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Summary: my MOM recommended this book!
Review: Yes, my mother recommended this book.......and it was great. It was the perfect mix of suspense and social commentary. I'm not one to indulge in social commentary, but this well written story gives us something to think about, to talk about. These are real people, just like the people we call our friends and the figures who pass by on the sidewalk in front of us everyday on the way to the market or video store. Substance. It's good.
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Summary: attractive characters
Review: The book is very interesting because the four main character, Candido, America, Delaney, and Kyra, have very strong personality. Each character is described to readers very clearly. And also, there are several representative themes. Through the coyote and wall, readers can see a significant theme of this book, gImmigration.h Through the life of Candido and Americafs, readers can feel the struggle and gap between the ideal of the life in the US and the reality of that. That reminds readers of gAmerican Dreams.h When people read this book, there are so many kinds of feelings appeared, because what readers feel can be different which means what readers feel depends on what kind of background they have. For instance, some people who have come to the US as immigrants have sympathy for the struggle of Candido and Americafs. From my point of view, this book is surprising. I have had no idea that such a reality exists. Most of my life in Japan and the reality like that in this book have never cross, but while I am reading this book, there is a pain existed. I was amazed that there is a full of reality as if I was there, as if I was the fifth main character. I would like to give applause for the full of reality and very attractive characters.
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Summary: My words
Review: I really did think this book should of been better. I really didn't get into it at all. My opinion does matter. Boring is the only word I can come up with.
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Summary: Powerful Issues Addressed Realisitically
Review: This novel was very interesting because of the political and social issues it addresses. For example the issue of illegal immagrants and societal or class status. I was amazed at the way Boyle was able to get inside the mind of the characters and relate their feelings through the book. He provided each character with a realistic background, so he was able to show their thought processes and therefore the reason they act and react as they do. That made it easier for me to relate to the characters and what they were going through. For example, when Candido was unable to work and America had to get a job, I understood where he was coming from.. Being a man in idealogical, schovanistic world we live in, I was raised on the same ideal Candido held. That ideal is part of the basis of the "american dream," which is a major theme throughout the book. "A house, a yard, maybe a TV and a car too-nothing fancy, no palaces like the gringos built- just four walls and a roof." (pg.29) This is a theme that all Americans can relate to because its a search that most everyone must go through, the search for the American dream (although I admit its different for everyone). I like the way Boyle opened up my eyes to immmigrancy by giving me a glimpse of what an immigrant may go through (or at least his idea of what an immigrant may go through). I have sympathy for immigrants because many of them are searching for the same things I am, but this novel brings up the question, what happens when immigrants begin to infringe on my life, my goals and my opportunity? The second point that grabbed my interest (drawing me deeper into the book) is Boyles stand on class status. Seeing (or reading) the way Delaney and his neighbors lived, contrasted to the way Candido lived was in my opinion pure entertainment (you know, as well as good structured insight in the way people live as a direct result of their environment). The imagery of Dominick Flood's party shows the way Delaney's neighbors live and so in part shows why they feel and act the way they do about people who are not in the same social class as them (Mexican, immigrants, "the gangbangers" alike). "A string quartet was stationed under an awning that shaded the den..a table laden with enough food for siw Thanksgiving feasts, including a whole suckiling pig with a mango in its mouth and fresh-steamed lobsters surrounded by muliticolored platters of sashami and sushi." This book was very powerful in the statements it makes and also very enjoyable.
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Summary: Tortilla Curtain Provides Book Groups Much to Discuss
Review: Tortilla Curtain read like a book from my 1960's Contemporary Fiction class...yet none of the reviews have mentioned this author's writing style. I was compelled to slow down and savor the effort put forth by this writer to use as many writing conventions as he did. The book is filled with subtle and not so subtle contrasts and comparisons. Not only was there a fast unfolding plot to follow, but the author's use of vocabulary, metaphors, similes, symbols, and forecasting made every page an adventure in reading. Initially, I felt that the author was working too hard to make his point However, I realized that he was intentionally working the reader by utilizing rich writing techniques. By the time I reached the last several chapters I was reading out loud to anyone who would listen, challenging them to note the contrasts, the forecasting, and his subtle social commentary. I will reread Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath for comparison... I look forward to our Book Group discussion of this book, I expect it to be a rousing discussion. I will definitely read more by this author.
