{"product_id":"the-life-assignment-ricardo-alberto-maldonado-9781945588549","title":"The Life Assignment","description":"The speaker of the poems in \u003ci\u003eThe Life Assignment \u003c\/i\u003eis reviewing his history. As if sorting through a box of photographs, the speaker sorts through relationships, trying to discern what was healthy from what was exploitative. Concepts of love are turned over and over in these poems: romantic love, love of family, love of country, self-love (or lack thereof). Often the speaker finds that what at first appeared to be caring, was insincere all along. When tenderness is in short supply, how can one protect himself? How can one find home? In his debut collection, Ricardo Alberto Maldonado bends poems through bilingual lyrics that present spartan observation as evidence for its exacting verdict: \"We never leave when life is elsewhere. The clemency of men disappears \/ as does the light, tarring the roofs.\" An electric debut collection.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Ricardo Alberto Maldonado\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1945588543\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781945588549\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Four Way Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/08\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 80\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.35lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 5.80w x 0.40d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/20\/2020 pg. 157","brand":"Ricardo Alberto Maldonado","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44043183063295,"sku":"9781945588549","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_58e6a300-1f9b-46a9-b725-fa6e2c259086.jpg?v=1684965708","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-life-assignment-ricardo-alberto-maldonado-9781945588549","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}