The Tortilla Curtain

This book pissed me off.  I know, I know.  I am not supposed to use that word because it isn't lady like.  There simply isn't any other word to describe my feelings as I read The Tortilla Curtain.

This is an all-too-real tale of the border war.  It is frightening real and I often had to put the book down after just one chapter.  The author set the book up so that one chapter is from the immigrant's point of view and the next is from the Californians point of view. I would get so angry at the treatment of the people that I wouldn't be able to sleep.  And oh my, the things that the female main character lived through were just mind boggling.

At book club, the discussion was very lively.  We live in the heart of the Midwest, these things are unfathomable to us (can you tell that we 'owned' this book?  We were convinced that these things really happened....) because we don't live it on a daily basis.  We could transfer it to our community's poverty--and the haves and the have nots.  It was an interesting comparison. 

My husband is currently trying to read The Tortilla Curtain.  He is finding it difficult to muddle through.  Much the way I found it difficult to muddle through.  It's worth the work it takes to read this book just to have some perspective about the border war. 

It's not a happy, feel good read.  Just sayin'.