The Flowers, by Dagoberto Gilb, is a coming of age story about 15 year old Sonny Bravo, a Mexican American boy living with his mother and new step father.
This is a very well written story that deals with the issues of being first and second generation American of Latino descent and feeling not quite one thing, not quite the other, not sure which you even want to be, yet life goes on.

If you, like me, enjoy the magical realism of many Latino books, there isn't any here. I didn't take stars off because of what this book isn't, but I did wish he'd used some of it, because I did want something magical to happen for Sonny.

The writing is well done, and the use of both Spanish and English in the dialogue helps flesh out the characters and story. Don't let the sprinkling of Spanish words scare you, the context clues explain them very well. The device just keeps the themes in the forfront of the story.

The book isn't action packed, which makes the end seem to come up out of no where, and I personally left it thinking "what on earth is he going to do now?" Most of the characters are very well drawn and rounded, especially the Latino characters, but the Anglos come across more stereotypical an unlikeable, always wanting something from the Latinos in the story and not quite treating them like human beings.

Again, this is very well written, and I enjoyed it. Some of the scenes (there are no chapter breaks, only scene breaks) are beautifully written, to the extent I may add one or more to my American Dreams unit with my students. The book did have some draw backs, manly in the characterization of the Anglos, and the ending that felt really unresolved. Otherwise a good book. ( )

Gilb is genius at taking the smallest of moments and looking at them in breathtaking, authentic, surprising ways. This book is no exception. His tender, sensitive, witty protagonist transcends the ordinary over and over, even when he thinks about music and noise and sees the corresponding light and color. Gorgeous writing throughout. ( )

It's nice to read adult novels about Hispanic kids. But this book didn't wow me. Instead I kept reading it to see what was going to happen, but not too much did. The kid grew up. Sonny Bravo is a smart kid who follows his slutty mother around. She marries a white man who owns apartment buildings and he ends up being the errand boy--painting, taking out the trash, etc. In the process he meets everyone in the apartment building and they all teach him a lesson of some sort. One teaches him about lust. An old Russian man teaches him quiet lessons about being a man. Another young girl teaches him about love and letting go. through it all, Sonny grows up and learns a lot. He helps a young girl escape to Mexico and survives some racial violence. All in all, this book interested me, and I'm glad I read it. But I'm afraid I won't remember too much about it in a month or too. ( )