Synopsis:
Through intensely passionate prose, this unique autobiography charts Salas' dramatic coming of age in the conflicting shadows of two older brothers: one a drug addict and petty criminal, the other an intellectual prodigy.
From Library Journal:
In his novels, Salas ( Tatoo the Wicked Cross , LJ 9/1/67) has written of the gritty and desperate world of young people in California. In this memoir, he re-creates his family life almost as a Manichean dialectic between his two brothers, Eddy and Al. Eddy is highly intelligent and hardworking. He studies at Harvard and owns a pharmacy. Al worms his way out of the army to become a professional boxer, ending up as a junkie willing to betray members of his own family for a fix. They both try to influence Floyd, who, as of course we already know, becomes a celebrated novelist. Salas's writing is so heartfelt and powerful that the memoir, as much about Al as about Floyd himself, succeeds in creating the suspense associated with fiction. His descriptions of amateur boxing matches and police surveillance of suspected drug users are especially wonderful, and the pathos of watching his own nieces and nephews die one by one is particuarly wrenching. Recommended for public libraries, particularly those serving Hispanic patrons.
- Harold Augenbraum, Mercantile Lib., New York
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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