T. C. Boyle

When Delaney Mossbacher knocks down a Mexican pedestrian, he neither reports the accident nor takes his victim to hospital. Instead the man accepts $20 and limps back to poverty and his pregnant 17-year-old wife, leaving Delaney to return to his privileged life in California. But these two men are fated against each other, as Delaney attempts to clear the land of the illegal immigrants who he thinks are turning his state park into a ghetto, and a boiling pot of racism and prejudice threatens to spill over.

The Tortilla Curtain

T. Coraghessan Boyle

Tortilla Curtain

Laura Mauler

This book was a lot more rape-y than I expected. Not sure exactly how much rape I had expected, but the amount in the book was definitely more.

Also, I didn't like the character Candido at all. At first he had my sympathies, and we were building a relationship with that, but then he turned out to be a huge asshole. The terrible way he treats his wife, his bullshit machismo at the cost of not only his own health but that of his wife and unborn baby, his complete stupidity when dealing with other people (Mexican and American) - all of this destroyed the sympathetic relationship I had with the character. I just ended up hating him.

We listened to this book on the drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles and back, and it did pass the time. However, I will not be listening to the final hours of this book now that we are done with driving. I don't especially like the characters and I don't especially care what happens to them.

The lives of two different couples--wealthy Los Angeles liberals Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher, and Candido and America Rincon, a pair of Mexican illegals--suddenly collide, in a story that unfolds from the shifting viewpoints of the various characters

heleen de boever

Janet Doré

At the least, everyone living in a border state should read this book, although I think every American should read it. It is a realistic story that introduces the reader to the various types of illegal aliens...good and bad. Although I still feel that immigrants should follow the legal path into this country, I now know that this is an idealistic opinion. I know that if I had been unlucky enough to been born into Mexico, I would do anything it takes to give my children a better life.

The Tortilla Curtain

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