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shirleytupperfreeman's review
At first I wasn't sure I would like this intellectual memoir of growing up poor and brown in 1950s and 1960s America but I did like it. Richard Rodriguez is the son of Mexican immigrants. He began his formal education as a 'scholarship boy' at a Catholic school in Sacramento and ended with a PhD in English literature many years later. His analysis of the costs of assimilation into a new class and culture is based on deep experience. In spite of those costs, he feels strongly that affirmative action programs which try to ameliorate those costs do more harm than good. It's a lovely book describing an often lonely life.
mujerdee's review
3.0
I want to like RR do much more than I do. I feel what he is saying-keenly-as a chicana. But I’ve run my interpretation of my “minority student” experience through a different lens maybe a difference in our generation? Dunno. I wish my Dad were still around to discuss this with.
drbarton's review
3.0
The book is about the struggles of an ELL student in the educational system. While Rodriguez is strong in his view, he often contradicts his stances leaving the reader unsure of just what are his reasons for the vision of education in which he possesses.
entmoot11's review
3.0
Autobiography is probably the touchiest genre of book a writer can attempt to write in. This is most likely due to the fact that most of us are self-conscious enough to already be defensive when we start reading such a book. For some reason probably no better than the inflation of our own egos, we always go in with a latent sense of competition; usually along the lines of whether or not the author "truly deserves" to write about him- or herself, while we humble readers are here living a "real" life of interest without a single word being spoken in its celebration. In other words, judgement comes with the territory, and thus should be accounted for by the author.
Richard Rodriguez, I find, after reading his autobiography Hunger of Memory, has trouble accounting for this selfishness in his readers. His book, which is subtitled "The Education of Richard Rodriguez", basically consists of his musings on race, education, and the various permutations of those two in different contexts. To put it simply, I think Rodriguez's book is a great work in and of itself, but is extremely prone to pretty disastrous misunderstanding on the reader's part.
It presents the reader with truly fascinating insights and ideas, told by the thinker in the context of his life and how he came to realize those ideas. In that respect, it represents, perhaps, a pure example of autobiography, written by a man for the sake of expressing his own thoughts and emotions on his own life. And in that end, it is really done quite beautifully. Rodriguez's prose is very unique: very succinct and almost clipped in its syntax at points, but also very complex. He says a lot in not a lot of words, and what those words say is very abstract - very thought provoking, especially considering that most of his readers will not have experienced anything like what he describes.
And that's where Rodriguez begins to run into trouble. Like I said, this book is very much a story of a man's life, written by himself, and never meant to apply to any other person's life. I don't think Rodriguez intends for anyone to consider his story an allegory or representative for any larger group which he may represent; but, alas, that is pretty much unavoidable with the nature of his story being what it is. He writes his story from the perspective of what he is: a Mexican man, born in America to immigrant parents, who overcame certain obstacles in order to become successful. A premise like that, or one along those lines, has been used before for autobiographies and memoirs; and in almost every instance, the purpose of the writer has been to use his or her story as a representative for those like them, those who may be faced with the same obstacles. Basically, they are usually meant to raise awareness to a perspective not usually seen.
So when Mr. Rodriguez begins his book by describing his early childhood and education, and the struggle with integrating a new language into his life, this old formula immediately applies itself in the head of the reader. And this proves rather destructive, mostly because of one simple fact: his story does not fit the formula. In fact, as the reader goes along, the contradictions (which are, of course, only contradictions when viewed within the parameters of the first-person-socially-disadvantaged-inspirational-memoir lexicon) begin to pile up. And that eats on the mind of the reader; because, as we've established, we all go into autobiographies, looking for validation of the autobiographee's worthiness. Or, more often than not, flaws by which we can claim his invalidity.
Rodriguez's are simple to point out. First of all, he makes it clear that he was not raised in a particularly socially disadvantaged situation: indeed, throughout, he repeatedly remarks that his education and instructors were all extremely beneficial, and all wanted him to succeed. For most reader's, this is not filling the bill for necessary hardship; especially in a book where the subject is primarily education seen through the eyes of a Mexican-American. And then there's the fact that his main revolving argument is that minorities need to stop being singled out as minorities- a righteous minority memoirist? That just doesn't add up! And there are many other little things that honestly (and I hate to admit this) make us less sympathetic with him and his struggles. They just aren't awful enough for us.
