Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely FABULOUS!!
Review: If possible I would give this book a 10+ rating. This book makes me very proud to be a Mexican-American. Sr. Villasenor writes with so much passion that I often felt that I was in the story myself. It may be hard for some to believe that this is a work of non-fiction. I recommend this book to everyone. I hope it helps ALL people to understand the love our ancestors must have felt and sacrifices they made to give future generations a "better life". Victor Villasenor describes each member of his family with such detail that you can actually picture in your mind what each one looks like. I will continue to read "Rain of Gold" and pass in on to each child in my family.
Rating:
Summary: The Best I've Read!
Review: Rain of Gold is a book written by Victor Villaseñor an author of Mexican Heritage. Villaseñor wrote this book when he felt the urge to pas down to his children the history behind their name. Villaseñor traveled to Mexico and after years of hard work and several conflicts he published "Rain of Gold", the biography of his family. In "Rain of Gold" Villaseñor describes with full detail the lives of his ancestors in Mexico and later in the United States. More than just a story, Villaseñor gives a vivid image of life during the Mexican Revolution {the times of Pancho Villa}. He explains how his family was forced as well as other families to abandon their beloved country because of the violence and danger the Mexican Revolution brought to its citizens. Villaseñor also explains the hardships his family had to got through to adapt and survive prejudice, hunger and unfair work in the states. Not only does Villaseñor capture the struggles of his family but also the exciting and glorious moments his ancestors lived. This book has a vivid message to everybody of Mexican background. Especially to teenagers who usually don't get the chance to be taught their history with out somebody making fun or putting down their culture. This is the first book that I have truly related to, because of my Mexican background and hardships I've faced in this country. This is a book you just can't stop reading because you get so close to the characters. By the end of the book I assure you that not only will you know all of the people in the book but you will also respect and consider them part of your family! More importantly, I recommend this book to everybody who has parents or somebody who has immigrated to this country in search of opportunities and better life.
Rating: 
Summary: Not so good.
Review: I read Macho and thought it was an accurate, honest book. It was very good. I enjoyed it. Someone recommended Rain of Gold, so I started it. It starts out interesting and enjoyable and then goes sour. Senior Villasenor weaves a tale I just don't believe. It gradually turns into a 'blame it all on the Anglo and Bad Mexicans' story. He can't find anything good or even understanding about these 2 peoples. Apparently he does this in an attempt to excuse some of his relatives who were involved in organized crime ( naturally because of the Terrible Gringos and the Worthless Mexicans ).
I finished over half of the book, which was difficult. I suspect that the rewiews for this book are invalid (author, family write-ins).
It's your typical 'blame it all on the Anglo' (and in this case 'Bad Mexicans' who are any Mexican-Americans Senior Villasenor doesn't like. This is a pity because Macho was an very good book. Hopefully the author will resolve some of his issues.
Barry Coe.
Rating:
Summary: The Best I've Read!
Review: Rain of Gold is a book written by Victor Villaseñor an author of Mexican Heritage. Villaseñor wrote this book when he felt the urge to pas down to his children the history behind their name. Villaseñor traveled to Mexico and after years of hard work and several conflicts he published "Rain of Gold", the biography of his family. In "Rain of Gold" Villaseñor describes with full detail the lives of his ancestors in Mexico and later in the United States. More than just a story, Villaseñor gives a vivid image of life during the Mexican Revolution {the times of Pancho Villa}. He explains how his family was forced as well as other families to abandon their beloved country because of the violence and danger the Mexican Revolution brought to its citizens. Villaseñor also explains the hardships his family had to got through to adapt and survive prejudice, hunger and unfair work in the states. Not only does Villaseñor capture the struggles of his family but also the exciting and glorious moments his ancestors lived. This book has a vivid message to everybody of Mexican background. Especially to teenagers who usually don't get the chance to be taught their history with out somebody making fun or putting down their culture. This is the first book that I have truly related to, because of my Mexican background and hardships I've faced in this country. This is a book you just can't stop reading because you get so close to the characters. By the end of the book I assure you that not only will you know all of the people in the book but you will also respect and consider them part of your family! More importantly, I recommend this book to everybody who has parents or somebody who has immigrated to this country in search of opportunities and better life.
Rating: 
Summary: This book needs an editor
Review: This book deserves 1 star, not the 5-star rating it receives on Amazon. I can open up to any place in this 562-page novel that is 500 pages too long and find a poorly crafted paragraph. Jeez -- ever hear of an editor? The writing is so bad at times it's unintentionally funny ("Love was in the air, choking the atmosphere" -- "Their home was leaping in flames"). This is NOT a great book. It's not even a good book. It's an OK book, an historical account of one man's family history. The characters are colorful but not especially deep. The book jumps back and forth from believable family saga to trite Mexican soap opera stocked with cliched characters. Men are weak but lovable, women stoic and boundlessly loving, and gringos are all greedy, untrustworthy SOBs. The narrative has big wide seams that disrupt the flow. The author has an annoying way of jumping between past and present without any skill. If Villasenor was trying to evoke the magical realism of Garcia Marquez' 100 Years of Solitude when he wrote this, he failed miserably. There's no magical realism here, just absurd realism. Anyone who gives this book five stars needs to read more.
Rating:
Summary: Sadly, this book is required reading in some high schools
Review: Political correctness has actually fooled people into thinking that this work is on par with Dickens. This book is great literature like the participants in the Special Olympics are great athletes.
Rating:
Summary: A Fun Thrilling Novel
Review: Rain of Gold by Victor Villasenor is an excellent novel. Being an eleventh grader, I found this novel to be quite different from what I had expected. My first thought was that it would be boring because of course all non-fiction books are boring. It turned out to be fast paced with dramatic situations of starvation and the battle for life. Rain of Gold is truly an inspirational story and is worth the time to read. Looking at the novel itself is intimidating- the width is at least four inches long- but Villasenor has created an exciting historical vision, forcing audiences to be glued to the pages, desperately yearning for his words. At first the novel may push away some readers for the first chapteris focused on the provety of a little girl(Lupe) and boy(Juan/Salvador), but as they grow older danger seems to lurk in EVERY corner while death and rape stare down at them.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book!!!
Review: This book is one of the best books I've ever read! Victor Villaseñor made me feel as if I was in his book and I just couldn't put it down. The details, the way he expressed the emotional feelings, I've never been so inspired! Both his grandmothers were powerful, strong, women that made it through life with the miricle of God. I learned so much from this book, I learned how powerful God is, how everyday is a miricle, and how I have no problems in this world compared the struggles our people went through during the time of the Revolution. Not even in school do you hear this side of the story. This book is Magical!!!
Rating:
Summary: Great BOOK!!!!!
Review: "A writer of Mexican-American heritage tells the engrossing story of his family's immigration to, and subsequent life in, California in the wake of the Mexican revolution, From beginning to end, the chronicle is filled with one remarkable story after another. All have the simple warmhearted quality of family tales told around the kitchen table, told in 3 parts, yet all are eminently believable. an inspiring, fast-paced tale with a simple, fable-like quality that's often surprisingly moving."
Rating:
Summary: Rain of Gold
Review: I can't even describe in words what this book made me feel. Definitely in my top five!
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