Customer Reviews

Enchiladas, Rice, and Beans

5 star:		(9)
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I enjoyed the stories in Enchilada, Rice and Beans, but my favorite was the one about El Gato, who is a character bigger than life in all that we find out about him at the party in his honor. Reveles tells some good stories and I think they don't have to be super great to please the critics,just warm enough to encourage a good look at out neighboors to the South, who embrace life slightly differently in some ways, and yet just like us in others. Very enjoyable.

What an extraordinary writer! I'm jealous! How can one person be so talented? The book is so sweet, so full of heart, so sad and so delightful all at the same time. Reading it is like eating the best feast you can imagine, with all your taste buds engaged. I can't wait to read the next book: "Chips and Salsa".

One Saturday each month I do volunteer work in Tecate, Mexico, a dusty border town southeast of San Diego. I'm beginning to think I know something about Tecate; some of its people, restaurants, a nice rancho hotel five miles to the south, its language, and even the glow of the stars in the dry night sky.

What I never knew about Tecate's soul, however, could fill a book.

Enchiladas, Rice, and Beans is the book.

Daniel Reveles, a Los Angeles native of Mexican parents, grew tired of the entertainment industry and moved to a villa on the outskirts of Tecate. It is there he concocted the novelas, or tales, that comprise Enchiladas, Rice, and Beans.

The first tale, "Of Time and Circumstance," chronicles the first weekend that the narrator (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Reveles!) spends in Tecate. He has driven down from Los Angeles, unannounced, to meet Felix Fernando Espinoza Gil, a.k.a. El Gato (as in Felix The Cat). El Gato is a Mexican lawyer who has arranged his purchase of a nice, quiet piece of land near Tecate, where you can keep a horse and "ride through endless valleys scattering your cares along the wayŠin the arms of your mistress, the wind."

To arrange the transaction, he has spoken with El Gato and his secretary many times on the telephone. In their conversations he discovers a myriad of subtle cultural differences, yet many similarities which bind them, not the least of which is their discovery of numerous words which are identical in Spanish and English. He thinks that he will immediately recognize El Gato from the mental picture he has drawn.

El Gato, however, is not in town when the narrator arrives. Instead, he meets Graciela, El Gato's enchanting and beautiful secretary, who, despite a ring on her finger, promises to escort him to a party honoring El Gato that evening. She provides an undercurrent of sensuality and mystery during the narrator's quest to meet El Gato.

El Gato, he learns, is politically powerful, but has a heart of gold. He sponsors a baseball team at the orphanage, and pampers his ailing mother in Mexico City by hand-delivering her favorite American doughnuts. He drives daily to Ensenada (a good hour's drive) where he comforts a ten year old girl who is dying of leukemia.

The novela ends with a twist, as elegant and graceful as an O Henry tale. Immediately after reading it I re-read it, not to see what I had missed, but to linger in its warm glow.

The first story was my favorite, but each has its charm. A memorable assortment of characters grace the pages: Jeemy, a slightly shady American businessman who seeks the Mexican easy life, ignoring warnings that his life in the tropical fast­lane may soon hit the skids. Father Reuben, a priest who is wise enough to know the corrupting effect of too much charity. Ismael Cacabelos, or "Big Caca," a customs agent whose authority was useless when his prized Hereford bull was placed on top of his barn by townsfolk fed up with his petty extortion.

Taco vendors, housewives, farmhands, fortune­tellers, and roosters that crow in Spanish fill the pages of Enchiladas, Beans, and Rice, a delicious combination course which left me hungry for more.

Synopsis #2
As a master musician writes notes on a page, Mr. Reveles writes beautiful words. Marching across the page is harmony, rhythm, cadence, emotion and sensibility. It's all there and more. You feel good as you read this book. The people are real, even though (in the eyes of a gringo) some of the situations seem a bit unusual.

But Mr. Reveles makes them believable with his convincing infectious writing. One becomes hooked by his interesting style and his realistic use of dialogue.

He makes the reader want to know more about what makes THIS author tick. May the river in Tecate always run uphill. And may Mr. Reveles be inspired to write more

I don't know when I've read a book that I enjoyed any more. After 17 years of life in Mexico, I KNOW that this author knows what he's talking about. Wonderful insights into Mexican life and that great mystery--Mexican Macho.
The chapter about Casa Grande and Casa Chica was just dead on...Makes me want to meat Daniel Reveles.

Sorry - I couldn't help but continue the conceit of the book, that this is a plate full of "chismes" (tales) from Tecate, Mexico... tales that are truly delightful to the palate.

You will meet a host of intriguing characters, from El Gato, a man who is larger than life, and resident of my favorite novela, "Of Time and Circumstance"; to Fito, who fulfills a promise in "The Man In White"; to our un-named narrator, our "servidor". Mexico and the city of Tecate are characters too. The settings and happenings are ordinary, but imbued with magic, which is part of the delight.

Another reviewer states that this isn't a true depiction of Tecate, and I have no doubt that they are correct. For instance, I'm sure the peasants aren't actually blissfully happy in their poverty. But one of fiction's jobs is to take us to places that don't exist, and in that, the book succeeds admirably. And if the stories make you want to learn more about Mexico, then so much the better!

This is probably the best author you've never read. Pick up a copy ASAP! I can't wait to get a hold of his other two books... my mouth is watering in anticipation!!!

A fun book of entertaining short stories about the people who live in the small border community of Tecate, Baja, Mexico. Good insight as the author, tho American-born, lives there on his rancho. Several surprise endings, some superstition. The first romantic tale is so engaging it's worth the price of the book.

I really love this book...my opinion is a little biased having the author being my Papi! Every time I want to escape from the hustle of every day life I just grab my worn copy of this book and read!

THIS BOOK WA ASSIGNED TO ME BY MY TEACHER AND AFTER READING THE ENTIRE BOOK, THE THING I MOST REMEBER IS THE CHAPTER ON JEEMY A WHITE MALE THAT WANTS A CALM AND PEACEFUL LIFE AND HE IS RICH TOO.