The Tortilla Curtain
by T.C. Boyle
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| Grapes of Wrath Nod? (warning, spoilers) | 2 | 6 | 03/31/2008 12:01PM |
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 2835)
Read in December, 2007
I thought it was chilling the way the author wrote about these "do-gooder" types (the real estate agent and wildlife journalist) and how they are so careful to exercise regularly (swimming, running, hiking, etc), live a healthy lifestyle (there is a line, something like "while not true vegetarians, they watch their intake of animal fats,"), and be "aware" of society's ills (like the way Kyra speaks out against animal abuse, how Delaney speaks out against feeding coy...more
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Read in April, 2007
recommends it for:
People who like a strong narrative on a contemporary subject
"The Tortilla Curtain" by T.C. Boyle is not without its flaws, but even a decade or more after publication, it has only grown in its relevance regarding the deep-seated problems of illegal immigration, particularly the Mexican-southwestern U.S. nexus.
Boyle tells the story of two couples, one rich, white and privileged, the other homeless, Mexican and struggling, and how their lives intersect. Delaney and Kyra live in a polished, gated community north of Los Angeles, where she work...more
Boyle tells the story of two couples, one rich, white and privileged, the other homeless, Mexican and struggling, and how their lives intersect. Delaney and Kyra live in a polished, gated community north of Los Angeles, where she work...more
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Read in February, 2008
I read a couple of other reviews about this book. Some people sound really cranky with the author, Mr. Boyle, or found the book to be very depressing. It has its unhappy moments, sure, but I wouldn't say it was so depressing that I couldn't finish it. Those unhappy with the author seemed to think the book was unrealistic. I'm not sure how realistic his story is, but I thought it was very interesting at least. I would recommend it to anyone who has ever said anything about Mexicans or illegals in...more
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Read in March, 2007
Tortilla Curtain gives a human face to an issue that all too often is cast in its extremes. Talk show hosts rail against 'illegals' taking over our country and our jobs; the other side demonizes the government and equates their handling of Mexicans the way that Hitler handled the Jews. In the end, both sides make us want to plug our ears.
Illegal immigration, what should be done, how we should think about, is far more complex and nuanced than that. So it refreshing to see T.C. Boyle tries to...more
Illegal immigration, what should be done, how we should think about, is far more complex and nuanced than that. So it refreshing to see T.C. Boyle tries to...more
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its really hard to believe that mr. boyle lives anywhere near the US/Mexico border. His portrait of the subject is trite, ham-fisted and overly simplified.
In the world of the tortilla curtain, being a liberal means that you recycle. In the world of the tortilla curtain, being hispanic means you are either unbelievably downtrodden and unlucky or you're carrying a knife and willing to use it.
early in the novel, the protagonist hits a hispanic man with his car. when he goes to see if...more
In the world of the tortilla curtain, being a liberal means that you recycle. In the world of the tortilla curtain, being hispanic means you are either unbelievably downtrodden and unlucky or you're carrying a knife and willing to use it.
early in the novel, the protagonist hits a hispanic man with his car. when he goes to see if...more
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Read in January, 2008
I really wish I had read this with a group - it had so much to discuss. The obvious one is about property and ownership and who decides who gets to live where. The story is centred around two families in California. Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher is one - a wealthy naturalist and a real estate saleslady with a characterless video addict of a son. Candido and America is the other - Mexican illegals living in a canyon, desperate for work and food, and their infant daughter Socorro. Their lives inters...more
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Read in March, 2008
I took this out from the library over a year ago. I lost the book, paid for it, found it again, settled in to read it, but before I could do this Ryan returned it to the library thinking that it was way way overdue. Enough time has elapsed for me to overcome my feeling of foolishness, so I checked it out again. As it turns out, the timing was perfect. In the past week, the political landscape has turned racially quite ugly. And my passage through this book kept perfect time with the dispatches f...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
those who are willing to question their outlook on life & their opinions about other people
Well, even though I am not ignorant about immigration issues, this book made me more aware, and it encouraged me to be thoughtful, so I liked it for that. I liked the writing style and enjoyed most of the story.
I wasn’t wild about some of the events that happened toward the end of the book: I thought they were heavy handed and unnecessary; it was the slice of life events that I found most interesting and I didn’t need any big “blockbuster” events.
Rife with symbolism and commentar...more
I wasn’t wild about some of the events that happened toward the end of the book: I thought they were heavy handed and unnecessary; it was the slice of life events that I found most interesting and I didn’t need any big “blockbuster” events.
Rife with symbolism and commentar...more
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Read in January, 2008
The Tortilla Curtain is the story of two couples -- one is white, relatively weathly, and living in a community outside Los Angeles. The other is Mexican, illegally in the country, and trying to find work as day laborers while living out in the brush. The wealthy community, afraid for their safety, agrees to build a security wall around their homes. And so the arguments about illegal immigration and the need for the United States to protect its borders is played out. Both the white and the Mexic...more
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Read in July, 2005
I believe this book should be required reading for anyone living in Southern California. TC Boyle's strength is that he writes dry material but does so with a fascinating flair of humor. He uses everyday, common language but peppers it with $10 words that'll having you run for the dictionary every 2 minutes if it weren't for the plain context he provides. And he tells average stories with nearly constant fascinating curveballs thrown in. He loves telling parallel stories, trading chapters be...more
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Read in July, 2008
Exploration of the Human Condition
An intelligent friend recommended this thought provoking novel as a must read, and I completely understand why. It's one of the best I've read in a long time. The story is riveting and the characters are very well drawn. The writing is so rich with description and flavor, it stimulates all the senses and reads like a work of art.
