The empanada brotherhood

the long version

"It's Greenwich Village in the 1960s, where expatriates, artists, and colorful bums meet to exchange ideas and have a good time in New York." "A tiny stand selling empanadas near the corner of Bleecker and MacDougal Streets is the center of the world for the shy narrator, an aspiring writer who has just graduated from college. At the stand he falls ill with a crowd of kooky outcasts from Argentina who introduce him to their tragedies, friendships, melodramatic dreams - and women, particularly a young flamenco dancer from Buenos Aires. Charming, insightful, and rewarding, this deceptively simple novel is a tale told by a master. It is a wise coming-of-age story, full of joy and touched by heartbreak, that captures a special time and place with extraordinary empathy and humor."--Jacket.