****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Wow! This was outstanding. What an unflinching look at immigration and all of the hypocrisies involved.The novel begins with a 'progressive' Delaney running into Candido, a day worker, with his car. He injures him pretty severely, and gives him 20 bucks.It doesn't get much better from there. Delaney fancies himself an Eastern liberal...who is on the correct side of every argument. However, you see his slow decline into being unsure about his convictions, and then abandoning them completely.Candido is just trying to get work. He has a young wife, who he has made bit promises to...he wants to achieve that 'American Dream' of safety and prosperity. I immediately noticed his name sounds like Candide. I have no idea if the author intended this allusion, but I certainly see a lot of connections. Poor Candido cannot catch a break. Literally everything goes to crap for him all the time. However, like Candide, he learns some hard lessons, makes some big mistakes, but stays good at heart.This searing satire reveals all of the ugly truths and difficult challenges with illegal immigration. There is a desperation to it because it is NOT safe. There are several brutal reminders of that in this novel. The book is SO timely because of the issues we face today with immigration. I don't think the book necessarily presents any answers, other than making the reader 'see' the desperation of some immigrants, and witness the people who claim to be 'for' them....but of course only until the immigration actually affects their own life, or the immigrants show up in their neighborhood.This book does what all good books do: challenges your thinking and makes you feel.
