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THE BOY WITHOUT A FLAG: TALES OF THE SOUTH BRONX by Abraham Rodriguez, Jr. Minneapolis: Milkweed Editions, 1992. 115 pages. $11 paper.
Abraham Rodriguez, Jr.'s first collection of stories aspires to fulfill high ambitions. In the back-cover blurb, Rodriguez describes his work as an attempt to portray "the rancid underbelly of the American Dream," and the seven stories in this collection all labor to achieve this goal. From the volume's title story about a young honors student who asserts his Puerto Rican heritage by refusing to salute the United States flag to "Elba," the story of a teenage mother who leaves her crying baby unattended so she can go out to a nightclub, Rodriguez demonstrates an unwavering dedication to his subject matter....