The Thousands

The Thousands is a neighborhood founded by a group of migrants in an unspecified country during an unspecified time. In the collection's opening story, "The Thousands," residents forge the settlement on a patch of fallow land out of scavenged materials -- sticks, rice sacks, the hoods of old cars -- and must defend it from government forces. By the time we get to "The Bridge," however, The Thousands is a populated and thriving neighborhood -- one, we may presume, potentially in danger of becoming gentrified.

The Capital

The capital city (of the usually unnamed country that is the larger setting of most of the collection's stories) figures prominently in the minds of almost all of Alarcon's characters. It is a bustling port city, with a reputation for political unrest and a high crime rate. It also exists in a kind of binary and occasionally hostile relationship with...