The Tortilla Curtain
by T. Coraghessan Boyle
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Book Reviews of The Tortilla Curtain
Book Review: When the Curtain Falls
Summary: 4 Stars
This book is amazingly full of suspense. Nearly everything that could go wrong, seems to go wrong. It provides an excellent look at two different worlds. The book compares the life of an illegal Mexican immigrant family to that of an upper class white environmental activist family. The book calls to attention that theories and ideas people have often times impact other people in ways they'd never dreamed of. While many argue that illegal immigration is becomming a serious problem and devise ways to stop this problem, this book points out that we are messing with, and ruining the lives of real and individual people. The book proposes a problem. To what extent are we willing to sacrifice and ruin human life to protect our environment, family, and laborers? Certainly all of these things are serious issues, as the book points out, but are they worth the damage they cause to individuals? Unfortunately, the book leaves this question, this problem unanswered. In fact, it leaves everything unanswered. There is no resolution, nothing solid. I'm not saying that the book needs to come to a nice and pretty ending, not at all. However, it is discouraging that an author would spend so much time preparing us to deal with a problem. Allowing us to get to know people, in real life situations, the author suddenly leaves the book without an ending. The disaster at the end is the same as every other disaster in the book, it never resolves itself. The reader is not left feeling motivated, or encouraged. The book has no effect on the reader but to discourage them. This discouragment will not change the world, or even make a difference. If the author had concluded the book, even tragically the audience would have felt some motivation, or at least some answers to the tough questions brought out in this book.Book Review: Book with a good promise but flat ending...
Summary: 1 Stars
I had to read this book for school and I thought it was going to be a book promoting immigration. I live in So Cal right now and the problem is outrageous.
As I read through the book I had to chuckle at the "liberals" acting all conservative in wanting their privacy yet at the same time they didn't want to give up on the notion that everyone is equal.
As time drowned on I wondered why America didn't just walk up to immigration and turn herself in. She could have gotten a free bus ride to the border. And haven't they heard of free clinics or hospitals that are FORCED to treat illegals and therefore cost the taxpayers TONS of money each year?
I didn't have much empathy for Candido or America but I was interested in seeing America from their point of view but they seemed reluctant to actually sieze an opportunity. They wanted to be Mexican in America and that is what bothers me so much.
Kyra seemed to be a typical working mother right now and as a college student who wants to have a job where I can actually raise my children, that offends me.
Her husband, Delanay, while allowing his wife to be the breadwinner, seems to have become a weak man. There is nothing wrong with the father raising the children, as long as someone raises them, but does he have to lose his manlieness too? He seems to cater to Kyra's bitchy ways.
And finally the ending? What was it? Ok so did Candido help Delaney? Did the baby just drown? What about Kyra and the house? Jack Jr? The Mexican with the baseball hat? The neighbors? It just ended like he forgot to put the last chapter in.
So the book that started off with potential, whether I agreed with the characters or not, fell flat at the end when the book just stopped.
Book Review: Well Written And Very Impressionable
Summary: 5 Stars
"It was a Sunday in the middle of August, seven in the evening, and the sun fixed in the sky like a Japanese lantern. There was music playing somewhere, a slow moody piano piece, moving from one lingering faintly heard note, to the next, and when Delaney looked up, turning the kebabs, he watched a California Gnatcatcher"
This is the first for me, reading a book by T. Coraghessan Boyle, and I was very impressed by his work.
This book is set in Los Angeles and focuses strongly on two couples from totally different social and economical backgrounds. Kyra and Delaney Mossbacher are the upper class Americans; while Candido and America Rincon are illegal immigrants from South of the border.....Mexico.
The Tortilla Curtain is the border between Mexico and Los Angeles which the immigrants cross illegally to find work as labourers and a better way of life in that state.
The Mexicans endure severe hardships for little money as they enter this country of the 'well to do'. Meanwhile the 'upper crust' are flourishing for all to see, their main problem being to keep the immigrants out. As much as they are rich and better off one begins to feel that the immigrant Mexican has a more contented heart. They seem fulfilled at times with a deep satisfaction, passion and feeling that the 'upper crust' are unable to project. They are poor.....but their spirits are strong and hard to break.
See what life becomes for these two couples from opposite sides of the track....and you will find these characters living in your memories for a long time. This is the type of book that one hates to finish. Get it for Christmas....I got mine. Well written and highly recommended!!
