THE BROKE HEARTS

Two friends struggle to find their way through the world after the death of their friend in this follow-up to Barely Missing Everything (2019).

A year has passed since Danny Villanueva and JD Sanchez’s best friend, Juan, was shot and killed by police. Danny is struggling in his first semester of college, while JD, a new Air Force recruit, is 10 days from deployment. The people around them have moved on, but JD and Danny continue to feel angry and unmoored. When JD turns 19, he drives back to El Paso to celebrate with Danny, but Danny’s father has suddenly been hospitalized due to a heart condition. Between visits with his father, Danny works on the art assignment that may save his grade. When a drunk JD asks Danny to meet him at the abandoned building where Juan died, Danny has the idea to create a mural of Lotería cards, in order to narrate the story of what happened to Juan. As time ticks down and JD’s deployment looms, the two friends struggle to clear the weeds and find their true paths. Much of the novel is masterfully realized; its symbolic system is noteworthy, with images that accrue ever more refined meanings. Yet the structure of its interwoven narratives is sometimes confusing, even if one is familiar with the earlier book, and requires patience from readers. Major characters are Mexican American.

A rewarding novel for readers who stick with it.