Sometimes, it is so good to get back to reading adult material (no not that kind, you know what I mean). I randomly picked up this one off the shelf of biographies one day while working, despite the fact that I have never read any works by this bestselling author, Victor Villasenor.

I am glad I read the entire book, though right away I was tempted to toss it aside. It has a fairly gripping opening, as the author finds himself thrust into the unexpected position of keynote speaker at a conference due to illness. He is one of the most little known and inexperienced authors present. No one at this conference for teachers has any idea what they're in for. In fact part of his speech goes like this...

"I was TORTURED by teachers! You hear me, TORTURED!" I yelled jerking the whole podium off the floor. "Hell, I flunked the third grade twice because - BECAUSE- " I was crying so hard that I had to wipe the tears out of my eyes with the back of my hand, but this wasn't going to stop me. I was all guts up front now." Okay so basically he loves using capitalization (not for artistic symbolism like annoying Mr. Fry) but basically as a constant mechanism for emphasis. Unfortunately his editors forgot to suggest italics. You actually may begin to feel he is yelling at YOU the READER.

I loved the insight this book gave me to a certain time and a certain place in American history. In light of this week's protests across the US regarding immigration, it puts some things into an interesting historical perspective (although the author grew up as a privileged well of full citizen, he experiences abuse and prejudice like I never would have imagined). Villasenor is a passionate writer, bold and unafraid to write what some might find vulgar, what some might find unbelievable...but it works well. The impossible seems possible as one person's faith is realized in such a way that is vastly different from our rather conservative, doubting Western perspective. The only thing that was a bit hard to deal with is that a certain degree of repetition enters into the narrative in terms of events and dialogue, and also the fact that the tale ends when he is still a child. Midway through the book, I can hardly believe he is still only eight years old. I also began to feel a little incredulous that anyone could remember such early years so vividly.