Monday, January 31, 2011

BURRO GENIUS by Victor Villaseñor


“Mañana es otro milagro de dios.”
Tomorrow is another miracle of God’s.
Mexican Dicho-Saying

BURRO GENIUS is a memoir about a man who in my estimation is extraordinary.

Set in the1940s, Victor Villaseñor recounts with passion and searing detail his inspiring, sometimes incredulous story of growing up Latino, during one of the darkest periods for minorities in Southern California's history.

As a native Southern-Californian and Mexican-American in her early forties, I'm disturbed that this period in history is one I didn't know, until recently, even existed. (See: Mendez v. Westminster: Desegregating California)


Although Villaseñor learns English quickly and has an aptitude for math, he falls behind his peers in school, flunking the third-grade twice, because hard as he tries, he cannot read. Not for either of the two reasons ascribed to him by his teachers and fellow classmates, because he's a stupid, lazy Mexican, but because he has dyslexia, a developmental reading disorder that goes undiagnosed until he's forty-four-years-old, when his own children experience similar problems at school.



In spite of all the pain, loss and heartache that Villaseñor endures in his childhood, he crafts a memoir that's the literary equivalent of a family's embrace, penning a story threaded with vibrant imagery, magical realism, Mexican folklore and an intriguing (much appreciated) perspective on gender roles within the family.

I don't want to ruin this story by disclosing too much of his journey, but I'll end by saying that twice in his life, mentors played a significant role in inspiring him and encouraging him, in spite of his mysterious disability, to write. He persisted, studied, wrote every chance he had, until after 256 rejections, he accomplished his goal.

BURRO GENIUS is about what it takes to make the seemingly impossible possible. No excuses.

I. LOVED. THIS. BOOK.

Have you read any memoirs or fiction that have rocked you to your core recently? Or learned something about your ancestry's history that changed your world-view?

If so, I'd love hear about it.

***
"And I thanked mi papa who'd always said to me that we, los Indios, the Indians, were like weeds. That roses you had to water and give fertilizer or they'd die. But weeds, indigenous plants, you gave them nada-nothing; hell, you even poisoned them and put concrete over them, and those weeds would still break the concrete, reaching for the sunlight of God." -- Victor Villasenor, BURRO GENIUS 


UCSD Interview:



To learn more about Victor Villaseñor and the HBO mini-series due to start filming in the Spring of 2011 based on his other work, please visit his Author Site.

You can also check out his books at Barnes & Noble and Borders, among other book sellers.

9 comments:

  1. This is important. Thank you so much for posting it. Peace and all good,

    Diane

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  2. Sounds interesting...there's so much we don't know about the past, some if it dark and ugly. We need to remember these things so that they don't happen again.

    I pause my fiction reading sometimes to read a memoir or some other piece of non-fiction. I have a book called Children of the Jinn that I read in the 90's and I purchased it a few months ago because I want to read it again since it's about my ancestry.

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  3. Reading this book was like taking the blinders off. I'm sure I'm not the only one who doesn't know that Brown v. Board of Education wasn't the first school desegregation case. Makes me question our history books.

    On a lighter note, I'd always stayed away from memoirs for fear that they'd put me to sleep. Awful, huh? I was wrong! Will be reading more of them.

    Thanks for sharing Children of Jinn. You must be getting excited about your release? :)

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  4. Great post! I'm so glad you shared this! He is an amazing author...to say the least! I also shared this review on Facebook. Do you have a FB page???

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  5. Chantilly, gracias! I'd picked up Villaseñor's book by chance when the spine caught my eye at the book store. His story cut straight through to my heart, as you know, because of my experience with my son. I look forward to reading more of his work. Thank you for stopping by, Hermana and for sharing my post. Sending you a FB invite : )

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  6. Definitely, "Rain of Gold" is awesome, but moves a bit slower and is much longer. I really love it though for it's intimate portrayals of Mexican culture and the struggles that Mexicans faced during the Mexican civil war and then also their struggle to gain rights in the U.S. as Mexican Americans. Such important knowledge.

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  7. Wow, an inspiring post about an inspiring book. That's the literary equivalent of bacon-wrapped bacon! I loved Isabel Allende's "Mi país inventado" because it speaks of the same national bigamy I feel for Colombia and the US. Highly recommended!

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  8. I am definitely buying and reading this book; your post is so inspiring and shows that usually when we are not doing something is because we are making up excuses not to.

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I'd love to hear from you! Thank you for taking the time to comment. :-)