T. C. Boyle - A digital scrap-book about "The Tortilla Curtain"
- T. Coraghessan Boyle
"The Tortilla Curtain": Reviews
New York Times (Dec 3, 1995)
- T. Coraghessan Boyle
The Pilgrim of Topanga Creek
New York TimesDate: September 3, 1995, Sunday, Late Edition - Final Byline: By Scott Spencer;
THE TORTILLA CURTAIN By T. Coraghessan Boyle. 355 pp. New York: Viking. $23.95.
VIKING has somehow got the idea it has another "Grapes of Wrath" on its hands. Then again, T. Coraghessan Boyle may have contributed to the delusion by using a few lines from Steinbeck's novel as the epigraph to his own meditation on the dispossessed and the American dream, California style. But while Steinbeck's tale of the Joad family was the very apotheosis of the proletarian novel, with its almost surreal emotional clarity and passages of nearly overpowering pathos, "The Tortilla Curtain" is, as the dust jacket would have it, about "the Okies of the 1990's."
This apparently means that the narrative contains no real heroes or villains, and that the suddenly
old-fashioned hopefulness of Steinbeck's book is nowhere to be found.
In "The Tortilla Curtain," Mr. Boyle deftly portrays Los Angeles's Topanga Canyon, catching both
its privileged society and its underlying geological and ecological instability. But while the book has heft, its story is slight, and not unfamiliar: An undocumented Mexican couple struggle for survival in the interstices of society and in the canyon itself, even as an affluent Anglo couple live their fearful, selfish existence behind the dubious protection of a walled development called Arroyo Blanco Estates.
We first meet Candido Rincon when he is hit by a car driven by the male half of the novel's Anglo
couple, a self-styled Annie Dillard disciple named Delaney Mossbacher. Candido is in California
with his young pregnant wife, America, having recently braved another crossing of the border.
Candido and America are part of California's unacknowledged work force, cogs in the vast human
machine that does the state's brute labor and without whom (Proposition 187 to the contrary) the
state could probably not survive.
Mr. Boyle is first-rate in capturing the terror of looking for work in an alien society, as in this
passage describing Candido's experience at a parking-lot labor exchange: "The contractors began
to arrive, the white men with their big bleached faces and soulless eyes, enthroned in their trucks.
They wanted two men or three, they wanted four or five, no questions asked, no wage stipulated,
no conditions or terms of employment. A man could be pouring concrete one day, spraying
pesticide the next -- or swabbing out urinals, spreading manure, painting, weeding, hauling, laying
brick or setting tile. You didn't ask questions. You got in the back of the truck and you went where they took you."
Mr. Boyle is convincing, and even stirring, in his telling of Candido and America's story, bringing to it an agitprop artist's perspective on both society's injustices and the cold implacability of the
privileged classes, as well as a Brechtian vision of how those cast to the bottom of society blindly
victimize one another. Indeed, the journey of the Rincons -- from their desolate Mexican village to
the terrors of exploitation on the undocumented edge of American society and finally into the
whirling, pyrotechnically presented catastrophe toward which the story builds -- more than
confirms Mr. Boyle's reputation as a novelist of exuberance and invention, gained with such pop
extravaganzas as "World's End" and "The Road to Wellville." It also adds to his fictional range an
openhearted compassion for those whom society fears and reviles.
But Mr. Boyle was clearly not interested in merely writing a novel about illegal aliens scrabbling for a living. For he has divided his considerable narrative and stylistic gifts between the Rincons' story and that of Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher, the rather contemptible yuppie couple whose deeply unremarkable experiences are set in opposition to the Rincons'. It is here, alas, that Mr. Boyle undoes himself.
Delaney is described on the very first page as "a liberal humanist with an unblemished driving
record and a freshly waxed Japanese car with personalized plates." It is a mode of portrayal that is characteristic of much of Mr. Boyle's earlier work, a kind of comedy that finds its roots in sarcasm.