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Summary: Powerful Issues Addressed Realisitically
Review: This novel was very interesing because of the political and social issues it addresses. For example the issue of immigration, racism and class or societal status. I was amazed at the way Boyle was able to get inside the mind of the characters and what they were going through. I liked the way Boyle opened up my eyes to immagration by giving me a glimpse of what an immagrant may go through (or at least his idea of what an immmigrant may go through). The book shows that many immigrants are in search of the same things we all are, "The American Dream" if you will. This American ideal is a major theme running throughout the book. Its that idea of having a house, two cars and dog, being successful (granted it is different for everyone). The question this novel poses is what happens when immigrants begin to infringe on ones life, one goals and ones opportunity? Vivid description and realistic dialogue gives good structured insight on the way people live as a direct result of their environment. The reader is shown through the characters, the way we react and interact individually and as a people when a situation is presented. This book was very powerful in the statements it makes and also very enjoyable.
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Summary: An ironic twist to racism and stereotypes
Review: The Tortilla Curtain was a shocking and ironic book told from different and realistic perspectives. I felt this book was a good representation of the stereotypes of illegal Mexican immigrants and the hope for freedom. The great lengths the immigrants go through to make it in "the land of oppurtunity" was an eye opener. I think everyone who lives in southwest America, and anywhere should read this compelling novel.
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Summary: When the Curtain Falls
Review: 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.
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Summary: The Shallowness of the American Dream
Review: It is rare, these days, to come across a rational discourse on the perils of the modern American white male. Most books on the subject tend to travel along the lines of 'reclaiming your identity', or 'actualization'. This leads to the unhappy result: The Promise Keepers movement (shudder). This sort of discourse overlooks the fairly obvious; life ain't what it used to be. The world as it now exists is complex, demanding, and illogical. The American male is often left bewildered and impotent by the lack of power he posesses. This can result in scapegoating, racism, and any other number of social ills that the mind is capable of. T. Coraghessen Boyle's wonderful novel THE TORTILLA CURTAIN captures this helplessness perfectly. Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher are liberal humanists living an idyllic life in Los Angeles. Kyra sells homes, while Delaney authors a column for an enviromental magazine. (Incidentally, Delaney's column is a brilliant conceit: A well-fed and pampered white male rhapsodizes about 'sleeping under the stars'. Its mix of down-home homilies and ridiculous views of nature echoes the terrific but sometimes preachy nature of THE UTNE READER, an alternative viewpoints magazine. It's a great magazine, but its articles have a tendency to lean towards the dangerously nostalgic.) Everything seems perfect, until Delaney runs over an illegal Mexican immigrant named Candido. This proves to be a defining moment in both of their lives, and Boyle does a terrific job at intertwining their resulting stories; Delaney finds himself increasingly unable to exist within his world, while Candido struggles to provide himself and his young wife with the life that is promised under the heading, 'The American Dream'. Boyle captures perfectly the inane lifestyle that most white Americans desperately crave; a life with all the trimmings, seemingly simple and in tune with nature, yet completely at the mercy of nature's forces. Boyle leads Delaney and Kyra down this path with a slow, steady hand, as they find their supposedly heart-felt liberalism whittled away by petty annoyances, leading to a startling burst of racism towards illegal immigrants, the all-purpose scapegoats. Boyle's point is well-taken. The veneer of civility people purport to live under is thin indeed. His contrast of this world with the stark desperation that Candido lives with every day is brilliant. It may be an oft-used theory that those with everything are never satisfied, but Boyle manages to makes it fresh. As Delaney steadily falls apart, and Candido glimpses hope time and time again, Boyle unearths the true face of America: A greedy, self-absprbed child who wants everything, and becomes violent when someone else wants the same things. The insulated nature of the American culture has always been an easy target, for good reason. But Boyle refuses to make his novel an exercise in parody. Boyle sympathizes, but refuses to compromise. THE TORTILLA CURTAIN is that rarest of novels: an important novel. It should be required reading.
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Summary: A little one-sided, this book takes aim at liberal yuppies
Review: A story about two L.A. "liberal-humanist idealists" living in Topanga Canyon on the outskirts in a tract-home subdivision, and two Mexican immigrants who have come to LA to make a new home. This book was a little bit too preachy - I agree with another review posted below that the yuppie wife, Kyra, is a one-dimensional character. The right wing neighbor also wasn't fully developed, but seems to be almost a crutch to lean on for the sake of the plot. I read this through in a night, it definitely keeps the reader hooked. An interesting side note is the contrasts the author makes between the Mexican immigrants and the coyotes of the LA canyons.
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