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3.4 AVERAGE
3.4 AVERAGE
Southern California setting for illegal immigrant story juxtapositioned against white flight to fire prone canyons around Los Angeles. Timely book for today even though written in 1995
This was an interesting read, but I don't feel like the book got the ending it deserved. The story doesn't feel complete.
An interesting story about the clash between Mexican immigrants, mostly illegal, and USA people, poverty, racism and so on. I found the book to be a little over-planned, or "civilized" (if I understand Michael's Curtis's little notes...)
This book has probably been on my bookshelf longer than any other in my possession, but I’m glad I waited to read it. I don’t think 20-something me would have really understood it. I gave this one a full five stars, not necessarily because I *loved* it (it actually had me stressed out from the very beginning), but because it has me constantly evaluating society throughout. I like a book that has me invested in the characters and storyline from start to finish, and I especially like a book that doesn’t end well on purpose. It’s depressing as hell, but not overly heavy.
What a poignant read, this might have been written in 1995 but this book addresses issues that are still at the forefront of our society today. This really does highlight the horrific reality of "the have and have nots" in LA and what is now currently a political nightmare known as "Trump and his Mexican Wall". Very few books make me go "WOW" at the end, and this did. Thanks to my friend Kirsty for gifting this to me as it was never before on my reading radar. I'll remember this read for a while!
Just before picking up this book from my shelf I read some of the reviews. It seems people either like or hate this book and this was enough for me to read it and see for myself.
First of all, I've never been to US, so I really wouldn't know how the issue of illegal immigration looks in reality. That doesn't mean I haven't seen poverty or poor and desperate people. And often they look just like Candido - old shoes or sandals, faded shirts, lucky ones have old, dirty jackets. Women carrying hungry babies and wondering how are they going to provide for them. Very old people digging through trash for plastic bottles and hoping to get enough of those to buy a meal. People in front of me in the supermarket who buy cheapest brands of anything and look ashamed when they deny pack of bubble gums or chocolate bar to their children. Beggars dressed in rags and shame who never fail to thank each person for a coin in their plastic cup and never forget to ask god to watch over you and give you good health.
Chains of events cause initially liberal Delaney and optimistic Candido to become enemies and the exact opposites of characters who began the story. Delaney turns into type of person he used to despise - someone who wants an illegal Mexican immigrant out of his country and blames one illegal immigrant for all his troubles described in 360 pages. Candido thinks Delaney is crazy and wants him dead, although Delaney has nothing to do with all the problems he is facing in America and he becomes more and more pessimistic as the story progresses. The biggest irony are two criminals who are really guilty of several crimes and the last thing reader finds out about them is that they've been released from the police custody. Jack Jr also never faces consequences for any of his actions.
I feel some parts of the story were rushed and the final part was way over the top. So that's 2 stars down. Other than that, it was an interesting read and I am well aware that it's only a work of fiction, so I expect some aspects of the story not to reflect the reality, but serve to drive the plot or describe characters' motivation.
First of all, I've never been to US, so I really wouldn't know how the issue of illegal immigration looks in reality. That doesn't mean I haven't seen poverty or poor and desperate people. And often they look just like Candido - old shoes or sandals, faded shirts, lucky ones have old, dirty jackets. Women carrying hungry babies and wondering how are they going to provide for them. Very old people digging through trash for plastic bottles and hoping to get enough of those to buy a meal. People in front of me in the supermarket who buy cheapest brands of anything and look ashamed when they deny pack of bubble gums or chocolate bar to their children. Beggars dressed in rags and shame who never fail to thank each person for a coin in their plastic cup and never forget to ask god to watch over you and give you good health.
Chains of events cause initially liberal Delaney and optimistic Candido to become enemies and the exact opposites of characters who began the story. Delaney turns into type of person he used to despise - someone who wants an illegal Mexican immigrant out of his country and blames one illegal immigrant for all his troubles described in 360 pages. Candido thinks Delaney is crazy and wants him dead, although Delaney has nothing to do with all the problems he is facing in America and he becomes more and more pessimistic as the story progresses. The biggest irony are two criminals who are really guilty of several crimes and the last thing reader finds out about them is that they've been released from the police custody. Jack Jr also never faces consequences for any of his actions.
I feel some parts of the story were rushed and the final part was way over the top. So that's 2 stars down. Other than that, it was an interesting read and I am well aware that it's only a work of fiction, so I expect some aspects of the story not to reflect the reality, but serve to drive the plot or describe characters' motivation.
I consider T.C. Boyle a strange writer in one book he'll talk about a guy trying to trace his family roots, the next will be a campus novel. The Tortilla Curtain focuses on immigration.
There are two plots. One concerns a yuppie couple and the other is about a Mexican couple trying to emigrate illegally into California. The yuppie couple's car hits one of the Mexican and both parties experience each other's culture intimately.
Yes. It is similar to Bonfire of the Vanities but Boyle raises the questions of culture clash and immigration. It's clever and highly readable. I think that Boyle has written better books (World's End) but Tortilla Curtain is an excellent introduction to this idiosyncratic author.
The Tortilla Curtain was an eye-opening novel. Boyle does an amazing job creating protagonists on opposing sides of the conflict. He tells Delaney and Candido's stories in a way that makes the reader sympathize with them, no matter what side of the conflict they are on. However, Boyle also describes other characters, antagonists, who he illustrates are similar to Delaney and Candido in their situation, but have taken up detestable means of solving or attempting to solve their problems. In all, Boyle does an excellent job in creating well-rounded and complex characters to illustrate the immigration controversy prevalent in the U.S. today. I found myself frequently moving back and forth between sides, and in the end, I had no idea how I felt on the subject because I sympathized with both sides so strongly.
I live near where this story is set and find the subject both timely and interesting. Published in 1995, the book must have been prescient for its time. Wish I read it back then because tonally, it's very on the nose and has all the subtlety of a Trump rally. As is, the story drowns in its rhetoric.