But in this fact, we see the brilliance of what Rodriguez is doing. His very point, is that education- no, every aspect of society, should not be viewed as something to be altered or customized according to race or ethnicity. The fact that a boy may not have white skin, and may not speak English fluently, does not mean that his problems should be pointed out incessantly, until they are blown far out of proportion and appear ten times larger than they are. His problems are unique to him, and maybe even to his culture; but that does not mean the problems of others are any less profound, they are just different. And as far as recognizing these problems goes, he argues that singling out the racially-specific issues is as much of the problem, as ignoring them is.
So when we claim that he is not angry enough, or even better, not angry in the "right way", we are disrespecting his intelligence, and his desire to portray a story of struggle that is not self-righteous or self-pitying in nature, but is in essence a fact and a personal experience, that may or may not apply to anyone in particular. His book is called Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, not Hunger for Justice: The Socially Oppressed Education of Ricardo Rodriguez. He wishes to inform us and share with us the strong emotions and experiences which formed him, alone. And show how those experiences shaped his view on the world and modern education, both in the social and academic sense.
Now there are other things which make this book good or bad. Personally, while I find his prose interesting, I also find it extremely repetetive, and at times, tedious. He also strikes me as fairly pedantic (an effect of years surrounded by a culture of "higher education", my guess); and at times, melodramatic. He severely overuses the word "ghetto", which always makes a person sound kind of ridiculous, and even more so with him, seeing as he went to a Catholic school run by nuns (which he, unfailingly, describes at one point as the "ghetto" Catholic school). And frankly, sometimes his narratives are just not as interesting as they could be. But readablility besides, I would encourage people to read this book, if only to be exposed to a truly fascinating take on the interaction between our modern education system in this country, and its students of the non-white "minority". And the greatest advice I can give towards enjoying it, would be to simply not expect the standard formula. I guess, just keep an open mind.
Richard Rodriguez, I find, after reading his autobiography Hunger of Memory, has trouble accounting for this selfishness in his readers. His book, which is subtitled "The Education of Richard Rodriguez", basically consists of his musings on race, education, and the various permutations of those two in different contexts. To put it simply, I think Rodriguez's book is a great work in and of itself, but is extremely prone to pretty disastrous misunderstanding on the reader's part.
It presents the reader with truly fascinating insights and ideas, told by the thinker in the context of his life and how he came to realize those ideas. In that respect, it represents, perhaps, a pure example of autobiography, written by a man for the sake of expressing his own thoughts and emotions on his own life. And in that end, it is really done quite beautifully. Rodriguez's prose is very unique: very succinct and almost clipped in its syntax at points, but also very complex. He says a lot in not a lot of words, and what those words say is very abstract - very thought provoking, especially considering that most of his readers will not have experienced anything like what he describes.
And that's where Rodriguez begins to run into trouble. Like I said, this book is very much a story of a man's life, written by himself, and never meant to apply to any other person's life. I don't think Rodriguez intends for anyone to consider his story an allegory or representative for any larger group which he may represent; but, alas, that is pretty much unavoidable with the nature of his story being what it is. He writes his story from the perspective of what he is: a Mexican man, born in America to immigrant parents, who overcame certain obstacles in order to become successful. A premise like that, or one along those lines, has been used before for autobiographies and memoirs; and in almost every instance, the purpose of the writer has been to use his or her story as a representative for those like them, those who may be faced with the same obstacles. Basically, they are usually meant to raise awareness to a perspective not usually seen.
So when Mr. Rodriguez begins his book by describing his early childhood and education, and the struggle with integrating a new language into his life, this old formula immediately applies itself in the head of the reader. And this proves rather destructive, mostly because of one simple fact: his story does not fit the formula. In fact, as the reader goes along, the contradictions (which are, of course, only contradictions when viewed within the parameters of the first-person-socially-disadvantaged-inspirational-memoir lexicon) begin to pile up. And that eats on the mind of the reader; because, as we've established, we all go into autobiographies, looking for validation of the autobiographee's worthiness. Or, more often than not, flaws by which we can claim his invalidity.
Rodriguez's are simple to point out. First of all, he makes it clear that he was not raised in a particularly socially disadvantaged situation: indeed, throughout, he repeatedly remarks that his education and instructors were all extremely beneficial, and all wanted him to succeed. For most reader's, this is not filling the bill for necessary hardship; especially in a book where the subject is primarily education seen through the eyes of a Mexican-American. And then there's the fact that his main revolving argument is that minorities need to stop being singled out as minorities- a righteous minority memoirist? That just doesn't add up! And there are many other little things that honestly (and I hate to admit this) make us less sympathetic with him and his struggles. They just aren't awful enough for us.
