In this autobiographical work, the author attempts to put forth his views on a number of topics within a personal context. He does this within the framework of his being Mexican-American. His parsing of the effect that education had on his life is both interesting and food for thought. While education provided a means of connecting to the world outside his cultural enclave, it also created a distance between him and his cultural roots. As he assimilated into the larger world outside his immediate cultural milieu, it created a divide between him and his parents. As they remained in their self-contained, unassimilated world, only their mutual love for each other was able to bridge the chasm that education created, for figuratively they no longer spoke the same language.
Likewise, the impact and influence that his early Catholic parochial school experience had on him resonated with me, as I myself was a product of such schooling. His reminiscences brought back many memories for me, most of them positive ones, despite some of the obvious pitfalls inherent in that sometimes narrow, parochial education framework that often favored rote learning over intellectual or critical thinking. Indeed, his love of reading, as is mine, emanated from that early educational experience, which greatly emphasized reading. The impact and influence that Catholicism had on him had are fertile grounds for discussion in the context of liturgical reform and its effects upon community. As a Catholic having lived through the reforms initiated by Vatican II, I understand and appreciate his analysis on the demystification of the liturgy and the loss of the mystical in its transition from Latin into a vernacular language in its celebration of the concept of community. These reflections are intermingled with his thoughts on the Catholicism that he was taught in school by the nuns, a Catholicism that was influenced by the "bleak melancholic strain" that runs through Irish Catholicism. Having been taught by Irish nuns as a child, this, too, resonated with me. I also remember well those lessons taught through the strict use of the Baltimore Catechism, a fairly dogmatic and rote approach to Catholicism that is, for the most part, no longer employed.
The author's personal educational experiences and reflections have caused him to formulate certain views on bi-lingual education and affirmative action. His views on these issues are the very same views that I hold. Being a Cuban-American, I relate to many of his experiences as a Mexican-American, and his careful analysis of these issues hits home in many ways. Integrated into his analysis is a certain amount of irony. I agree that, oftentimes, a minority who has succeeded academically and professionally is often marginalized by society, relegated to speaking for all minorities, as if one size fits all. Missing from the equation, now a parody of social reform, is the fundamental issue of class. It is an issue that is largely unaddressed n in these programs of social reform. For those who claim that the author was the beneficiary of affirmative action, it should be noted that the author would have been able to get into Stanford, where he went to college, on his own merits, as he was certainly not educationally disadvantaged. Moreover, as a scholar who desired the intellectual stimulation of academic life, he chose to give it up as a form of protest against affirmative action. Instead, he became a noted essayist and social critic.
What is also of interest in this book is what is missing. As I read the book, the sense of estrangement from his family was palpable, as was his loneliness and the lack of any mention of social congress. His was, indeed, a solitary existence, as if the author were not yet in touch with a part of himself that he had sublimated. His sexual identity is a totally blank slate within the pages of this book, as if a portion of himself had been excised. Where it is indirectly alluded, it is ambiguous, at best, referred to as sexual anxieties. At Stanford, he notes, however, that he began to have something of a "conventional" sex life". This, I felt was a curious use of the adjectival and more meaningful within the context of what is not discussed. His mother called him, "Mr. Secrets", ostensibly because he told her little about his work in San Francisco. As a mother, I suspect it is probably because she already knew at some level what the author was reluctant to reveal at the time, even to himself. Later on, the author made a declaration that was probably already subliminally known to his family. As did his educational advancement, this secret may have also contributed to his feeling of estrangement from his family and his culture. After all, in the world of machismo, the concept of homosexuality is one that many traditional Latino families still have difficulty accepting. It took the author many years to come to grips with his sexual orientation. It was only years later that he publicly acknowledged what is evident to the discerning reader of this book.
While the author has a voice that should be heard, his style of writing is often pedantic and somewhat strained. The construction can be quite awkward and stilted, as if the author were stylistically distancing himself from his own life. So, while I find his critical analysis of certain issues to be on point and often brilliant, the style in which he conveys his thoughts, at times, acts as a distraction and an irritant. Still, for those readers who can look past some of the stylistic bombast, they will find a wellspring of insightful, critical analysis of social issues.
