The Tortilla Curtain by T. C. Boyle

The Tortilla Curtain is on my list of favorite ten fiction books. I don’t know if favorite is quite the right word to describe how I feel about this book. It’s a book that people seem to love or hate. In this book T. C. Boyle addresses race, poverty, illegal immigrants, and suburban lifestyles. No one comes out looking good.

Kyra and Delaney are the suburban couple portrayed. She is a realtor and he is a nature writer. It is a second marriage for both of them and Kyra has a six year old son named Jordan. They live in a suburban development called Arroyo Blanco and during the course of the book the homeowner’s association debates putting in a gate as well as a stucco wall around the entire community to protect the homeowners. The couple has a car stolen and loses two dogs to coyotes, yet it is hard to feel any sympathy for them.

Delaney struggles with his liberal tendencies versus what he feels are his rights. Here he listens as a teenager in his community makes a racist joke:
“This was Jack’s kid. A kid who should know better, a kid with all the advantages, raised right here in Arroyo Blanco. … But then, maybe that was the problem, and his next thought was for Jordan: was that the way he was going to turn out? He knew the answer before he’d formulated the question. Of course it was, and there was nothing Kyra or Delaney or anybody else could do about it. That’s what he’d tried to tell Kyra over this wall business – it might keep them out, but look what it keeps in.”

The story is also told from the viewpoints of a second couple. Cándido and América are from Mexico and are in the US illegally. The hardships that they face are incredible and must be somewhat exaggerated, otherwise I can’t imagine why anyone would want to be in the US illegally. América is young and pregnant and Cándido struggles to find any work at all. They camp in a canyon near Arroyo Blanco.

Cándido feels haunted by bad luck. Here he reflects after they’ve just escaped from a wildfire caused by their campfire:
“Cándido didn’t know what the next day would bring, but as he looked down into the darkened canyon he felt awed by the enormity of his bad luck, stunned by the chain of events that had led from the windfall of the turkey and the simple joy of the campfire to this nightmare of flames and smoke and airplanes that exploded across the sky. Had he really been the cause of all this?”
Their luck continues to worsen.

The two couples’ lives intersect multiple times and in unpleasant ways for all parties leading up to a final confrontation. T. C. Boyle offers no answers to the issue of illegal immigration, but he’ll make you think.

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The Nature of Words is in Bend again next week. It is a great chance to hear some interesting authors or attend workshops. Sherman Alexie, author of The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian among other books, is a featured guest. There was some good news in the Bend Bulletin this morning. The Crook County School Board has reversed the ban on this book!

I’ll get back to reviewing books soon. We’ve been laid low with the flu, but are definitely on the mend now.

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The Vaccine Book by R. W. Sears

Did you know that between the ages of 0 and 5 children may receive 35 separate shots for ~14 different diseases if they follow the American Academy of Pediatrics schedule? And, some of these shots are combined, for example, DTaP vaccinates children for diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis and 5 shots of it are recommended. The Vaccine Book takes a look at each vaccine, and the severity and frequency of the disease it prevents, as well as the ingredients and manufacturing process.

This is an interesting book for a couple reasons. Even if you plan to get all the shots recommended and follow the vaccine schedule proposed by your pediatrician, there are still choices to be made. Do you want to get the MMR shot or the MMR combined with chicken pox shot? How about the DTap, hep B and polio combined shot? A combined shot makes for fewer times the child is actually poked so that would seem to be a good thing, right? Here’s what Dr. Sears has to say, “I am not a big fan of combo shots. I prefer to spread the vaccines out and give less at each visit in order to avoid overloading a baby with so many shots and chemicals at once.”

Even in if you don’t have kids, you might find some of this information useful for yourself. Each section considers overseas travel and how you might want to vaccinate differently based on where you might travel. This could be helpful reading for the college student or retiree heading off on an adventure.

