vswoodward's review
4.0
Although I personally don't agree with Rodriguez's politics (really? how can you be a conservative Mexican American who doesn't believe in affirmative action even after benefiting hugely from it??) and don't even love his writing style (too digressive, stream-of-consciousness), his ideas and musings are really interesting and every time I read and teach this book, there is more to plumb.
To talk and teach about race, ethnicity and the weird place that it occupies in America, you need this book.
To talk and teach about race, ethnicity and the weird place that it occupies in America, you need this book.
maedo's review
3.0
Little bits of beauty, with a lot of meandering. But the bits of beauty are definitely worth 4 stars.
books_n_pickles's review
2.0
Oy, one I've wanted to read for such a long time, but not one that deserves to be read in the subway. These essays are beautifully written and masterfully structured, but they are not straight-forward. They require time, thought, and close reading--and, if only, discussion. It's probably a bit telling that it took me about twice as long to finish this slim, large-printed volume than it did for me to read my next two books, each of which was half again as long and with smaller type.
Gave me quite a bit of food for thought. One morsel that stuck out, professionally, was Rodriguez's dislike of being called a "Hispanic" writer--not only because of the odd origins and apparently exceptional unreality of "Hispanic" as a group, but because it then segregates books written by Latinx writers from other writers. As someone on the BISAC subject codes committee, I found this interesting. I wonder if the "Hispanic & Latino" subject heading has been applied to books not because they are about Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx people but because they are by authors who others say fit those categories. (It is notoriously hard to get people to remember that subject categories are for what the book is about, not what the author is or what you want it to be. Sigh.) As Rodriguez points out, India's most famous author (Salman Rushdie) is a British citizen who has lived in the US and Canada for much of his life.
Anyway, just about every third page of my book is dog eared, so no quote roundup this time--there's no way I could narrow that down.
[Not sure of exact read dates. I'm too far behind...]
Gave me quite a bit of food for thought. One morsel that stuck out, professionally, was Rodriguez's dislike of being called a "Hispanic" writer--not only because of the odd origins and apparently exceptional unreality of "Hispanic" as a group, but because it then segregates books written by Latinx writers from other writers. As someone on the BISAC subject codes committee, I found this interesting. I wonder if the "Hispanic & Latino" subject heading has been applied to books not because they are about Hispanic/Latino/Latina/Latinx people but because they are by authors who others say fit those categories. (It is notoriously hard to get people to remember that subject categories are for what the book is about, not what the author is or what you want it to be. Sigh.) As Rodriguez points out, India's most famous author (Salman Rushdie) is a British citizen who has lived in the US and Canada for much of his life.
Anyway, just about every third page of my book is dog eared, so no quote roundup this time--there's no way I could narrow that down.
[Not sure of exact read dates. I'm too far behind...]
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