A Review of Barrio Boy

Galarza, Ernesto (2011). Barrio Boy. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

If I am honest, this book was a difficult read for me. I read all the time and I read a wide variety of genres. The writing was great and the content was interesting, but this book was intense. I found myself rereading sections all the time, especially in the first two sections, because I wanted to make sure I was understanding everything and picturing everything as accurately as possible. To state the obvious, I didn't grow up in a small mountain village in Mexico, so it took some time to wrap my head around the setting of the book. That being said, I greatly enjoyed reading about his life in Mexico and his transition in to life in America.

The only negative thing I have to say is completely based on preference. Most of the book was spent on Ernesto's life in Mexico. I understand that part of his life is important and it certainly was essential in laying the foundation leading into his acculturation. But I personally found his trials and experiences of adapting to life in the United States more interesting. That could be because I understand American culture so I didn't have to reread as much or it could be that I felt that connected a bit more with the class for which I read the book. Either way, I know I got a lot out of this book. It was detailed, informative, and mildly entertaining (meaning it made me laugh more than a few times).

I would give this book 3 stars and I would recommend it to anyone studying or curious about acculturation.

Comments

Immigration, Diversity, and the "Melting Pot"

Galarza, Ernesto (2011). Barrio Boy. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press. Pages 244-256 Once Ernesto and his family arrive in Sacramento, he tells of the location of his new home and mentions that although he lives in the lower part of town, there is no upper part of town because "no one could see the difference because the whole city was built on level land. We were not lower topographically, but in other ways that distinguished between Them, the uppers, and Us, the lowers." While I could get caught up in the implications of that statement, I will turn instead to the more thorough look into who lived in the same part of town as Ernesto. He seems surprised to discover that his neighbors are not only Mexican. There are people from Japan, China, India, Portugal, Italy, Poland, and Korea. The author also mentions that while "the foreigners made up the majority of the population of that quarter of Sacramento, the Americans had by no means give...

Ernesto's Early Education

Galarza, Ernesto (2011). Barrio Boy. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press. Pages 53-57, 123-125, 188-195, 200-202 Ernesto spends a good portion of the book describing his life in Mexico as a young boy in great detail. Some of the details he shares pertain directly to his early education. "Like many other mountain pueblos, Jalcocotàn had no school." Despite sending a petition to the government in an attempt to obtain a school, which the village was willing to build if a teacher were provided, the village didn't have a school or a teacher while Ernesto and his family lived there. It seemed like the people of Jalco valued reading, writing, and math skills; if they didn't they wouldn't have felt the need to provide their children with an education. Jalco may be a small mountain village containing only a few adults with a 4th or 5th grade education, but their desire to educate the youth is inspiring. The life style and jobs availa...

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