I found the chapter on the Hep B vaccine very interesting reading. This shot is given to newborns in the hospital almost as soon as they are born. Since Hep B is a sexually transmitted disease, one wonders how could a baby get it except from the mother? Is Hep B so prevalent that this is a huge risk? Sears argues that the reason this shot is required at birth is because the prevalence of Hep B in infants and children was overestimated when the decision about when to vaccinate was made. According to Sears only ~360 kids per year were diagnosed with Hep B before the vaccine was used and now it’s down to about 130 confirmed cases each year. That’s nothing like chicken pox where the US went from 3.5 million cases per year to ~50,000after the vaccine was introduced.

For an up-to-date discussion on vaccines, including the H1N1 flu vaccine, see the book’s website.

Border Songs by Jim Lynch

I vividly remember an experience I had at the US/Canadian border when I was in college. I was crossing back into the US with a couple friends. As the driver I was asked what town I was from. When I replied Mt. Vernon, the border person asked me who was the vice-principal at the high school and when I answered correctly waved me through. He didn’t seem to be concerned with who else was in the car or in seeing any identification at all. It was a kinder, gentler and possibly more naïve time.

Border Songs is set at today’s border near the Peace Arch in Washington State and British Columbia. A ditch is all that separates many parts of Canada from the US there, with neighbors being on one side of the ditch or the other. I hope this is exaggerated fiction as the amount of people crossing illegally to get into the US or to smuggle in pot seems insane.

In this novel Brandon Vanderkool is the newest border agent. He makes many busts right away. It is not because he is trying, but rather he watches for birds and can’t help but see the people or anomalous items around him. His dad, Norm, is a struggling dairy farmer whose wife is losing her memory. With his farm right on the border, Norm’s tempted with monetary offers to look the other way. One entertaining scene in the book takes place when Brandon is being shown all the new video cameras that have been placed along the border. One is pointed right at his dad’s farm and he witnesses some very strange behavior while trying to pay attention to his chief’s lecture.

Brandon does not relate well to people and much of this book is about him trying to figure out if a childhood friend, Madeline, is still a friend or not. Madeline, lives on the Canadian side of the border, and is becoming more and more involved in smuggling. It seems everyone on both sides is trying to get something across the border. Brandon even ends up arresting his sixth grade teacher. Border Songs is definitely a good read and I especially recommend it to anyone who lives near the border. I’d love to hear comments on what it is like to be living in Blaine or Lynden now.

Jim Lynch also wrote The Highest Tide, a young adult novel that focuses on a 13 year old boy growing up on the Puget Sound. I really enjoyed that book as well with its great descriptions of the sound and its marine life.

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I Shall Not Want by Julia Spencer-Fleming

I Shall Not Want is the sixth in a unique mystery series. Clare Ferguson is an Episcopalian priest and former Army helicopter pilot in a small town in upper state New York. As a reverend she has a reputation for acting before thinking. Her current Bishop is unsure of her commitment and a deal they’ve made is for her to be in the National Guard as she figures out how dedicated she is to being a priest.

Russ Van Alstyne is the police chief of the small town of Millers Kill and one main reason Clare is questioning her own judgment. To get the back story on their relationship it is best to start with the first book in the series: In the Bleak Midwinter.

In I Shall Not Want a body is found during a church picnic. Other bodies are found, all of young Hispanic men. The police chief and the town begin to wonder if they are dealing with a serial killer. Russ becomes even more entangled in this case as one of the bodies is found on his sister’s property. Even though Russ and Clare are estranged initially, she becomes involved as the number of illegal immigrants in the area and their treatment is brought to her attention.

Here’s Russ trying to tell Clare how he feels:
“It’s me. I’m …stuck. I’m like an old truck up to its hubcaps in snow. I go forward, I go back, nothing ever changes or shakes loose, and the whole time I’m cold, inside and out. The only time I feel anything is when I’m angry.”

The mystery is almost secondary to the ongoing story of Russ and Clare. Other characters are also well developed. New to town is Hadley Knox, the first female police officer in Millers Kill. A good portion of the mystery explores Hadley’s growth as an officer and her attempt to balance her job with being a single mom to two kids.

If you’re looking for a mystery that has more focus on character development than most, definitely try out these books by Julia Spencer-Fleming.

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