In Mr. Boyle's case, this sarcasm is often taken for buoyancy and even daring, but in "The Tortilla
Curtain" it rings hollow. When a character is described in terms of his driving record and his vanity
plates, the reader can only hope that character is a minor one, a walk-on. But when you realize that you are being asked to read on and on about someone the author obviously doesn't care deeply about (and has, in fact, just trashed with the flick of an easy laugh), your heart begins to sink. Even when the novel's plot begins to activate Delaney and sour his usually beatific goofy world view, our reaction to the transformation is interrupted by the necessity of coping with Mr. Boyle's persistent elbow in our ribs: "He was in a rage, and he tried to calm himself. It seemed he was always in a rage lately -- he, Delaney Mossbacher, the Pilgrim of Topanga Creek -- he who led the least stressful existence of anybody on earth besides maybe a handful of Tibetan lamas."
Like her nature-writer husband, Kyra Mossbacher is cut up and offered to us on a Lazy Susan of
rude remarks. "Real estate was her life," the omnipotent narrator would have us believe, the
moment Kyra appears on the scene. A bit later, we learn the following: "For Kyra, sex was
therapeutic, a release from sorrow, tension, worry, and she plunged into it in moments of emotional distress as others might have sunk themselves in alcohol or drugs -- and who was Delaney to argue? She'd been especially passionate around the time her mother was hospitalized for her gall bladder operation."
Mr. Boyle's fictional strategy is puzzling. Why are we being asked to follow the fates of characters for whom he clearly feels such contempt? Not surprisingly, this is ultimately off-putting. Perhaps Mr. Boyle has received too much praise for his zany sense of humor; in this book, that wit often seems merely a maddening volley of cheap shots. It's like living next door to a gun nut who spends all day and half the night shooting at beer bottles.
The great risk of a novel with a dual structure is that the reader will fasten on one of the stories at
the expense of the other. In "The Tortilla Curtain," the drama, feeling and stylistic bravado, the
emotional reach that Mr. Boyle brings to the story of the Rincons so profoundly exceed what he
brings to the Mossbachers that the book itself ends up feeling as disunited as the society Mr. Boyle is attempting to portray. And that's a pity, because there is life here and moments of very fine writing. ("The fire sat low on the horizon, like a gas burner glowing under the great black pot of the sky.")
A few months ago, Mr. Boyle was asked in an interview how he voted on Proposition 187.
Perhaps anticipating being asked the same question over and over on his upcoming book tour, he
replied, "I don't want to reveal that. I'm not running for office." It's hard to imagine John Steinbeck
being quite so coy about the rights of migrant workers or the importance of unions, but, as they say on television, "Hey, it's the 90's!"
"The Tortilla Curtain" is a political novel for an age that has come to distrust not only politicians but political solutions, a modernist muckraking novel by an author who sees the muck not only in class structure and prejudice but in the souls of human beings. Yet where the socially engaged novel once offered critique, Mr. Boyle provides contempt -- even poor Candido, whose plight has been engaging our sympathies throughout this novel, is eventually seen "weaving his way through the scrub, drawn like an insect to the promise of distant lights." Contempt is a dangerous emotion, luring us into believing that we understand more than we do. Contempt causes us to jeer rather than speak, to poke at rather than touch. Despite his celebrated gifts, T. Coraghessan Boyle may be the most contemptuous of our well-known novelists.from: http://search.nytimes.com/books/search/bin/fastweb?getdoc+book-rev+book-rev+18409+11++
From Booklist , June 1, 1995
PEN/Faulkner award winner and author of various novels, including The Road to Wellville (1993), Boyle avoids any potential pitfall of his prior achievement by veering in another direction and seriously examining social and political issues in this timely novel. He establishes an obvious dichotomy by interweaving the scrapping, makeshift, in-the-present lives of illegal aliens Candido and America Rincon with the politically correct, suburban, plan-for-the-future existence of wealthy Americans Delaney and Kyra Mossbacher. The Rincons' lives, though full
of fear and hardship, contain far more passion and endurance than the Mossbachers' mundane and materialistic lifestyles. An initial, pivotal car accident briefly unites, and ultimately separates, Delaney and Candido, provoking question after question concerning immigration, unemployment, discrimination, and social responsibility. Surprisingly, Boyle manages to address these issues in a nonjudgmental fashion, depicting the vast inequity in these parallel existences. This highly engaging story subtly plays on our consciences, forcing us to form, confirm, or dispute social, political, and moral viewpoints. This is a profound and tragic tale, one that exposes not only a failed American Dream, but a failing America.Janet St. John
Copyright© 1995, American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the hardcover edition of this title
Synopsis
From the author of The Road to Wellville comes his most controversial novel yet--a deeply moving story of the men and women who risk everything to cross the Mexican border and invade the American dream. "Succeeds in stealing the front page news and bringing it home to the great American tradition of the social novel."--The Boston Globe.
