Aracelis Gonzalez Asendorf’s Dressing the Saints (Black Lawrence Press 2024) is a collection of nine short stories that vividly explores the lives of Cuban Americans. The book, which won the Gold Medal for Fiction at the 2025 Florida Book Awards, brings to life the close-knit immigrant communities of South Florida and the rich cultural heritage they carry with them.
Vivid Sense of Place
Asendorf’s writing engages all the senses. Readers can almost smell the sofrito and harina simmering in the kitchen, feel the deep bonds among those who share the sorrow of leaving Cuba, and understand the challenges of adapting to a new country where the language and customs are unfamiliar. The South Florida setting is so vividly rendered that it feels like a character in its own right.
Relationships Under Strain
In “The Lost Ones,” we follow Efrain’s perspective as he navigates a four-decade marriage. Their shared culture and separate work lives have sustained their relationship—until a fall that injures Efrain forces the couple into prolonged proximity. Small irritations, such as Efrain’s frustration with his wife Emelina’s smoking, highlight the underlying tensions. In a memorable moment, Emelina blows smoke rings at him in a hostile manner, yet her genuine concern is unmistakable when he is late. A subsequent story, “Emelina,” deepens our understanding by showing how her life and sense of autonomy shatter after Efrain’s accident. This intimate portrayal of marital strain resonates with the common challenges many couples face when routines are disrupted by life changes like retirement or children leaving home.
Portraits of Aging and Memory
Many stories in the collection focus on older immigrants. Asendorf handles themes like aging, memory, and loss with nuance and authenticity. In “For If the Flies,” we see Tia Teresa grappling with the persistent pain of losing her only son, while her husband faces the heart-wrenching decision of how to care for her as her memory falters. A family member’s attempt to soften the impact of grief—balancing cheerfulness with sadness—is depicted with rich detail, such as the traditional Cuban fishing method used on a family outing. These details underscore the enduring influence of Cuba in their lives and highlight the generational effort to preserve cultural memory.
Rich, Lively Dialogue and Surprising Twists
The dialogue throughout the collection is sharp and authentic. One delightful scene captures old guys joshing each other on a fishing trip:
“That Nilda, she gets better with age.”
“It’s the great sex that keeps her mother young,” Papi teases.
“Si?” Tio Domingo laughs. “Who’s she sleeping with?”
“Hey, I have my little blue pill.”
“Coño, chico,” Samito grins. “I get those so regularly I asked my tax guy if I could claim my pharmacist as a dependent.”
In addition to exploring personal relationships, the collection contains unexpected surprises: a husband who cross-dresses, the dynamics within an upscale retirement community, and a betrayal related to an escape from Castro’s regime that resurfaces years later. The title story, featuring a thirty-four-year-old single woman pressured by her family to marry, reveals hidden truths about love and life during intimate moments with her aunt.
Universal Themes
While Dressing the Saints is firmly anchored in the specifics of Cuban culture and South Florida life, its themes—loneliness, the struggle to adapt, the passage of time, and the resilience of human relationships—are universal. By focusing on an older generation often overlooked in fiction, Asendorf invites readers to appreciate the full depth and complexity of her characters.
In short, Dressing the Saints is a richly detailed, emotionally resonant collection that fully deserves the accolades it has received.
Aracelis Gonzalez Asendorf
Aracelis González Asendorf was born in Cuba. Her work has appeared in TriQuarterly, Brevity Magazine, Kweli Journal, Aster(ix) Journal, The Adirondack Review, Puerto del Sol, The Acentos Review, Litro, The South Atlantic Review, Saw Palm, Black Fox Literary Magazine, The Hong Kong Review, The Santa Fe Literary Review and elsewhere. Her stories have been anthologized in All About Skin: Short Fiction by Women of Color, 100% Pure Florida Fiction, and Home in Florida: Latinx Writers and the Literature of Uprootedness. She is the recipient of the 2016 South Atlantic Modern Language Association Graduate Creative Writing Award for Prose, a 2019 Sterling Watson fellow, and 2019 C. Michael Curtis Short Story Book Prize finalist.
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