And the Earth Did Not Devour Him

Quel libro!

...y no se le trago la tierra empieza con el cuento de un "ano perdido."

El narrador desconocido and otros migrantes Mexicanos dicen la historia
de amor, pobreza, familia, homicidios, y la perdida de espirito and confianza.
Sobre toda es el compasion para la raza.

Ahora, necesita una traducción nueva con mas poder y incluyendo todas
las palabras y frases.

This book, originally written in Spanish, describes in short vignettes the lives of Mexican American migrant workers in the '40's and '50's.

This is both thought provoking and horrific. There are so many awful incidents in this very short book: violent tragic deaths of childre and adults; workers, including children packed into a van so tightly they had to stand up for a several day trip to more northern fields; the constant abuse and harassment that the migrant children endured in local schools.

This book is eye opening and saddening. I am distressed to learn that current migrant workers face many of the same conditions.

Recommended especially for those interested in social justice issues.

I read this five or six months ago. It's my favorite work of Latino/a literature. I think Juan Rulfo is one of the obvious influences, and, while I might be imposing my own literary background on Rivera, I'd like to think that Sherwood Anderson is the other. This book is something like Winesburg, Ohio, except it's about migrant workers and the narrator is a young boy who's hiding underneath a house (as I recall).

I really can't say enough about it, though. You should give it a try, because I felt that it did a really, really outstanding job of representing the experiences of people who came to the United States decades ago, working and living in places that were difficult to adapt to due to linguistic, cultural, and social barriers. Read show more this, and read Rulfo's short stories again, and see if you agree with my admittedly distant memory of the connection between the two. show less

...y no se lo trago la tierra.... by Tomas Rivera or in other words ...And the earth did not devour him... was excellent, but I'm not sure how to tell you what it was. It was about Mexican-American immigrants based in a small town in Texas, which I believe is somewhat similar to Rivera's own personal background. Write what you know. The marketers describe the book as a novel, but it isn't. It isn't short stories either or vignettes. I'd like to call it an extended prose poem, one that spans a lifetime. It reminds me a little of the work of Letter to an Imaginary Friend by Tom McGrath that I read in college as a poetry major.

I read this book back in high school; it was a good read then and it's a good read now. And The Earth Did Not Devour Him is composed of fourteen short stories and thirteen vignettes. The accounts provide brief glimpses in the lives of Texan Mexican migrant farm workers and their families, during the 1950s. The book opens with "The Lost Year" the male protagonist tries to recall this lost year but can't seem to put it into words. The stories that follow are all fragmented memories of his forgotten time. These tales may be fiction but the harsh living conditions, deplorable working conditions, daily struggles and prejudice they encountered are not. Tomas Rivera did a wonderful job. Recommended.