Though filled with eclectic characters of women and men as well as
being written by a man, this great book still couldn’t keep us from
sharing it on LLVL.
I was immediately entrapped by the stories.
The
author paints lustrous illustrations of the gritty L.A. scene
completely overflowing by the earnest characters that leap off the
pages. Smart and poetic—Skyhorse clearly exudes the soul of an artist
with words that radiate with desolate beauty.
What
I particularly liked was how the author did not “sugar-code” things. He
gives us accurate accounts of what it’s like in the barrios with
immigration, gang wars, racial hate, domestic abuse, infidelity, and
family affairs.
This
book is classified as having one story (and it is,) however, it is told
by the various views of each character’s perspective, allowing the
reader to learn what each desires from the American life while seeing
their reality as it really was.
Hector
is a hard-working man scrounging for every cent he can find by hanging
out with fellow Mexicans to find work. In his view, we get to learn
exactly what goes on in the head of a man.
Felicia
has never been able to get over Hector’s betrayal, but still she keeps
on going—going back to the rich homes to clean them. She could never
fathom why people would pay so much for so little—something I’ve never
been able to understand myself. That’s why she gets furious when her
daughter starts acting like a rich, white kid when she was neither.
The most inspirational quote would have to be: “God is the fear that motivates you to protect yourself.” (pg. 57)
But
the FUNNIEST tale would have to be “Rules of the Road,” a story about a
bus driver constantly transporting a mixture of people of all ages and
color from one bad part of town to another. I must say that I absolutely
agreed with him when he said, “[Women] made their choices, and there is
no reason to feel sympathy for someone who wants nothing out of her
life and gets what she aims for.” (pg. 75) From then on, our bus drives
continues to rag on how he hates it when Mexicans get offended when you
don’t answer them in Spanish or how welfare broads are sucking money
from his pockets everyday.
I absolutely loved how the lives of these characters intertwined together—very crafty!
An enjoyable read that many of us can relate to in some way.
My rating: 5 stars
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