Fifteen Candles: 15 Tales of Taffeta, Hairspray, Drunk Uncles, and Other Quinceanera Stories

by Leila Cobo-Hanlon, Michael Jaime Becerra, Fabiola Santiago, et al.

For the uninitiated, the quincea era celebrates the passage of a fifteen-year-old girl into adulthood: It's a bit bat mitzvah with a dash of debutante ball, and loaded with the same potential for hilarity and adolescent angst. In this original anthology, fifteen of the brightest and funniest Latino writers, men and women alike, share their own memories of these moving and often absurd extravaganzas--tales of that unique form of familial humiliation...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 006124192X
• ISBN13: 9780061241925
• Release Date: June 2007
• Publisher: William Morrow & Company
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.6" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

An Interesting Collection of Memoir

I never thought that I was a fan of short story collections, but I have become a great fan of memoir. I really loved this collection of fifteen different coming of age stories featuring the quinceanera. The length of each story was perfect to read in one sitting, and the fact that they were tied together by the common theme of the quinceanera still made it read like a single work. If you were a teen in the 80's like I was, you will especially appreciate many of the stories which reference this time period. Anyone who has a teen (or remembers his or her own teen years) will appreciate this stumble down the memory lane of crushes, the quest for popularity and acceptance, feeling too fat or ugly or awkward, rebelling against your parents but craving the stability of tradition.