- Customer Comments
A reader from Toronto,Canada , November 10, 1998
Great novel. Loved every word.
The book was an irresistible read. I felt for the Rincons more than I would have ever expected myself to. The book made me stop and think about my attitudes, and responsibilities as a member of society. I feel as though I owe a great deal to Mr. Boyle. He opened my eyes, and made them cry, as Candido "reached out and took hold of it". TC Boyle was very intelligent in ending the book so abruptly. It left me with an obvious choice, one that I could not possibly turn oblivious to: the choice of whether to reach out as Candido did, or wall myself in like Delaney. Nevertheless, I would have liked to know, superficially, what happens to the two families in the end. The Tortilla Curtain deserves a six-star rating, if there is such a thing. Thank You T.C.Boyle!A reader from From Iowa , November 4, 1998
An exploration of the contrasts of society
This book has helped me change my paradigms about today's immigrants as well as today's privileged elite. I would recommend this book to others that I know who may be negative toward the influx of immigrants, but especially to those who may be envious of the "way of life" of all the yuppies trying to set up their sterile utopias. Great character studies and a great ending.A reader from Bad Kissingen, Germany , October 29, 1998
a thriller teaching understanding and compassion
I read this book three years ago and taught it a year later in my English class in Germany. While I was reading it I sometimes hated it for forcing me into the lives of two groups of people that are very strange to me or not really humans I'd normally know or identify with. But I was compelled to think their thoughts and induced to sort of like them and feel like them and feel their losses. And as soon as I had got used to them and started to sympathise with their problems I was taken to the other one of those two different groups, made to identify with them and so on. Thus the author manages to irritate you and this irritation makes you think and feel much more deeply about all the book's characters than you normally do. A clever achievement! But what is also great is that the book is also a thriller. This was the first time that my students asked me if they could finish the book when I had just told them to read the next chapter.A reader from Dandridge, TN , October 27, 1998
Lifting Up Both Our Humanity and Our Inhumanity
I just finished listening to the books on tape presentation of this novel. Rarely have I been as moved by what I heard. The ending asks where we now go as a society and forces us to think about options. Are we the land and people we once were? Can we learn from even illegal immigrants how it is for them and the homeless in our society to live? What would we do in the place of these people? Could our values remain the same or would we fall to our baser instincts of self-preservation? Boyle leads us to deal with the uncomfortable. How we would choose is a life and death issue for both the poor and the rich in our country today.A reader from Austin, Texas , October 16, 1998
Powerful book
At times this book was almost painful to read, but I couldn't stop. I have known illegal immigrants who hiked for days after crossing the Rio Grande to get to Austin so they could work and send money to their families. After reading The Tortilla Curtain I have a better idea of what they may have experienced along the way. Boyle's ability to depict two couples living in two very different yet parallel worlds and to use them as vehicles for exploring many of the difficult socio/economic/political immigration-related issues this country is grappling with is a thought-provoking triumph. His book is a powerful read, down to the very last line.hotmail.com from USA, and Austria , September 30, 1998
In your face fantastic!
If you can take the spot light off yourself and point it at our human behavior this book will change your life. The author lets the reader judge the circumstances and people in this story. The story is very harsh and I felt I had to get a feeling of the writers position of the characters. I got annoyed when it wasn't clear what I "should" feel according to the authors influence. However, when I finished the book I was aware that it is MY decision how to interpet this book. I loved this book because I learned that an author doesn't have to hold your hand through a journey...the best is when you go though the story independent and come out a better person. GREAT!
A reader from California , July 30, 1998
What does it all really say?
Although the details were vivid, the book's ending was very sudden with an unnecessary twist. It was never clear to me whether author was trying to show the hard times imigrants are put through in The Land of Opportunity, which seems to be owned by assimilated white Irish descendants that have lost all ties to their past culture. Or perhaps Boyle is against illegal immigration, discouraging it by making it look very unpleasant. Perhaps, he even discourages American aid to illegal immigrants.
