The Tortilla Curtain (Wheeler Large Print Book Series (Cloth))

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: 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.

Rating:
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.