The Tortilla Curtain

Rating:
Summary: The Tortilla Curtain - Superficial Or Differentiated?
Review: The Tortilla Curtain tells the story about the life of two little families in southern California. One family, Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher and their son Jordan live in welthy conditions. Having a job as a real estate trader Kyra is the boss of the family, the unsuccesful author Delaney is the houseman in their home in a private community near L.A.. Candidò and his unoficial and pregnant wife Amèrica are illegal immigrants from Mexico, struggling for a good life in the USA. Everytime the ways of that characters cross, they cause conflicts consiting of fear, hate, prejudice and aggression.
Here I want to judge how T.C.Boyle makes it to write an entertaining novel about that complex topic of immigration.
In my opinion he does it well.
Allways trying to consider the conflict between the Mossbachers and the couple of illegal immigrants from as much perspectives as possible, the book consists of stories about the Mexicans and the Americans told from the limited third-person point of view. Also the lots of flashbacks of nearly every main character make the reader understand the behaviour of them, even when the Mossbachers always make the impression of being narrow-mindet and a little bit ridiculous, for example their sexuall life, witch is just used as a therapy, or the Delaney's irrelevant magazine -articles about his hikings. The characters are credible.
Another point is, that Boyle doesn't serve clichès of heartless Americans and likable Mexicans. For every nationality there is at least one positive and one negative example. Though Candidò and Amèrica have to suffer under the daily unfairness of the Americans, in one flahback it becomes clear that an American farmer saved Candido's life once. Also there are some Mexicans who you can't feel any sympathy for. Hosè Navidad and his nameless friend rape Amèrica and threaten Kyra. Working with so many different characters ensures not prejudging a nation for whole.
And telling so much different stories cares for a very important argument for that book. The tension.
Though there are some boring passages included in the novel, like the descriptions of Kyra's working days, it owns a recognizable plot. The car accident, the fire in the canyon or the robbery of Candido give the story interesting twists. You want to know the end, wich is also surprising.
So I come to the conclusion, that the book is worth it's price. Buy it, borrow it, or whatever,
you will not be disappointed.

Johannes Hub


Rating:
Summary: my opinion
Review: this book is about the real world and about the reall troubles that citizens and non citizens go through. finding work and a place to live, and being able to keep that job and home. the four main characters are in thier own way about the same all trying to find their place in the world of skeptics. candido trying to provide for his family and take care of his pregnant wife after they crossed the border illegally. Delany meets rather runs over candido and just blows him off gives him some money and worries more about his car then the guy that he just ran over. I would have just payed more attention to the person on the ground in front of my car rathere than the car, one thing I didn't like about the book other than the book itself. I have to say that it if well writen but not a book for people that can't handle racial comments. steriotypes on two races mexicans and white americans. Just an overall hard book to deal with, I couldn't read and deal with all the comment about both races since I am both. so if you can't handle racial comments I wouldn't read the book. If you want to get a better look at what other races go through then I say jump in to this book and have a reading fest.

Rating:
Summary: monica 's review of tortilla curtain
Review: the book tortilla curtain by t. c. boyle. is an exageration of two cultures, Mexicans and Americans. Candido and his wife america are portrayed as two stupid, poor, dirty, savage-like, and ignorant mexicans. While, Delaney and his wife Kyra are portrayed as selfish, stuck up, and self centered. Everything was taken to the extreme. this book lacked a lot of real life point of view. Also a lot of racism that doesn't exsist as much now in real life. my parents are immigrants, and they came searching for the american dream as well, however their experiance was nothing like Candido's and America's. im not saying that every immigrant's life is like my parents, but it is certenly not the way that it was described in the book. if you want to read a joke, read this book.




Rating:
Summary: The Good the Bad and theUgly
Review: "Not knowing what to expect, shocking"
This book is dealing with alot of controversial issues, such as race issues and the way people are towards eachother. It goese into the lives of two opposite families and it gives a perspective of what they think of eachother. The incidents such as a car accident when an American ran into pedestrian over and didn't even bother to call the police. In return he gave the president twenty dollars. The American had a life of luxury and a privuiledged lide in California. The character Cantido lives and adores his seventeen-year-old wife, America. Tortilla Curtain shows how some people are just privileged with some things such as a house and a loving family. For example, the American family lives in a gated community with not really knowing what happened on the outside, while Cantido struggles to pick up the scattered pieces of his life. As these two familes cross they [...] heads and make some prejudice comments. This happenes more than people actually think. All people struggle but some more than others.

This book seems to open the minds of many objectives that we deal with everyday. It doesn't matter what race you are. Anyone can relate to this book some how. This book is definitely a must read. It takesyou to a place in someone else outlook at things.