Hence the phrase "don't feed the coyotes" often spoken by the liberal main character, Delaney. It seems to me that the coyotes are the illegal immigrants. The book shows that they come uninvited and expect to be welcomed, and the plan fails them.
hotmail.com from Berthoud, CO , July 22, 1998
a powerful depiction- and yes, with moral impact... I read this book while living in Honduras and when I finished it I felt so sad for the country I was returning to where gated communities are the new american dream and immigrants fight for dignity in a country that spits on them. The Tortilla Curtain probes these issues in a Steinbeck-esque manner, and TCB deserves applause for pointing out the losing of the grip the american white male in the face of a changing country.
Lisa from Austin, TX , July 11, 1998
Opportunistic
The potential to execute a work of high intellegence with this subject matter in this day and age is limitless. However, dispite the fact that these ethnically-oriented 'tragic' realism plot lines are in ample supply, TC fails at offering us with any new direction. His unwillingness to assert ANY position on this theme speaks to his inability to create any new or original perspective on this bordering-on-tiring literary genre. He merely capitalizes on the popularity of such works and gets away with cranking out the same old Same Old.
Larry from Petaluma, California , June 17, 1998
Activating fiction at its best- What do we call the opposite of escapist fiction? I don't think we have a term for it, so I'll humbly offer "activating fiction", and suggest Boyle's "Tortilla Curtain" represents the genre at its best.
The book provides an extremely penetrating look into the dysfunction at both ends of the class and cultural chasm that is contemporary Los Angeles. This book will challenge a lot of smug conceits.
With any luck it will also cause some of those "angry white males" we hear about to reconsider where their rage should be directed.
Jeff from San Diego California USA , May 17, 1998
Oh so true! Right on the mark.
This is a wonderful book. T. C. Boyle has captured the lives of 2 vastly different cultures and the complex manner in which the cultures crash headlong into one another.
A reader from Richlands VA , May 1, 1998
Tactics and Didactics
At its better moments, this novel reminds me of Upton Sinclair and the great naturalists and socially conscious American novelists of the early 20th century. Of course Boyle walks a fine line in having such an obvious "moral" in this tale, but I think it's an important enough message to rescue <The Tortilla Curtain> from being dismissed as overt didacticism. What happened to novelists wanting to say something? Boyle responds to this question seriously, innovatively, and with a lyricism rare in the 90's. He shows the jaded 90's yuppie what it's like to be on the outside looking in and explores the responsibility that goes along with prosperity and progress.
A reader from Houston, TX , March 18, 1998
How different are the measures of happiness! To a contented nature writer and his wealthy realtor wife, happiness is a precise, unchallenging life inside a gated community. Well, he would really prefer a better connection with nature, but only until he is confronted with the face of immigrant poverty and the imagined threat of violence against him. T.C. Boyle's characters are distilled into stereotypes, but only to sharpen the contrast between them. With a whimsical attention to detail, he goads the reader into realizing the hypocricy of a character's rabid defense of a dog left in a locked car following her unapologetic campaign to close a labor exchange on a street corner near her neighborhood. At the same time, Boyle creates a miserable descent into despair for a homeless immigrant couple whose expectations fall so low that a chance to sleep on a bed seems the ultimate happiness. Their paths cross several times throughout the novel, and each time, the misunderstandings and misconceptions that each has about the other repels them further. The ending is tragic and unsettling, but only because there is no phony aura associated with epiphany. In this stop-time moment, the characters react to the situation without thought to their prejudices and imagined threats, because the thing that threatens them is real and happening and with a life-and-death quickness, compassion and survival prevail.
A reader from Kansas City, Kansas , March 8, 1998
Some needed guilt and compassion I think the characters could have used a little more depth, and some of the author's choices were over the top (naming the woman America - please!). However, this book made me think about the daily lives of immigrants in a way I never had before. It taught me to have a little more compassion and not be so judgmental of those not fortunate enough to be born in a wealthy country. I liked the ending a lot.from: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/014023828X/002-6236148-0838049
- An interview with T. C. Boyle on "The Tortilla Curtain"
- http://www.hanser.de/verlag/autoren/boyle/america/intervw.htm
- (unfortunately in German on the German translation "América")
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