Reviews

• This book reminded me of Steinbeck's 'The Grapes of Wrath' with its harrowing accounts of what if feels like to be down on your luck and destitute. The story is set in California, amid the racial prejudice held against the influx of Mexican illegal immigrants flooding into the area looking for work. The story centres around Delaney, who has a traffic accident and Candido, who is the Mexican he hits at the start of the story. The dual perspective swings back and forth between their opposing worlds - Delaney's world of plenty and Candido' destitute life where he lives on his wits to try to provide for his young wife and keep them from starvation. A roller coaster chain of events lead these two characters to cross paths, changing their destinies forever. A compelling read!

• I have become addicted to TC Boyle books lately- in particular his "historical" and present day books about the Mexican American experience. This one takes place in the present, and captures in exquisite/excruciating detail the social/racist "war" that is taking place in America between the upper middle conservative classes and the Mexican immigrants or "illegals" as they are know, who come across the border and try to make a living in the most impossible of circumstances. Such a timely topic what with all the world's desperados fleeing horrible situations in order to have a grab at a better life, against a background of those who have plenty and spend lots of money and effort guarding that bounty. All wrapped up in racist rhetoric and attitudes which are really a veneer for the fear of possibly losing that bounty. The story takes place in a about to be "gated" community in the Los Angeles canyons. I grew up in one of those canyons, so I know the neighbours and their look on life well. Against the "trendy" lifestyles backdrop, we see a Mexican couple who are "camping" in the canyon, out of deperation and lack of opportunity. Boyle describes the rich Americanos with his tongue firmly planted in his teeth, and the "illegals" with pathos and tragedy. It all starts with the illegal protagonist being hit by the car of our Gringo protagonist. The development of each takes many twists and turns, and some of them are not that swell. A most satisfying read, and eye opener to the "problem" of migration in the USA.

• Tortilla Curtain has the archetypal power of a Greek tragedy as it tracks the live of Delaney Mossbacker, a man trying to be good and true to nature and his liberal values while living in a subdivision perched on the dry, unpredictable hills around Los Angeles where no houses should probably be. His wife Kyra, a realtor dreams of living in mansions. Delaney is a stay-at-home dad, a naturalist who writes a nature column in the local paper, and drives and Acura. It is the best of all possible worlds until one day Delaney hits Candido with that Acura. Candido, a struggling Mexican immigrant coming home from a failed attempt to find work at the parking lot where local contractors seek laborers, it battered by the collision, but living, and being afraid and illegal, can only accept Delaney's offer of a 20 dollar bill for his suffering and injuries. Luck does not run either man's way. Delaney's pedigreed dogs, are snatched in separate incidents by coyotes scaling increasingly more solid (and higher) walls, his replacement Acura is stolen while he is on a nature walk. Another Mexican menaces his wife...little by little Delaney becomes more angry, blameful and reactionary. He joins conservative neighbor in their association to build higher wall, chase the immigrants way, and yes, owning a pistol. Increasing in Delaney's mind, "Mexicans" become the cause of all Delaney's problem. Candido's luck on the other hand is Jobean in nature. He is stove up for weeks after the accident unable to work. When he can again go for work his newly pregnant wife is raped by two other immigrants as she returns to their hovel in a canyon nearby Delaney's subdivision, they make some money and go into the city where Candido is tricked, beaten, and robbed of their savings, they return to their shack in the canyon, Candido has luck and begins to save enough money that they might be able to share an apartment to lives and start a real life, but then trying to cook a frozen turkey that he was given during a period of the Santa Ana winds, he inadvertently starts a forest fire which destroys, their camp and all their savings while the fire threatens Delaney's estate. The two men's fates are separate, yet fatefully intertwined until the novel's end. Both men want to do well, want to succeed, and want no trouble from anyone but their hopes are perpetually thwarted. Both men are "trying to make a good life for themselves and their families" but just when things seem to be looking up, fate intervenes. One (initially at least) sympathizes with Delaney and can empathize with he participation in increasing efforts to wall his life off from the rest of the world. One understand (if one is honest with oneself) how the impact of uncontrolled immigration can frustrates those who are established. But when Delaney's frustrations are matched against Candido's, our sympathies for Delaney lessen. Candido and America have nothing, again and again they have to return to the canyon floor to leave in a lean-to and drink creek water. Again and a again their limited belongings are reduced even more. Each time they begin to have a little luck and save a little money, fate intervenes to snatch it away--there life is a life with no recourse and no support. We see the lives of enconomic immigrants in new ways. Boyle's decision to see the pressures of illegal immigration in ecological terms (two groups contesting the same ecological niche) along with the echoes of Candide's exploration of this, "the best of all possible world make this a book well worth reading and discussing with others.

• Il s'agit d'un drame que vivent des immigrés, en l'occurrence aux États-Unis. Le livre a été écrit il y a presque 30 ans et n'a - hélas - rien perdu de son actualité, partout dans le monde.

• If you don't want to read a depressing book skip this, there seems to be no hope for any of the protagonists. The current stand on immigration is so awful that you cannot help but feel depressed when you read the story of these poor Mexicans.

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