Reviewed by Heather Marshall Negahdar (SUGAR-CANE 03/12/01)
Book Review: REACHING FOR YOUR DREAMS
Summary: 4 Stars
THE TORTILLA CURTAIN BY CORAGHESSAN BOYLE IS A BOOK ABOUT A MEXICAN COUPLE; CANDIDO AND AMERICA. THEY TRY TO HAVE A BETTER FUTURE AND IN O RDER TO REACH THAT GOAL, THEY BELIEVE GOING TO THE UNITED STATES IS THE BEST DECISION. BEING IN AMERICA, THE COUPLE HAVE SOME DIFFICULTIES GETTING A GOOD LIFE. THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT FAMILIES. ONE BEING AMERICAN AND THE OTHER ONE BEING MEXICAN.
THIS BOOK HAS MUCH RACISM IN IT. IT HAS MANY CONTROVERSIAL ISSUES DEALING WITH THE DIFFERENCE OF THEIR RACE. THROUGHOUT THE BOOK, YOU CAN SEE THAT THERE IS STEREOTYPING WITH THE MEXICANS AND THE AMERICANS. WHEN DELANEY RUNS OVER CANDIDO HE GIVES HIM $20 DOLLARS. THIS SHOWS RACISM BECAUSE HE IS PRACTICALLY SAYING THAT MEXIVANS ARE TOO POOR THAT HE THINKS JUST HAVING THAT AMOUNT OF MONEY EXCITES THEM. DELANEY SAID THAT HE GAVE CANDIDO THAT AMOUNT JUST BECAUSE HE WAS MEXICAN.
THE STEREOTYPING THAT IS MADE THROUGHOUT THE BOOK IS THAT BOYLE PUTS AMERICAN PEOPLE AS RICH. CNADIDO AND AMERICA AS POOR, THEY LIVE BY A TRASH CAN. AS PEOPLE CAN SEE, NOT ALL THE MEXICANS ARE POOR. SOME ARE WILLING TO DO REALLY GOOD WITH THEIR CARREER AND GET ENOUGH MONEY TO RAISE A BIG OR SMALL FAMILY. AS YOU CAN SEE, ON TV THE COMMERCIALS, MOST OF THE TIME, PUT A MEXICAN LAYING DOWN WATCHING TV AND EATING, AND AN AMERICAN AS HARD WORKING. THAT IS NOT HOW MOST ARE. IN THIS BOOK, CNADIDO AND AMERICA ARE STRONG AND EVENTHOUGH THEY GO THROUGH DIFFICULT TIMES, THEY DON'T GIVE UP. NO MATTER HOW MANY PEOPLE DESCRIMINATE THEM, OR ARE RACIST THEY STILL GO OUT AND TRY HARD TO GET A JOB. CANDIDO AND AMERICA ARE A GOOD EXAMPLE OF HARD WORKING PEOPLE AND ABLE TO MOVE ON. NEVER GIVE UP ON WHAT YOUR DREAMS ARE. THIS BOOK IS A GOOD ONE IF YOU ARE INTEREST IN LEARNING ABOUT RACISM, STEREOTYPE, AND NOT GIVING UP.
Book Review: Exaggerated but true
Summary: 5 Stars
Boyle's The Tortillia Curtain differs from other books of his that I have read in that it tackles a serious set of social issues head on. Among the other reviews posted here for this book I see that some have claimed that the book is 'unrealistic' and makes use of every stereotype imaginable. Well, while one wouldn't want to pretend that all Southern Californians of means are shallow conspicuous consumers, nothing in the portrait Boyle creates here rings untrue. There must be thousands of people who fit this image. That being the case, it is important to make the point that he doesn't present either the Yuppie Californian family or the Mexican immagrant family as a symbol. They are real people. They don't stand for anything else. And while the extreme dichotomy posed between the wealth and well being of the one and the poverty and marginal health of the other do serve the purpose of highlighting the issue of the extreme inequities in the distribution of goods and services in this country, Boyle does not suggest a solution. Rather, he is interested in showing us what happens when these extremes come into contact in unexpected circumstances. What he has given us is a story of people in different circumstances responding as they likely would - as their training and experience have prepared them to. If we want to make an allegory of it, I don't think that is what he intended. I think that all he is saying is that extremes of expectation, in conflict, will generate extremes of behavior.I enjoyed the book very much. Apart from Boyle's considerable skill with words, his characters were vivid and the plot - though heavy on coincidence (hey, it worked for Dickens) - is interesting and keeps the reader focused till the end.