The Short Sweet Dream of Eduardo Gutierrez [Paperback]

Jimmy Breslin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 25, 2003

The Short Sweet Dream of Eduardo Gutiérrez is a towering achievement by one of America’s most respected journalists. A work of conscience that travels from San Matías Cuatchatyotla, a small, dusty town in central Mexico, to the cold and wet streets of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, this searing exposé chronicles the life and tragic death of an undocumented worker, along with broader issues of municipal corruption and America’s deadly and controversial border policy.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Jimmy Breslin's The Story of Eduardo Gutierrez tells the unspeakably sad tale of a young illegal Mexican immigrant who died working at a New York City construction site. The man, who drowned in November 1999 after falling three stories into wet cement, was employed by a builder--"a crook with blueprints" Breslin writes--whose record of building code violations was long and well known, but who stayed in business because of his "untouchable" political status. Breslin weaves Gutierrez's story with one of blatant corruption reaching from Brooklyn's Hasidic community through Rudolph Giuliani's administration and Hillary Clinton's senatorial campaign to her husband's last-minute presidential pardons. Breslin writes with white-hot anger and thorough disgust--he says of New York officials that "many are paid and few are apprehended." At the center is the shy, 22-year-old Gutierrez, whose journey to help his family ended in loneliness, exploitation, fear, and, finally, death. --H. O'Billovitch --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

When a building under construction in Brooklyn collapsed on November 23, 1999, Eduardo Gutierrez, a 21-year-old Mexican day laborer working on the third floor, fell face-first into liquid concrete below. Trapped, he suffocated to death. Here, longtime New York newspaper columnist and prolific author Breslin (I Want To Thank My Brain for Remembering Me) gives voice and respect to the powerless like Gutierrez. He compassionately portrays the drudgery and loneliness consuming the lives of hardworking but undocumented immigrants while fearlessly revealing the questionable procedures and corruption that enabled the builders to develop their shoddy structures. At times, however, Breslin's snipes at public figures such as Hillary Clinton and Rudolph Giuliani are only tangentially relevant to the story. And in describing the victim's early life in Mexico, the author quotes dialog despite the improbability of having overheard these conversations. By including this kind of speculation in a journalistic work, Breslin risks compromising the veracity of a story that needed to be told. All the same, Breslin skillfully engages the reader with transitions in time, cleverly turned phrases, and segues into fascinating topics such as Russian immigrants, Hassidic Jews, the Williamsburg Bridge, and the dangers encountered at the Mexico-U.S. border. Recommended for all public libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 10/15/00.] Elaine Machleder, Bronx, NY

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Three Rivers Press (February 25, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1400046823
• ISBN-13: 978-1400046829
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #724,844 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a sad tale given justice by a great writer, March 23, 2002

By 

Larry Mark "editor of MyJewishBooks.com" (nyc) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Short Sweet Dream of Eduardo Gutierrez (Hardcover)

Justice shall you pursue. This is Jimmy Breslin at his best, it reads like he talks, which can cause you to read a sentence twice or three times, but you get used to it. Eduardo Gutierrez was an illegal immigrant from Mexico; he was barely 21 years old when he was killed in a construction accident in Brooklyn on November 23, 1999. Born in San Matías Cuatchatyotla, to a very shy 15 year old woman, he lived a lonely life filled with fear in Brighton Beach/Brooklyn, sharing one bathroom and an apartment with 8 other illegal men, always in fear of capture and deportation. His life ended in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, when Eduardo fell three stories and drowned in wet cement. The builder, his employer, hired and exploited illegal workers with impunity. Breslin characterizes him as "a crook with blueprints." Everyone knew his long record of violations, but he was untouchable; he was a friend of Giuliani administration, his bagman had given Giuliani's campaign $83,000 in 1996. Eugene O. and his son Richie (a police chaplain wannabee who ran to Belgium to avoid the law he loved so much) were politically connected in the powerful Satmar-Hasidic community. In 1993, a city inspector cited his construction project as the worst building he had seen in a decade. After Eduardo's death, the press forgot about him. But Breslin went to his funeral in Mexico and came back to the USA over the border like the other illegal workers, citing the Border Patrol's stats on drownings and deaths on the route. This is Eduardo's recreated story, filled with stories of his struggle to get to NYC and the aftermath of his death. So much of New York is built on illegal labor, so it is important to read