HomeGroupsTalkMoreZeitgeist
Search Site
This site uses cookies to deliver our services, improve performance, for analytics, and (if not signed in) for advertising. By using LibraryThing you acknowledge that you have read and understand our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Your use of the site and services is subject to these policies and terms.

Results from Google Books

Click on a thumbnail to go to Google Books.

The Children of Sánchez,…
Loading...

The Children of Sánchez, Autobiography of a Mexican Family (original 1961; edition 1961)

by oscar lewis

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
432557,522 (4.2)4
A pioneering work from a visionary anthropologist, The Children of Sanchez is hailed around the world as a watershed achievement in the study of poverty--a uniquely intimate investigation, as poignant today as when it was first published.   It is the epic story of the Sánchez family, told entirely by its members--Jesus, the 50-year-old patriarch, and his four adult children--as their lives unfold in the Mexico City slum they call home. Weaving together their extraordinary personal narratives, Oscar Lewis creates a sympathetic but ultimately tragic portrait that is at once harrowing and humane, mystifying and moving.   An invaluable document, full of verve and pathos, The Children of Sanchez reads like the best of fiction, with the added impact that it is all, undeniably, true.… (more)
Member:BSULingLab
Title:The Children of Sánchez, Autobiography of a Mexican Family
Authors:oscar lewis
Info:Random House (1961), Edition: First Printing, Hardcover
Collections:Languages of the Americas Shelf, Your library
Rating:
Tags:20th Century, American, American Literature, Anthropology, Autobiography, Biography, Cultural Anthropology, Cultural Studies, Ethnography, Family, History, Latin America, Latin American, Latin American History, Latin American Studies, Literature, Mexico, Mexico City, Non-Fiction, Poverty, Psychology, Social Conditions, Sociology, Social History

Work Information

Children of Sanchez by Oscar Lewis (1961)

Loading...

Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book.

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 4 mentions

English (3)  Catalan (1)  Dutch (1)  All languages (5)
Showing 3 of 3
This is the heartbreaking story of a family from DF, who live near the Lowest level of poverty in the nation's capital. The Sanchez family, father Jesus, sons Roberto and Manuel, and daughters Consuelo and Marta, tell their stories via tape recorder to anthropologist Oscar Lewis. For those who live in a bubble and cannot relate to this kind of reality check, they may become depressed and put a bad review, as I saw at least one Goodreads reviewer do. Mexican society is extremely patriarchal, and more so among the poor. Machistas destroy families by treating their domestic partners cruelly, having multiple families, giving no thought to impregnating multiple women multiple times and then leaving these children to neglect and starvation. Those children naturally grow up and do the same thing; they never have a chance to get educated and break the cycle. I would estimate that 80% of the present globe's population is from this background, with all the cost in wasted lives, especially for the women, that this implies. ( )
  burritapal | Oct 23, 2022 |
This is an anthropolgical study of an extended working class Mexican family in the 1950s. But if that sounds dull, I just want to say that it reads of a pretty gripping family saga; and as a work of psychology.
Father Sanchez has made something of himself through hard graft at the restaurant he works in, and a bit of enterprise. He seems exceptionally duty bound to his numerous children and grandchildren, forever helping them financially. And yet he is a flawed man- a womanizer, violent, harsh...
Lewis interviews each of his four children (by deceased first wife) three times. They take him through their lives, the events, the relationships...
Anthropologically, this introduces us to a very alien world. The machismo (wives expect to be beaten, kept short of funds); the lack of stability as marriage is a rare thing and people indulge in a succession of short lived affairs; the poverty; the corrupt police; the violence, drunkenness; the religion but, too, a bit of witchcraft... And what is it LIKE sharing one room with eighteen others- the ones you dislike,the ones with unsavory habits. the lack of privacy? The interviewees share their thoughts...

And then the story- one with no convenient tied-up ends as people lurch from one disaster to another. Infidelity, jail breaks, lottery wins..

But for me, it was predominantly a psychological masterpiece. Here we have four characters who know much of each others' lives. Yet the different slant on an event when relayed fronm two perspectives! Sanchez' disillusionment with the failures his children have turned out is set aside the traumatized Roberto- rejected, unloved, beaten as a child...and who (for perhaps that very reason) goes rather off the rails...

An absolute tour de force. ( )
  starbox | Jan 10, 2021 |
An anthropological documentary on the lives of four children and their father in the Mexico City slums relies on the words of the five protagonists themselves.
  antimuzak | Dec 7, 2005 |
Showing 3 of 3
no reviews | add a review

» Add other authors (4 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Oscar Lewisprimary authorall editionscalculated
Zins, CélineTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.
For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.
Canonical title
Original title
Alternative titles
Original publication date
People/Characters
Important places
Information from the French Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Important events
Related movies
Epigraph
Dedication
I dedicate this book with profound affection and gratitude to the Sanchez family whose identity must remain anonymous
First words
I can say I had no childhood.
Quotations
Last words
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Information from the French Common Knowledge. Edit to localize it to your language.
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

A pioneering work from a visionary anthropologist, The Children of Sanchez is hailed around the world as a watershed achievement in the study of poverty--a uniquely intimate investigation, as poignant today as when it was first published.   It is the epic story of the Sánchez family, told entirely by its members--Jesus, the 50-year-old patriarch, and his four adult children--as their lives unfold in the Mexico City slum they call home. Weaving together their extraordinary personal narratives, Oscar Lewis creates a sympathetic but ultimately tragic portrait that is at once harrowing and humane, mystifying and moving.   An invaluable document, full of verve and pathos, The Children of Sanchez reads like the best of fiction, with the added impact that it is all, undeniably, true.

No library descriptions found.

Book description
Haiku summary

Current Discussions

None

Popular covers

Quick Links

Rating

Average: (4.2)
0.5
1
1.5
2 1
2.5
3 4
3.5
4 10
4.5 3
5 10

Is this you?

Become a LibraryThing Author.

 

About | Contact | Privacy/Terms | Help/FAQs | Blog | Store | APIs | TinyCat | Legacy Libraries | Early Reviewers | Common Knowledge | 203,286,488 books! | Top bar: Always visible