The Iceworker Sings and Other Poems

Rating:
Summary: Songs in the Key of Chicano
Review: It is so sad that Andres Montoya left this world at such a young age. Aside from the obvious loss suffered by his family and friends (I never had the pleasure of meeting him), we wonder about the poetry and other writing he would have produced in the wake of his beautiful and accomplished collection, "the iceworker sings." Much has been written about Montoya's first book which was the winner of the 1997 Chicano/Latino Literary Prize (University of California at Irvine). Montoya's Fresno is filled with love, lust, hate, suffering and protest sung in a clear Chicano voice. Suffice it to say that the brutal yet eloquent honesty of Montoya's poems has assured that "the iceworker sings" will be read and studied for decades to come.

Rating:
Summary: In Search of Aztlan
Review: The Iceworker Sings is an amazing book that reached every sensation that is in my body. Recommended to me by my friend Eva in Fresno I was captivated by the pain, desperation, and corazon in Montoya's words; they spoke to me as if each one had been in the fire itself. Montoya speaks of the Chicano situation in ways that others may not understand. His words are words that describe everything we have been through. As Montoya writes - "i don't have time to be a gypsy or an aztec, i'm just chicano, an indian who sees life swallowed up in a dream and wants to explode."

Rating:
Summary: My brother the Iceworker
Review: This book strikes at the core of the authors life as a young man growing up in the central valley of Fresno. He speaks of heartaches, struggles as well as love and hope. I had the great pleasure of knowing this young man who was taken from us far to soon. His insights on life and the meanings of the everyday struggles that we all go through were prophetic. I would encourage all to read and study these rich poems. Andres, your voice is louder and more profound now then when you walked this earth.