A Glass of Water

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A Glass of Water (eBook) Pub. Date: 9/14/2010 Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
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A Glass of Water Pub. Date: 10/1/2009 Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.

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Overview

"A Glass of Water - the first novel from award-winning memoirist, poet, and activist, Jimmy Santiago Baca - is a gripping tale of family, loyalty, ambition, and revenge that takes us deep inside the tragedies unfurling along our country's borders." "The promise of a new beginning brings Casimiro and Nopal together when they are young immigrants, having made the nearly deadly journey across the border from Mexico. They settle into a life of long days in the chili fields, and in a few years their happy union yields two sons, Lorenzo and Vito. But when Nopal is brutally murdered, the boys are left to navigate life in this brave but capricious new world without her. The elder son, Lorenzo, follows in his father's footsteps, devoting himself to the land, and falling in love with a strongminded young woman who's come to the migrant camp to study and improve the lives of its workers. But Vito, hot-blooded and restless, breaks away and soon finds fame as an itinerant boxer, gaining notoriety in and out of the ring. Eventually, the brothers' journeys will converge, bringing them face to face with a common enemy." A Glass of Water is a heartfelt tribute to brotherhood, and an arresting portrait of the twisted paths people take to claim their piece of the ever-elusive American dream.\

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Poet Baca's blistering novel takes to task the treatment of Mexican migrant workers in the US. When a young Mexican couple, Casimiro and Nopal, cross the border in 1984, their new life begins promisingly: they find work on a Texas farm and build a stable home for their two sons, Lorenzo and Vito. But before the boys reach adulthood, Nopal is murdered and her killer escapes. The family struggles to go on, with Lorenzo eventually taking over his father's farm duties and settling into domestic bliss with Carmen, a college student studying migrant workers. Vito's restless spirit leads him to fight in amateur boxing matches and to everyone's surprise, he shows a tantalizing level of talent and considers a serious fighting career. But even as the brothers find their own measures of success, they are haunted by the injustice of Nopal's murder. Interspersed with Lorenzo and Vito's lives are glimpses of Casimiro's youth and even Nopal's thoughts from the world beyond. A general sense of social and political unrest permeates the story, often to the point of distraction. But the sheer passion that drives Baca's novel is undeniable. (Oct.)

Library Journal

After the mother of a Mexican American family is brutally murdered, the widowed father, Casimiro, is forced to raise sons Lorenzo and Vito by himself in what is portrayed as a hostile environment. Both sons are determined to fight the system: Vito literally through pugilism and Lorenzo less violently through social change. Their divergent lives meet at the end as together they avenge their mother's death. Lorenzo is abetted in his quest for reform by Carmen, a doctoral student researching the immigrant population, who falls in love with him. Though the time frame ranges from 1984 to the present, the narration eschews straight chronological order. The thoughts and internalized words of the characters are conveyed in italicized soliloquies that, while thematically relevant, slow up the action somewhat. Baca's first novel is an auspicious beginning for one who has already found success in poetry, memoirs, and short stories (e.g., The Importance of a Piece of Paper). VERDICT A well-written and at times lyrical saga told with understanding and compassion that will appeal mostly to readers within the Latino community. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/09.]—Lawrence Olszewski, OCLC Lib., Dublin, OH\

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Kirkus Reviews

Mexican-American brothers struggle against prejudice and adversity in this first novel from poet/memoirist Baca (The Importance of a Piece of Paper, 2004, etc.). After their father Casimiro is felled by stroke in 2003, Lorenzo takes over the land Casimiro worked for its owner, Miller. Younger brother Vito, forced to leave the farm after beating up Miller's son for disparaging a Mexican woman, dons boxing gloves and becomes a championship fighter. Unbeknownst to Miller, Lorenzo grows more than chili peppers; his marijuana crop generates plenty of surplus cash, which he uses to improve conditions for the area's immigrant field workers. He falls for Carmen, a graduate student writing her thesis on the migrants, but is caught between the way of life made possible by his illicit trade and Carmen's insistence that they join with the workers to agitate for improved conditions. Meanwhile, Vito becomes a hero to the Chicano field hands by equating his fights with the struggle against Anglo injustice and oppression. The narrative skips back and forth in chronology, always circling around the murder of their mother Nopal when Lorenzo was five. We learn that 15-year-old Nopal fled Mexico for America in 1983, fought off a rapist, was rescued by Casimiro, had a singing career that led to her death; ethereal italicized passages suggest that her spirit still follows her sons. All lines eventually converge in a questionably executed and predictable denouement that would work better with fuller character development. Baca's impulse to poetic reverie sacrifices clarity and accessibility for surreal, excessive description. Conversely, lack of specificity keeps the material about the plight of immigrantworkers at the level of vague archetypes. The betrayal of one brother by the other, the fight in which their bid for land ownership is at stake, as well as the unlikely discovery of their mother's murderer are all rushed through in prose that never earns believability, empathy or a hold on the reader's attention. A potentially interesting story sabotaged by lack of discipline.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780802145109
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Publication date: 9/14/2010
Edition description: Reprint
Pages: 224
Sales rank: 534,669
Product dimensions: 5.40 (w) x 8.10 (h) x 0.60 (d)

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