Love in L.A. By Dagoberto Gilb

About the Author Dagoberto Gilb Dagoberto Gilb was born in the city of Los Angeles. His mother a Mexican who crossed the border illegally, and his father a Spanish-speaking Anglo raised in East Los Angeles.  They divorced before he began kindergarten, and Gilb was raised primarily by his mother. He attended several junior colleges until he transferred to the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he studied philosophy and religion and graduated with both bachelor's and master's degrees. Since then ,Gilb has spent years between California and Texas, developing a reputation as one of the leading voices from the American Southwest. Gilb's first publication was a small press chapbook out of El Paso, Winners on the Pass Line (1985), which came after he won his first literary prize, the James D. Phelan Award from the San Francisco Foundation. Gilb went on to earn more recognition, including a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship and the Texas Institute of Letters' Dobie Paisano Fellowship. He currently resides in Texas, and has been a visiting writer at the University of Texas in Austin.

Literary Terms Point of view - a way the events of a story are conveyed to the reader, it is the “vantage point” from which the narrative is passed from author to the reader. Character - a person who is responsible for the thoughts and actions within a story, poem, or other literature. Theme –the central idea or meaning of a story; provides a unifying point around the plot, characters, point of view, symbols, and other elements of a story Setting - the physical and social context in which the action of a story occurs; include the background, atmosphere or environment in which characters live and move Dialogue - conversation between characters in a drama or narrative

Notable Quotes “Jake could imagine lots of possibilities when he let himself, but none that ended up with him pressed onto a stalled freeway” (256) “What if we don’t report it to the insurance companies? I’ll just fix it for you” (257) “Mariana, you are beautiful” (257) “So maybe we should go out to breakfast somewhere and talk it over” (257) “… though he couldn’t stop the thought about that FM stereo radio and crushed velvet interior and the new car smell that would even make it better” (258)

Please answer three of the five questions  1. Does the setting of L.A affect the story in any way? If so, how? 2. In your opinion, does Gilb write a love story? Explain. 3. What is/are the major themes in this story? 4. Describe the main character, Jake. How old do you think he is? Please use supporting evidence to back your responses. 5. Do you think the author made Mariana the shy and naïve character she is for a reason? Could her subtle personality contrast with Jake’s personality, or the bustling city of LA surrounding them?

What’s your fantasy? DETAIL IS KEY “ He needed an FM radio in something better than is 58’ Buick he drove. It would have crushed velvet interior with electric controls for the LA summer, a nice warm heater and defroster for the winter drives at the beach, a cruise control for those long trips, mellow speakers front and rear of course, windows that hum closed, snuffing out that nasty exterior noise of freeways.”