The Tortilla Curtain / T.C. Boyle / 355 pages

I was anxious to read this title after learning it was a former One-Read title picked by the regional library. It did not disappoint: the Tortilla Curtain was a well-written compelling view of 2 families from vastly different worlds. I was pulled in right from the start as one of the characters (Delaney) is jolted out of his comfortable upper-class world through an accident. His and his wife's (Kyra's) point of view is a familiar American one. However, the book also weaves the story of two homeless illegal aliens: Cándido, a thirty-three year old and his 17 year-old common-law wife, América.

The novel twists and turns and does not fold itself neatly into a feel-good narrative for which you might hope. Instead, it can be downright uncomfortable, as the Mexican couple's struggle to survive imparts a jarring triviality to the Americans' worries and "traumas." Each character undergoes tribulations that challenge and transform his or her world-view, not always for the better.

My husband and I listened to this audiobook (CD's checked out from Daniel Boone Regional Public Library) and were pleasantly surprised to learn that it was narrated skillfully by the author himself. We're looking forward to reading/hearing other titles by this author and would recommend the Tortilla Curtain without hesitation.