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Fiction. Winner of the 2006 AWP Award for the Novel. Nicholas Delbanco, Judge. In his debut novel, THE TRUTH, Geoff Rips creates a moral universe in a series of tales narrated by the palsied hunchback Chuy Pingarron who spends his days on the front porch of a San Antonio whorehouse and is proud to be dubbed "the standard of perversion" by those whose stories he tells. Through his twisted perspective we meet the Midwife who is also the house's madam, the philosopher Don Apolo who lives in an iron lung, and Angelita, famous for her hands. Chuy relates the sad story of the impenetrable Soledad, deemed by her mother to be a saint; of la Ramona, whose one eye looks into your soul while the other looks away; and of the enigmatic la Verdad, whose customers seek her out to learn their fortunes. At turns comic and tragic, Chuy's story meditates on the most ancient questions: how do you live a life and what does it mean?
About the author
GEOFF RIPS was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He is a former editor of the Texas Observer and has been a Soros Open Society Institute Fellow. He has worked as the Freedom-to-Write Committee coordinator for PEN American Center and was principal author of its report, UnAmerican Activities (City Lights Books, 1981). Rips has worked with community organizations along the Texas/Mexico border to bring water and wastewater services to border colonias. He has published poetry, fiction and journalism in various places over the years. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Nancy Maniscalco, and two daughters, Gabriela and Sascha.
Summary
In his debut novel, The Truth, Geoff Rips creates a moral universe in a series of tales narrated by the palsied hunchback Chuy Pingarron who spends his days on the front porch of a San Antonio whorehouse and is proud to dubbed "the standard of perversion" by those whose stories he tells.
