A whirlwind of surprising similes and inventive turns of phrase colorfully frame this grim, ultimately tender story, subtitled ``Mi Vida,'' about a young Chicano getting his priorities straight. It's a tough year for the Hernandez family: Manny's father is jailed after threatening his mother with a rifle, his older sister, Magda, is seeing someone on the sly, and his brother, Nardo, has taken to coming home drunk. Manny accidentally shoots at his little sister while fooling around with his father's gun and later watches as Magda miscarries on the bathroom floor. Still, he regards his family with affection and relates the disasters, along with other incidents away from home—not so much to deliver indictments as to open a window on the values, dreams, and tribulations that shape his life. Martinez's language is so lively it sometimes barrels beyond his control, calling attention to itself with a steady barrage of extravagant images (``blocks of fat sagged on her hips like a belt of thick Bibles'') and challenging metaphors (``Mom's shrieks chased away the panicked air; Dad's voice was coarse paper shredding to pieces''). There are also occasional (deliberate?) misuses, as when Nardo makes ``hairline escapes.'' The picture Manny paints of his world is not a pretty one, but it is unusually vibrant. (Fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: Oct. 30, 1996
ISBN: 0-06-026704-6
Page Count: 216
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1996
Gabriel McCloud, an alcoholic from a family of losers, is dead at 18, an ``inevitable'' end met when he slammed his truck into a tree. Coming in after this grisly moment, readers share other characters' reactions to Gabe's death—and learn why the violent end of a troublemaking McCloud was not so expected after all. Girlfriend Jennie literally goes to the edge of a cliff, where she awaits the tide to sweep away her pain and the baby within her. Teacher Carolyn Sanders mourns the loss of a bright student done in by an abusive background. Gabe's father, remorseful for mistakes of his own that led his son to self- destruct, teeters on the edge of losing his two-year, self- enforced sobriety. Through such perspectives, a complex portrait emerges: a young man with potential who could have conquered his past with the one break no one gave him. The events unfold in orderly fashion, each chapter featuring the distinctive first- person reflections of one of many characters, transporting readers into the heart of this multifaceted tragedy. Provocative suspense of a different color—not whodunit, or why, or how, but what now? (Fiction. 12-14)
Pub Date: Oct. 30, 1992
ISBN: 0-689-31772-7
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Atheneum
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1992
A compelling account of the voting-rights struggles of the African-Americans of Mississippi, presenting comprehensive information (including ``Freedom Summer'') and ending somewhat abruptly in the mid-60's. Unlike most histories of civil-rights movements, this clearly brings forth the importance of African- Americans in leadership roles: resisting slavery, holding political office during Reconstruction, leading civil-rights projects of the 60's. Emphasizing the economic side of oppression, Walter carefully characterizes the state as ``not a monolith...gentleness and violence stand side by side.'' She effectively portrays the electric atmosphere as young people were galvanized to stand up against centuries of social pressure to demand their rights. Unfortunately (like the movement?), the story peters out after the Freedom Democratic Party's stand at the 1964 Democratic Convention and the subsequent challenge to a white congressman; Walter says their victory consisted of proving the power of protest based on morals. A sobering message about the real cost of democracy. Source notes; bibliography; index not seen. (Nonfiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: Oct. 30, 1992
ISBN: 0-02-792301-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1992
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