Sally's review

[close]

blog this review

Copy/paste the text below into your blog. <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24731.The_Tortilla_Curtain?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Tortilla Curtain" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1167543444m/24731.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/24731.The_Tortilla_Curtain?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Tortilla Curtain</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/1064072.T_C_Boyle">T.C. Boyle</a><br/><br/> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/20566282?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a> rating: 5 of 5 stars<br/>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 intersect when Delaney accidentally runs into Candido, and they continue to bump against each other as their stories are related in alternating chapters. While Delaney understands the isolationist risks inherent in his community's decision to build a wall around its gated suburb, he comes up against typical concerns for security, property values, and an element of bigotry. Candido and America's aspirations suffer through his own stupidity and pride, despite his hard work, as well as through the hands of others. Another theme I identified strongly with was that of colonisation - the white Americans are fighting a coyote taking their pets, it is trying to keep its own niche in ever-expanding suburbia, and the Mexicans keep on coming. I thought a satire was a very good way to handle these very pertinent issues. I hadn't realised until looking at reviews that the story and Boyle had received quite a number of adverse reactions, especially as I thought he tried hard not to glorify one group over another. Perhaps the reviews show how close to home Boyle came with his story. <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/627245?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>