The Tortilla Curtain explores the lives of two families, one a middle class white couple living in a gated communi...more
An intelligent friend recommended this thought provoking novel as a must read, and I completely understand why. It's one of the best I've read in a long time. The story is riveting and the characters are very well drawn. The writing is so rich with description and flavor, it stimulates all the senses and reads like a work of art.
The Tortilla Curtain explores the lives of two families, one a middle class white couple living in a gated communi...more
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Didn't get this one. Hell, I don't get much of literature . . . period. It all seems so common place, boring, and uninspired. This one just plods along. I taught this in class, of course. It's well known. Got to teach the stuff that rears its ugly little spines above the others on the shelf, don't we? Anyway, students read it. I read it. Hoooooo, hummmmmmm. I spoke to my wife about the plot and characters (she's Colombian--been here nine years) and she couldn't believe Mexican's would leave thei...more
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Read in January, 1998
This is the book that finally put me off of fiction written for adults. Unless you live under a rock with cotton in your ears and a bag over your head, you know that life sucks and the human experience is filled with misery and despair. When I spend my precious time reading, I want to read something well-written and inspiring, regardless of the content.
For example: You can read something about the holocaust, and come away feeling amazed and grateful that there are some people in the world ca...more
For example: You can read something about the holocaust, and come away feeling amazed and grateful that there are some people in the world ca...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
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Read in October, 2007
recommends it for:
gluttons for punishment
I actually threw this book across the room after I finished it because it made me so upset. Its a tragicomedy with not a lot of comedy about the parallel realities of a man and woman couple from Mexico struggling to survive as illegal immigrants and a man and woman couple who live in an affluent suburb of LA. Their lives are inter-connected and tragic and there's not a lot more to be said. There's not even a little ray of hope or talking about any kind of ways to work together to resist every...more
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I checked this out from the library on a recommendation from Charles, and had to put it down so I could move to Arlington. Now that I'm here, and have a library card, I have to go pick it back up again.
This is brilliant. On the one hand, it holds a mirror up to middle-class liberal America, apologist and "responsible". Boyle forces you to wonder how apologizing for your class and position absolves you of guilt in being part of the bourgeoisie. Does recycling absolve you of the g...more
This is brilliant. On the one hand, it holds a mirror up to middle-class liberal America, apologist and "responsible". Boyle forces you to wonder how apologizing for your class and position absolves you of guilt in being part of the bourgeoisie. Does recycling absolve you of the g...more
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Read in November, 2007
recommends it for:
anyone who doesn't know what to do about illegal immigration (ie: everyone)
This book is an eye-opening (at least to me) look at the illegal immigration problem in the US, specifically focusing on unskilled workers in Southern California. The book can be used as a thought exercise: "Think of how an immigrant here must feel. Ok, now think about how those who employ him must feel. Ok, now think about how he integrates (or not) into the local community. Ok, now think about his family who were left behind." etc.
I wasn't particularly overwhelmed by Boyle's wri...more
I wasn't particularly overwhelmed by Boyle's wri...more
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Read in July, 2008
T.C. Boyle is a wonderful writer! I was completely surprised. He makes the reader so empathetic towards the characters that it is easy to see both sides to the problem of illegal immagration. The author describes a couple who entered the U.S from Mexico illegally and, because they are destitute, are camped in a canyon in a state park. They are trying desparetly to obtain the American dream of a comfortable safe place to live. Then the author juxtaposes the tale of another family who lives up...more
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I was excited to read this book for some reason. I guess because the issue of immigration is a real issue for me. The book tells the story of 2 couples: an affluent,white couple living in an exclusive community in LA, and an illegal Hispanic couple living in the canyon close by. It was hard to read. There are a lot of horrible things that happen. By the middle of the book I just wanted it to be over, but I kept reading. I finished this book sad, grateful, and frustrated. Sad because of the...more
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If you haven't read T.C. Boyle yet, start. Nw. Drop City is phenomenal, but this is a more serious book, a 1991 take on Southern California that rings very true for this era (recession, plummeting real estate costs, a Republican-dominated political scene, etc). Anyway, its about two couples, one rich, white, upper class (he's a nature writer, she's a real estate agent) and a Mexican day laborer. Basically, both of their lives go to shit, they run into each other and essentially cause havoc i...more
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Read in June, 2000
Fairly well-done piece of fiction, familiar in writing-style to Hank & Chloe. Constant intertwining of a Caucasian couple and a Mexican couple, particularly the men. Highlights tensions in California between the whites and the illegal immigrants.
Delaney hits Candido with his car, and so begins their various run-ins, as Delaney figures out his life, transforming from the environmentalist/humanitarian he so wants to think of as himself, to a bigotted, paranoiac man who shows more ...more
Delaney hits Candido with his car, and so begins their various run-ins, as Delaney figures out his life, transforming from the environmentalist/humanitarian he so wants to think of as himself, to a bigotted, paranoiac man who shows more ...more
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