Tortilla Curtain

Slow and depressing. I gave up about a third of the way in.

I had a hard time getting into this one but I persisted and was glad I did. It was a pretty depressing book and made me feel sad, angry, guilty... The book really highlights the mass amount of misunderstanding that often lies between people from different backgrounds.

This book was a lot more rape-y than I expected. Not sure exactly how much rape I had expected, but the amount in the book was definitely more.

Also, I didn't like the character Candido at all. At first he had my sympathies, and we were building a relationship with that, but then he turned out to be a huge asshole. The terrible way he treats his wife, his bullshit machismo at the cost of not only his own health but that of his wife and unborn baby, his complete stupidity when dealing with other people (Mexican and American) - all of this destroyed the sympathetic relationship I had with the character. I just ended up hating him.

We listened to this book on the drive from San Francisco to Los Angeles and back, and it did pass the time. However, I will not be listening to the final hours of this book now that we are done with driving. I don't especially like the characters and I don't especially care what happens to them.

I gave this book 2 stars instead of one because it had the potential to be a good story. However, there were too many times when I skipped entire pages because the author went off track to useless details. I like a book with purpose, and I didn't feel this one had any. The ending wasn't clear to me. And actually, it didn't seem to have an end at all. Just trailed of.... I won't recommend to others.

The plot might make for a decent movie, but it wasn't a very well-written book.