Review for Rancho Weirdo by Laura Chester

Rancho Weirdo is a compilation of short stories about Hispanic people, and Hispanic culture. In one story, a man and his friend who live near the Mexican border open their home to illegal aliens traveling through the hills and get more than they expected. In another story a woman struggles with her gender identity, finding peace only in her later years of life. A story titled Breaking it all Down is about a woman who is having a conversation with her ex-husbands fiancé. There are 17 stories in the book, and each story is accompanied by full-color illustrations by Haeri Yoo.




I enjoyed most of the stories in Rancho Weirdo very much. My favorite was probably The Spoon, a story about a man who spends a couple days at a strange Bed and Breakfast. The narrative voice was light and refreshing, but changed slightly for every story. You could tell they were written by the same author, yet they were unique. As much as I enjoyed the stories though, I really loved the illustrations. Some were simple sketches done in black ink, while others were done with a combination of crayon, colored pencil and marker. The drawings are in full color, which is good, because you wouldn’t be able to appreciate them as much if they were in black and white. I also liked that the book is printed on high-quality gloss paper, which makes the “book” smell that I love stronger. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves short stories and illustrations.