Apart as they collapseThese are stories of family bonds and generational conflicts youthful infatuation and genuine passion that are tender ambitious and unflinching from a bold and original young writer who is not only an accomplished prose stylist but also an irresistible storyteller