George Washington Gomez: A Mexicotexan Novel [Paperback]

Americo Paredes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1990

This first novel written in the 1930s by the dean of Mexican-American folklore charts the coming of age of a young Mexican American on the Texas-Mexico border against the background of guerrilla warfare, banditry, land grabs, abuses by the Texas Rangers and the overpowering pressures to disappear into the American melting pot.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"An absorbing, heart-rendering story told with sensitivity and wisdom..." -- Beaumont Enterprise

"Paredes evokes boyhood with more sympathy that anyone since Dickens... an excellent book." -- Austin American Statesman

Product Details

• Paperback: 302 pages
• Publisher: Arte Publico Press; Second Edition edition (January 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558850120
• ISBN-13: 978-1558850125
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #48,444 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A pivotal read in Texican American literature, March 12, 2001

By 

dikybabe "admeyer" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: George Washington Gomez: A Mexicotexan Novel (Paperback)

Most readers know Americo Paredes as the great folklorist that he was. Because his book George Washington Gomez was not published in the late 1930's when Paredes wrote it, only a rough draft version was released shortly before he died.

To me, this version of Texas historical fiction along the valley border presents a side to Mexican American settlement that few other books reveal. I find Paredes' story powerful and well worth reading.

Gualinto, little George Washington Gomez, is the American born son of his illegal immigrant parents; his father is an outlaw of some notoriety. The birth name his parents give him symbolizes their hope that he will become the leader of his people in America. But their hopes take a big detour as this little boy grows up in fictional Jonesville as a spoiled only son in a matriarchal household. With his father dead, the only strong male role for Gualinto is his reformed outlaw uncle.

Gualinto suffers the insults and taunts of growing up as a member of the poor and powerless society of South Texas. His family is subjected to the cruelities of racist Anglos, including the unattractive side of El Renche, the Texas Rangers. Even in an all Mexican American school for children, Gualinto is embarrassed and punished for his lack of academic accomplishment by the spinster Mexican American teacher . Those classroom scenes remind one of the cruelties found in Tom Brown's School Days and the writings of Charles Dickens.

Surrounded by love at home, treated kindly by some of the Jonesville citizenry, insulated from the cruelities exacted on his sisters who do not adhere to their mother's demands, Gualinto grows to adolescence and a time of continued social positioning that often leads to rejection.

The values that Gualinto develops reflect his survival in the South Texas that is his home. When he heroically departs the community to gain that all important college education, he also departs from the hoped for role his parents once projected. In the end, his story is one of betrayal and tragedy, but not unrealistic.

From having my senior Hispanic students read Gomez, I experienced feedback that was invaluable. They were amazed that such a novel, telling the side of many of their people existed. Tragic or not, the novel rang true for them. I recommend this novel over and over to students, fellow teachers, and readers. It offers an eye-opening view of another side of the South Texas story.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Novel, January 2, 2009

By 

Justin the Traveler "Justin" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: George Washington Gomez: A Mexicotexan Novel (Paperback)

I loved this novel and read it within a matter of a few days. I had to read it for my Mexican American Literature class. It is amazing that this book has never been edited and still is amazing. I wonder what Americo Paredes' other novels would have been like had he written more. The ending is a total shocker, but overall an amazing novel.

12 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad, but not great., October 6, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: George Washington Gomez: A Mexicotexan Novel (Paperback)

This book was okay. It was a first draft, and therefore it wasn't edited. I thought that it was historically accurate, and I liked the book up until the ending for its detail, imagery, and language. There was no correlation between the ending and the story, however. You can't skip about 4 - 8 years, and show a guy completely pro-Mexican and anti-gringo suddenly change into a man that lives with those he once hated, and scorns that which he once loved so much. That may be how the story in real life would have ended, but I personally don't like the idea of filling in all the details. I would have preferred to read an extra 100 - 200 pages to find out how Gualinto became who he became. Although I was disappointed in the last 20 pages, I was impressed by the 280 preceding it, so I gave the book 3 stars.