By Tony Perez-Giese
312 pages
Okay, so for this category, I even went one step further and found a book set in my city. To be honest, it was a mistake this time. This book showed up somewhere...honestly, I don'the remember how I found it, but when I read about it I thought it would be a funny detective-type adventure. You know, like a farce. I was wrong.
As far as the basic story goes, it wasn't terrible. Basically, there is a guy who lives in El Paso and works in real estate in El Paso and across the Mexican border in Juarez. For those of you who don't know, just a few short years ago, Juarez was the deadliest city in the world. Ironically enough, it sits just across the border from the safest American city of its size, El Paso, TX. So, this guy goes missing, in Juarez, at the beginning of the book. His parents, his boss, the El Paso police, all basically decide that he is dead and that they should just move on with their lives. The only one who chooses not to give up is his brother, Jon. The book follows Jon on his journey from Denver to El Palo to Juarez to search for his brother. Although he gets no help from officials, he does meet a couple people who are willing to sacrifice anything to help him.
Here's what I absolutely hated and was offended by in this book. It's racist and stereotypical. Through our main character, the author describes El Paso as a terrible place. I mean, he describes everything as run down and covered in dirt. I mean, sure, it's the desert, but it's not just a dust bowl. He describes 90% of the people as poor and stupid, with the other 10% crazy rich and extremely unethical. The anglos talk with thick Texan accents, which don't really exist in El Paso. He mixes in names of streets and bars that are familiar to the people of El Paso, but still paint them in negative light. Oh, and apparently every member of the army is a raging alcoholic.
So, as I read this, I tried to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. I thought maybe he's never actually been to El Paso and is only writing on what he's heard or bias stories he had read. So, when I reached the end, I read the Acknowledgments to see if it gave any insight. Turns out this guy's brother has lived in El Paso for like 14 years. His Acknowledgments is a list, as he puts it, "...of all the good folks in EPT and Juarez..." He also talks about how welcoming the community is and how it isn't far-fetched for people to form unlikely bonds and work together to help each other selflessly. So, this just made me more angry. Why paint the community as "an armpit" when you know, very well, that it's not?
So, unless you have a deep hatred for El Paso, Juarez, or Mexicans, do not read this book.
1 Star