The Other Side: Notes from the New L.A., Mexico City, and Beyond

by Rubén Martínez

Here is a convincing, often exhilarating vision of a new Latino culture that bubbles from San Salvador to L.A. and that embraces cumbia and hip-hop, anarchists and Catholic priests. The Other Side describes a future that--for some of us--has already arrived. Photographs throughout.

Genres: Nonfiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published May 17, 1992

About the author

Rubén Martínez, an Emmy-winning journalist and poet, is the author of Crossing Over, Desert America and The New Americans. He lives in Los Angeles, where he holds the Fletcher Jones Chair in Literature and Writing at Loyola Marymount University.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/rubenm...

Reviews

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Other Side offers a vision of Latino culture from San Salvador to Los Angeles. I found particular parts of the novel enlightening such as the history behind the proliferation of graffiti art in LA. Other topics that book covers are the devastating effects of the 1986 San Salvador earthquake, AIDS crisis, and rocanrol. The content was educational but not very easily consumed and understood. It was a short read and I appreciate Ruben Martinez’s attempts to piece together and explain the mosaic of a shattering society.

[Robert Isenberg · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I signed up for Latin American History, this was the book I most hotly anticipated. Years after I dropped the class (missing out on late, and great, Miguel Jimenez, RIP), I picked up "The Other Side" at a used bookstore. Surprisingly, Ruben Martinez and I have a lot in common: We're both journalists, we are both college-educated young men who have lived in bad parts of town. We were both raised near international borders, and culture -- more than nationality -- means a lot to us. We are also very dissatisfied politically, but we're not the types to go waving signs or passing bills. Instead, we've chosen to write about people who DO do these things; and neither of us is always comfortable with that role.
At the same time, Martinez seems FAR more uncomfortable. He has the voice of an Angry Young Man, combined with the flashy, clipped language of a hipster. His writing can be grating -- the melodramatic language and the brooding remorse feel like efforts to sound older and sadder than he is. This is a book fully entrenched in the 1990's -- not because its subject is irrelevant now (with talk of building walls and guard towers along the Rio Grande, what could be more relevant?). Rather, Martinez complains about a world that we now envy: The Festival of Moments, a diversity carnival held in L.A., now sounds refreshingly open-minded. Martinez writes about his trip to Cuba, back when travelers feared only Treasury fines, not accusations of anti-Americanism. In the age of mass-deportation, Martinez's profiles on bored graffiti artists now seem quaint; the rock guitarists of Mexico were a cool new phenomenon in the early 90's, but now most of America has fairly officially rejected Latin music from its TV and airwaves (and on a weirder note, Mexican musicians seem to face a lot of homicide these days). To hear Martinez critique the state of affairs in "The Other Side" shows not only how little has changed, but how much we've regressed. Among my own relationships, I find that anti-Latino sentiments are stronger than ever; the other side is getting farther away. And with the increasing militarization of borders, I fear that it will no longer be "el otro lado," but "el lado que no exista."

[Meghan Brannon-Reese · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm about halfway through this book. I read it in college, and picked it up again last week. I had Martinez as a professor, so when he writes, I remember things he said in class and it makes me want to write again.

It's an easy bath/bed time book because it's broken up into easily manageable sections.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of journalistic/memoir pieces from the late 1980s and early 1990s that focus on the latino experience in Los Angelas and south of the border (El Salvador, Cuba, Mexico) that describes to an extent a transitional period follwoing the upheaval of 60' and 70s style revolutionary activity, and the challenges latinos, especially poorer, face.

[Erin · Rating 3 out of 5]

The LA history went well with the stories told in Enter Naomi, and he mentions lots of bands that I'm curious to check out. Also, the role of artists had interesting ideas about outsiders, and I wonder what kind of art they are making now, in such a different world...

[Ethan H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything was interesting, but certain parts held my attention more closely than others. A strong journalistic voice and representation of these specific stories are what kept me going. A standout is definitely “Going Up in L.A.”

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Here, we can see glimmers of the brilliant work that is to come (in Crossing Over).

[anno · Rating 3 out of 5]

pretty captivating narrative