FLOWERS FOR THE BROKEN by Benjamin...

FLOWERS FOR THE BROKEN by Benjamin Alire Saenz (Broken Moon Press, P.O. Box 24585, Seattle, WA 98124-0585: $13.95). These stories set in the contemporary Southwest center on the cultural differences that harden the divisions between people of different ethnic backgrounds. Even when they achieve material success, Saenz’s characters never escape the social boundaries they encountered during their formative years. In “Obliterate the Night,” a wealthy Hispanic woman recognizes the error she made in rejecting a poor but decent student to marry a cold man because he embodied the seemingly unobtainable WASP cachet she envied. A Chicano artist and his dying father strive to reconcile the cultural differences that complicated their abusive relationship in “Holy Week.”