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The
book basically tells two stories, taking place in the 1990’s. One
storyline is around Delaney Mossbacher. He is an upper middleclass white
“liberal humanist” (p. 3) and writer for a nature magazine who lives
together with his wife Kyra, a successful real estate salesman and her six
year old son Jordan in Arroyo Blanco, a suburb close to Los Angeles.
The
other storyline is around Cándido Rincón and his pregnant wife América,
two Mexicans who crossed the border illegally and whose aim it is to get a
small home and to achieve a decent standard of living in the North.
The
book starts when Cándido tries to cross a road and Delaney hits him with
his car by accident. After that their fates are somehow connected.
Cándido’s
life is determined by one setback after the other. While he recovers from
the accident, two white kids smash up their camp. Later, Cándido and his
wife find work and things do not look too bad. But then two Mexicans rape
América.
Cándido cannot find work at the labor exchange anymore. They are forced to
go into the city where Cándido is robbed by some fellow Mexicans and the
two have to eat garbage to survive. They have to return to the valley they
camped in. Again things seem to improve until Thanksgiving. Cándido starts
a campfire and sets accidentally the whole valley on fire! All their savings
are burned and once more, they have nothing. Their daughter Socorro is born
soon afterwards, to all their misfortunes adds that she is blind.
Delaney
passes through a change in his attitude. At the beginning he calls
himself a “liberal humanist” (p. 3), but several events and interactions
with different persons change his attitude towards foreigners, especially
Mexicans.
Anyways,
at the end he turns into a racist, he becomes insane and is obsessed with
the idea of a crusade against Cándido.
The
book ends when Delaney approaches Cándido and América’s camp with a
loaded gun and a mudslide washes them all away. Delaney is saved by Cándido,
but the baby is drowned.
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