ePub Breaking Even download

by Alejandro Grattan-Dominguez

Author:

Alejandro Grattan-Dominguez

ISBN13:

978-1558852136

ISBN:

1558852131

Language:

English

Publisher:

Arte Publico Pr; 1st wraps edition (December 1, 1997)

Category:

Fiction

Subcategory:

Genre Fiction

ePub file:

1282 kb

Fb2 file:

1104 kb

Other formats:

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Rating:

4.8

Votes:

845

Alejandro Grattan-Dominguez Genre Fiction English

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A Mexican-American teenager comes to terms with his melting- pot heritage-in a labored and predictable picaresque tale from the author of The Dark Side of the Dream (1995)

A Mexican-American teenager comes to terms with his melting- pot heritage-in a labored and predictable picaresque tale from the author of The Dark Side of the Dream (1995). Having turned 18 and graduated from high school in 1955, Valent°n Cooper is eager to break out of Big Bend, the West Texas whistle stop where he grew up. A film buff who hopes to make some kind of a living in Hollywood, he feels hemmed in by his loving but demanding mother Guadalupe (who owns a roadside cafe frequented by local farmers and long-haul truckers) and a pregnant Anglo girlfriend named Bonnie Gortner.

Alejandro Grattan-Dominguez was born in El Paso, Texas, the old-est son of an Irish father and a Mexican mother. I also have to say that even the preface itself made my mind whirl. I wish every American could read it to understand the Mexico-U. After flunking out of college twice, he finally made good at Texas A& M, before going on to SMU, (a transfer he likens as going from a concentration camp to a luxury resort) where he earned a BA in English Litera-ture. how we welcomed them during our many wars to replace the missing manpower and then discarded them when we no longer needed them.

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Alejandro Grattan-Dominguez.

Domínguez has published books and articles on Latin America and, in particular .

Domínguez has published books and articles on Latin America and, in particular, Cuba .

And I find "Breaking Even" just as enjoyable. Breaking Even By Alejandro Grattan-Dominguez Arte Publico Press, 1997. Others Have Enjoyed These

And I find "Breaking Even" just as enjoyable. Others Have Enjoyed These.

Breaking even Alejandro Grattan-Domâinguez. Download Breaking even Alejandro Grattan-Domâinguez. leave here couple of words about this book

Breaking even Alejandro Grattan-Domâinguez. Library of Congress Control Number: 97022172. leave here couple of words about this book: Tags: Arch bridges.

In this engrossing coming-of-age novel set in the 1950s, eighteen-year-old Val leaves his tiny West Texas town to search for the father he thought had died a hero's death years earlier. This quest gives Val a convenient excuse for getting out, as he is being forced into a loveless marriage and meaningless existence in a town where his life has been made more difficult because his mother is Mexican.The young man's search draws him into a mysterious world: violent and unpredictable, yet also glamorous and seductive. It is his Anglo father's world of high-stakes professional gambling. With their ultimate confrontation taking place in Reno, Nevada, Val finally realizes that all that glitters in his father's free-wheeling lifestyle is more grit than gold and that true style comes only with the acceptance of personal responsibility.Yet Val's father, Cooper, will leave him with a priceless gift. Val develops a new-found pride in his Mexican heritage, as well as the courage to follow his dream.

Tansino

I do not want to ruin it for the reader so I will say that this book is a great and fast read without the pretentious language used by many authors to show their education. Grattan-Domingues has the West Texas speech and idiomatic character well in hand.

For Val, who has a Mexican mother and an absentee Anglo father West Texas is a place to leave and the desire to find his Anglo father, Cooper, is the catalyst that gets him out of a tough town for Mexican Americans.

His journey towards his goal is a fascinating epic of discovery. His illusions of the "glamorous" gambler's life his father lives are shattered as he pursues him through the labyrinth of violence, flash and glitter. When their ultimate confrontation takes place in Nevada, Val realizes that his father's life is more form than substance, more show than quality. He finally comes to the realization, that he must follow his dream and that his blood is something to be proud of.

Naa

An interesting book from a fantastic author. This is a poignant "coming of age" novel about a young man who cannot wait to shake the dust off a small town in Texas. He dislikes the town, and is anxious to leave. But things don't work out as he planned. He takes a journey that introduces him to someone he really needs to know, and introduces him to a lifestyle he has never experienced. The characters are rich, complex and complete. The setting is written so vividly that the reader can see each scene as if watching a movie.

Coron

I liked the first edition of Breaking Even, but I love this recent, substantially revised, Kindle Edition I just purchased. Breaking Even tells the moving story of Val searching for, and finding, his deadbeat father Frank Cooper. Coupled with a longing to reunite his long lost Anglo father with his Mexican mother--"the unofficial representative of the town's tiny Mexican community"--Val longs for a simple old-fashioned relationship with his father: "It burned Val, the way his father had of letting him get close for a second, then say or do something that killed the moment." Early on we come to care about this young man and applaud both Val's commitment to the idea of family and his efforts to become a man on his own terms, independent of his father's desire to have a "junior partner". We come to care about ALL of the major characters in this novel. |

Zicelik

This is the story of a young man's odyssey to find his father, a charismatic Irishman who travels across America gambling for a living. The father, Cooper, had an affair with a Mexican woman in a small Texas town and left her pregnant to continue his search for The Great Poker Game. During the ensuing years, Lupe, the mother, marries underrated Floyd who helps her run the small roadside diner Cooper had financed before splitting. Lupe also carries a torch for the errant Cooper, whose absence she explains to her son, Val, by saying his father is dead. Val finally learns the truth and so begins his quest, both for his father and for himself. The relationship between father and son, when finally they meet, is tentative, though filled with a longing on the part of each to have his own empty place filled by the presence of the other. Their verbal dances are well written, as is the character of Blue, Cooper's traveling companion who puts her own life, such as it is, on hold to accompany the two of them to The Big Poker Game in Reno.
Grattan-Dominguez, whose dialogue sparkles and who is unafraid to make some characters unlikeable, does not give this, his second novel, a Hollywood ending but instead the ending we often find in real life. Val is neatly wrapped up here, though I hope Grattan-Dominguez develops the characters of Cooper and Blue, not necessarily together, in a future novel(s), as well as the characters in Lupe and Floyd's Texas diner.

Stylish Monkey

Breaking Even is one of the best novels that I have ever read. Mr Grattan did a stellar job in sharing the story with us. Breaking Even captured my attention from page one to the end. I could not wait to see what happened next in Val's quest to learn more of his Father, who he had been led to believe had died, only to later find that was not true. The suspense was incredible and I could not put the book down. Seldom does a book leave me in tears of happiness as did Breaking Even. The ending was perfect. Everyone should have the opportunity to read the book.

avanger

This would make a great movie.

Charyoll

Breaking Even is an excellent read. From the beginning to the end you become so involved with the people and their lives. The author has created a world of realism and fantasy that led me through all the emotions. It was a wonderful ride with the right ending.

This is a well-written story about a young Mexican-American man's search for his father and his love. It's a good read, engaging from the start. Wonderfully colorful characters add to this culturally rich novel.

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