But in this fact, we see the brilliance of what Rodriguez is doing. His very point, is that education- no, every aspect of society, should not be viewed as something to be altered or customized according to race or ethnicity. The fact that a boy may not have white skin, and may not speak English fluently, does not mean that his problems should be pointed out incessantly, until they are blown far out of proportion and appear ten times larger than they are. His problems are unique to him, and maybe even to his culture; but that does not mean the problems of others are any less profound, they are just different. And as far as recognizing these problems goes, he argues that singling out the racially-specific issues is as much of the problem, as ignoring them is.
So when we claim that he is not angry enough, or even better, not angry in the "right way", we are disrespecting his intelligence, and his desire to portray a story of struggle that is not self-righteous or self-pitying in nature, but is in essence a fact and a personal experience, that may or may not apply to anyone in particular. His book is called Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez, not Hunger for Justice: The Socially Oppressed Education of Ricardo Rodriguez. He wishes to inform us and share with us the strong emotions and experiences which formed him, alone. And show how those experiences shaped his view on the world and modern education, both in the social and academic sense.
Now there are other things which make this book good or bad. Personally, while I find his prose interesting, I also find it extremely repetetive, and at times, tedious. He also strikes me as fairly pedantic (an effect of years surrounded by a culture of "higher education", my guess); and at times, melodramatic. He severely overuses the word "ghetto", which always makes a person sound kind of ridiculous, and even more so with him, seeing as he went to a Catholic school run by nuns (which he, unfailingly, describes at one point as the "ghetto" Catholic school). And frankly, sometimes his narratives are just not as interesting as they could be. But readablility besides, I would encourage people to read this book, if only to be exposed to a truly fascinating take on the interaction between our modern education system in this country, and its students of the non-white "minority". And the greatest advice I can give towards enjoying it, would be to simply not expect the standard formula. I guess, just keep an open mind.
books_and_cha's review
4.0
I picked this book up because I read an excerpt taken from one of its chapters in my writing class. In the excerpt, Rodiguez talked about the price he had to pay to be educated, and I disagreed with him. I was curious as to the reasons behind his opinion, so I looked up the book, and went and checked it out from the library.
I don't usually read non-fiction, but lately I've started getting into it, especially after reading Alice Steinbach's Without Reservations.
I really liked this book, and part of the reason why that happened was because I could relate to the author to an extent - his shame about his parents inability to communicate in proper English was something I felt at some point of my childhood, though I crushed the feeling when it came. More than that, Rodiguez manages to write an intellectual autobiography with emotion.
While I wouldn't call the narrative emotional, it was engaging, and he didn't hold back from divulging his innermost thoughts and leaving them vulnerable in front of the reader. I understood where Rodriguez was coming from.
This book also introduced me to a lot of topics and events I want to follow up on, such as the policy of affirmative action and the Third World Student Movement. In all, I would recommend this book to anyone seeking a different perspective on education and race and anyone who is bilingual in America.
I don't usually read non-fiction, but lately I've started getting into it, especially after reading Alice Steinbach's Without Reservations.
I really liked this book, and part of the reason why that happened was because I could relate to the author to an extent - his shame about his parents inability to communicate in proper English was something I felt at some point of my childhood, though I crushed the feeling when it came. More than that, Rodiguez manages to write an intellectual autobiography with emotion.
While I wouldn't call the narrative emotional, it was engaging, and he didn't hold back from divulging his innermost thoughts and leaving them vulnerable in front of the reader. I understood where Rodriguez was coming from.
This book also introduced me to a lot of topics and events I want to follow up on, such as the policy of affirmative action and the Third World Student Movement. In all, I would recommend this book to anyone seeking a different perspective on education and race and anyone who is bilingual in America.
kerickertful's review against another edition
2.0
This book was pretty infuriating to read. Rodriguez contradicts himself over and over again and many of his statements are very hypocritical. He argues that elementary education needs reform, yet he knows nothing of the public school system in which the majority of minorities go through in this country. In my opinion, he is completely out of touch with the subject matter he discusses and therefore it makes it hard for me to see any merit in his stances.