I couldn't put it down. Very well written but heart-wrenching. I looked for other books by this author but none really appealed to me. Have you read any others?

No, I had never heard of this author before our library selected this work for discussion. I'm looking forward to book club on Wednesday. It made me feel helpless, because I also live in California and see the prejudice against Hispanics. I have always felt that the problem is big and complex and that there are no easy answers. I have always felt sorry for the immigrants and wished there could be a better solution.

I just finished this book yesterday, and thought it was excellent! I thought Boyle did a great job showing both sides of the story. Really a very compelling read.

After I got to the end of it, I checked the reviews on Amazon, and was astonished to see the number of negative ones. Apparently this book must've really hit a nerve with many people.

It's been many years since I read Tortilla Curtain, but I remember the discussion at book club was very interesting. Many people saw humor in the book, as well as the clash of cultures.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.tcboyle.com/index.html

I guess I'm in the minority. A friend recommended this to me and said it make a permanent change in how she viewed others. I thought it was a decent book with a good message but very heavy-handed. For "life-changing" messages, I preferred The Grapes of Wrath and Barbara Eisenreich's Nickel and Dimed, which I admit could also be called heavy-handed.

Read it a few years ago.

Still think about it often.

Many haunting scenes.

I am a T.C. Boyle fan. I have read many of his novels including "Tortilla Curtain". I liked his book "World's End" and his short stories are terrific. He does not write happy endings so if that bothers you... don't read him.

If you're interested in finding out more anout immigrants and how they cross the border, an American journalist joined some Mexican immigrants crossing the border illegally and how they lived and why they did it in a non-fiction book. I will dig up the title when I go home as I am at work right now, but it's a very good book and explains the plight of poor Mexican people who just want to come to America to earn a decent living and have no other way of doing it.

Certainly opened my eyes a bit.

Boyle's other books are all very good, if you're interested in reading more. "Riven Rock" is a good one.

Lemonhead, did you ever come up with the title of this book you mentioned?

I read it ages ago too and still remember it. Deborah, if only everyone on both sides of the debate would step back and consider that maybe just maybe there is a way to work this out. Both sets of my grandparents were immigrants, and the same thing said now about the Hispanics are what was said about them, and they were 'legal'!. I am so tired of the hate, the bile that is spewed everywhere when this subject comes up.

I don't know if this is the one she meant, but Devil's Highway by Luis Urea is brillant and haunting (non fiction) (he is also the author of Hummingbird's Daughter, a beautifully written story based on a real 'saint' in Mexico)

Here is a link that might be useful: Devil's Highway

Cindy- I know what you mean, my father's parents were immigrants (Ukrainian) and my children's grandparents (Latvian) were immigrants. You would think that after all these years and history that we would know better. Right now in Sacramento there are many Russian immigrants and there is starting to be prejudice against them. My father (born of immigrant parents no less!) was prejudice against Asian people. It seems like whoever is the new kid on the block gets picked on. Sometimes the prejudice is strongest among new immigrants against newer immigrants. I think that there are also similar issues in other countries. Occasionally I get those stupid forwarded emails about immigrants and I feel compelled to answer back the urban legends and misinformation with, FACTS. Not too surprisingly, they don't respond back. Ok, I'm stepping down from the soap box now.

Kara -

Finally remembered to look for that book I wanted to recommend about the US journalist covering the journey of a family of Mexican illegal immigrants as they cross the border.

It's called "Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail" by Reuben Martinez. Really good read.