Nobodys Son : Notes from an American Life

English

Series: Camino del Sol Ser.

ISBN: 0816522707

EAN: 9780816522705

Category: Biography & Autobiography / Literary/Literary Criticism / American / General/Social Science / Ethnic Studies / Hispanic American Studies/Social Science / Discrimination & Race Relations/Social Science / Customs & Traditions/

Publisher: University of Arizona Press

Release Date: 08/31/2002

Synopsis: Heres a story about a family that comes from Tijuana and settles into the hood, hoping for the American Dream. . . . Im not saying its our story. Im not saying it isnt. It might be yours.How do you tell a story that cannot be told? writes Luis Alberto Urrea in this potent memoir of a childhood divided. Born in Tijuana to a Mexican father and an Anglo mother from Staten Island, Urrea moved to San Diego when he was three. His childhood was a mix of opposites, a clash of cultures and languages. In prose that seethes with energy and crackles with dark humor, Urrea tells a story that is both troubling and wildly entertaining. Urrea endured violence and fear in the black and Mexican barrio of his youth. But the true battlefield was inside his home, where his parents waged daily war over their sons ethnicity. You are nota Mexican! his mother once screamed at him. Why cant you be called Louisinstead of Luis? He suffers disease and abuse and he learns brutal lessons about machismo. But there are gentler moments as well: a simple interlude with his father, sitting on the back of a bakery truck; witnessing the ultimate gesture of tenderness between the godparents who taught him the magical power of love. I am nobodys son. I am everybodys brother, writes Urrea. His story is unique, but it is not unlike thousands of other stories being played out across the United States, stories of other Americans who have waged war--both in the political arena and in their own homes--to claim their own personal and cultural identity. It is a story of what it means to belong to a nation that is sometimes painfully multicultural, where even the language both separates and unites us. Brutally honest and deeply moving, Nobodys Sonis a testament to the borders that divide us all.

Nobodys Son : Notes from an American Life

Illustrated: No

Format: Paperback

Height: 0.46 inches

Width: 5.04 inches

Length: 8.02 inches

Weight: 7.05 oz

Pages: 188