Rust

An article in a random travel magazine - about coyotes freely roaming the banks of the Rio Grande right in the middle of the city of Albuquerque - compels talented but socially-isolated artist Margaret Shaw to pack up and move from New York City to New Mexico. she quickly settles into a Chicano/Mexican barrio near the river, spending long days at local junkyards attempting to satisfy another recent obsession - her determination to move her art from two dimensions to three. As she collects rusty parts from obsolete machinery, she imagines welding them into sculptures, and she never looks back at the sorrowful past she left behind in the east.Her life takes an unexpected turn when she meets Rico Garcia, a car mechanic known locally as "El Rey," the king of low-rider welders, and impulsively asks him to teach her to weld. Unlike Margaret, whose lifestyle is completely solitary, Rico lives with his wife, three daughters, a granddaughter, and his mother. There is no common ground between the two, but once they begin welding lessons at Rico's shop, a deep, instantaneous friendship spakrs, igniting intense, chaotic self-reflection and driving them both to confront the damage they have suffered in their individual pasts.Against this backdrop of emotional unpredictability, Margaret and Rico embark on an odyssey, both grounded and mystical, that carries them through the silent, wide open spaces of the high desert to the edge of healing, and perhaps beyond.From BooklistStarred Review Set in the magnificent, stark desert landscape of Albuquerque, Mars’ third novel (after Anybody Any Minute, 2008) resonates with the lives of outwardly unsophisticated yet inwardly complex, radiant characters traveling intersecting journeys. Questing artist Margaret Shaw pulls up stakes from New York City and heads to Albuquerque because of a single article mentioning coyotes that run on the riverbanks right through the city. Drawn by this evocative image, she lands in the dusty new place accompanied only by her dog and the pervasive feeling that “she had somehow gotten in her own way just by being born.” Margaret immediately commences learning how to weld so that she can create sculptures fashioned out of what used to be junk. Her chosen teacher is Rico Garcia, a busy mechanic surrounded by family yet almost unbearably alone. Always just behind life, he watches each moment “pass, on its way to rust,” while he concocts the perfect response a step too late. As Margaret and Rico dance around one another and attempt to evade their personal demons, their stories flow in quietly rhythmic cadences of poignant writing, exquisite pacing, and deeply introspective, slice-of-life plotting that allows readers to easily slip in and enjoy. --Julie Trevelyan ReviewAs Margaret and Rico dance around one another and attempt to evade their personal demons, their stories flow in quietly rhythmic cadences of poignant writing, exquisite pacing, and deeply introspective, slice-of-life plotting that allows readers to easily slip in and enjoy. --Booklist Starred ReviewMars (Anybody Any Minute) taps a potent fantasy and writes prose that captures moments observed in closeup; she turns a smile into a reverie and then a kind of celebration. This makes her writing very poetic... Mars makes insightful observations on the nature of friendship and intimacy. - Publishers WeeklyMars focuses on the new start: a woman's rediscovery of herself after she moves, rather impulsively, to a new place. Along the way the author writes of the dusty landscape as well as the almost-barren emotional landscape of her two main characters. At times the tone is stilted, almost formal, but the overall effect is incantatory, transforming the hard-luck story of two ordinary people into something magical. An inspiring, offbeat story of an artist who trusts her instincts and finds herself regaining her life. --KirkusIt isn't very often that I m moved to tears at the end of a book, but this one definitely did it for me. Ms. Mars has crafted a fine and satisfying conclusion actually I wish it had a little more, but understand its construction and intent, and accept it. Well, accept is far too passive a term for my feeling about this book and its conclusion. It s a compulsive page-turner with sympathetic characters and tense, carefully-balanced plot; I embrace it and the plainspoken truths about how rust accumulates on its characters hearts and emotions. A superior piece of storytelling, this novel will pull you along with its tone, its perfect pace, and its emotional truth. As satisfying as its payoff is, you will assuredly enjoy the journey just as much. --Basso ProfundoIt isn t very often that I m moved to tears at the end of a book, but this one definitely did it for me. Ms. Mars has crafted a fine and satisfying conclusion actually I wish it had a little more, but understand its construction and intent, and accept it. Well, accept is far too passive a term for my feeling about this book and its conclusion. It s a compulsive page-turner with sympathetic characters and tense, carefully-balanced plot; I embrace it and the plainspoken truths about how rust accumulates on its characters hearts and emotions. A superior piece of storytelling, this novel will pull you along with its tone, its perfect pace, and its emotional truth. As satisfying as its payoff is, you will assuredly enjoy the journey just as much. --Basso ProfundoMars (Anybody Any Minute) taps a potent fantasy and writes prose that captures moments observed in closeup; she turns a smile into a reverie and then a kind of celebration. This makes her writing very poetic... Mars makes insightful observations on the nature of friendship and intimacy. Publishers WeeklyMars focuses on the new start: a woman's rediscovery of herself after she moves, rather impulsively, to a new place. Along the way the author writes of the dusty landscape as well as the almost-barren emotional landscape of her two main characters. At times the tone is stilted, almost formal, but the overall effect is incantatory, transforming the hard-luck story of two ordinary people into something magical. An inspiring, offbeat story of an artist who trusts her instincts and finds herself regaining her life. --Kirkus