Caramelo

While not really Tex-Mex, Sandra Cisneros who is Mexican-American and now lives in San Antonio (after having grown up between Mexico City and Chicago, seemed to fit my stint in Austin quite well. I hadn't read any chicano literature before and was curious to see how I would be able to relate to it. I needn't have worried. Cisneros' Caramelo seems to some extent mirror her life's writing, she tells of growing up neither Mexican, nor American, as the only girl in a family of seven kids, not to forget living in near-poverty. Her book is more than a coming-of-age story though, it mixes the life stories of not just her young protagonist, but also her father, (especially) her grandmother, her grandfather and (limitedly) other members of her family. Throw in some tidbits of Mexican and US border history that I was little aware of and you have a fascinating tale spun by an interesting writer immersing her English with Spanish words and sentences.

The Power and the Glory

An old friend of mine had told me that I should read Graham Greene at some point. We are not in contact anymore, nor friends, but I did finally get around to read one of Greene's books. The Power and the Glory tells the story of a priest on the run in a Mexican province after a socialist uprising has razed all the churches and killed or corrupted all priests. The last remaining 'whiskey priest' devoid of any adherence to Catholic decorum and dependent on brandy constantly keeps on the move trying to avoid a ruthless, if morally sound, Lieutnant trying to serve his people by killing the religion still living within their midst.

Greene portrays this particular Mexican province as a desperate and desolate place and he does a great job describing a variety of stock characters most of whom are not deeply explored even while Greene offers a powerful portrait of them. The pious mother trying to instill religion into their children, her critical son, the poor and hypocritical Judas, the alcoholic Brit trying to leave, the atheist German happy on his farm. I cannot say that the story enthralled me per se, but I did eat up the people populating it. Maybe this was due to the philosophical or political questions touched upon in the book, religion and the state and the people, simply not being of any significant interest to me. I'll read another of his book and I can recommend him, but reading the book with the high expectations I had, I couldn't help but being slightly disappointed.