hmmm….my initial impression of this book…well i thought it was a little odd that it was a childrens novel. although i do understand that the child is the narrator however i found it hard to follow in terms of who and what was being talked about. I dont know if this happened to only me but i found in hard (at the same time interesting) that we don’t know the narrato’s name or those of his family. come to think of it…we rarely in the book hear about names. (only a few). that’s why i found it a little complicated at times in terms of who they were talking about and to whom things were occuring. At the end of the book we see a lot of cursing which suprised me, as i heard that this was meant for children.

I also didn’t quite get the rythym of the book. Like, sometimes it would talk about one event, then another, that had nothing to do with eachother. Other times he would start talking about something and then go back in time. There was a flow…but it was a weird one. Not the usual chronological order that we’re all used too i guess..

Anyways, on the the contents of the book. I really enjoyed the little short stories that would be talked about. Although there was no major climax or action in the book, i thought it did a very good job in describing (from a child’s point of view) the realities of working campesinos.. I noticed that it touched on religion a lot (from the devil, to the church, to cursing god) which was interesting to see because of the different situations the boy was in and how he viewed religion.

I feel that maybe it was fragmented stories because it was symbolic of their fragmented lives in a way. The fact that they always had to travel and weren’t in one place for a long period of time is exaclty why the stories were short and there wasn’t actually any response to any of them. they just happened. there was no follow up.

I think there’s a lot more to this story that im still trying to piece together and im excited to here other people’s opinions on it!!

Este libro me recuerda mucho a una novella que leí el año pasado. Se llama Pedro Páramo de Juan Rulfo. Los dos autores han empleado una técnica distinto en estos cuentos. Es decir que la forma es un poco irregular. Nunca sabemos el nombre del personaje principal y durante las primeras páginas es difícil entender lo que pasa. No sigue una cronología regular tampoco. Aunque las descripciones de Martí y su empleo de adjetivos fueran difíciles de seguir, el estilo de escritura de Rivera es igualmente difícil de entender. Pero me gusta así que no sabemos todos los pedazos del rompecabezas hasta la última página.

Ya he leido la primera mitad de … y no se lo trago la tierra de Tomas Rivera y pienso que me gusta el libro. Su manera de escribir es muy informal, y como han dicho unos otros en la clase, el libro parece que estuviera una novela para jovenes. Hay unos elementos, por ejemplo el diseno de la portada, la talla de las palabras, que parece que el narrador es un chavo joven, y la manera de que esta escrito, que nos dice que es un libro para jovenes, pero creo que las temas de que se trata son mas profundas.

Yo tambien estaba un poco confundida de unas cosas como de quien estaba hablando y de que edad tiene el narrador y del orden de los cuentitos que no parece cronologico. Pero de todos modos me gusta los cuentos y no me importa mucho si no tienen nada de orden ni si me confunden un poquito.

Lo que me gusta mas de ese libro es su manera informal de escribir en espanol. Ese texto es mil veces mas facil de leer que el de Marti que era lo mas dificil que yo he leido en mucho tiempo. Rivera usa muchas palabras coloquiales de Mexico y America latina, por ejemplo todos los personajes siempre dicen “n’ombre” o “m’ijo”. Eso para mi es interesante porque nunca he visto esas palabras en un libro. Tambien me gusta la manera de que Rivera uso expresiones como “por favorcito” y “Diosito” porque eses dichos diminutivas tambien son bien mexicanos. Yo tambien tome nota de que Rivera siempre escribe luego…luego y que tambien siempre habla de la verguenza y del orgullo y el coraje. Todavia no se porque el escribio asi, pero tal vez hablamos de eso el lunes en clase.

Creo que ese texto es muy interesante y es una manera facil de aprender sobre la situacion social y economico de la gente chicana en los anos 1950.

So how many of you, like me, looked at …y no se lo tragó la tierra and thought that you were about to read a children’s book? Then, after even the first chapter, you felt you may have underestimated the content there within?

While reading this book, I feel like I’m stuck in a whirlpool: the chapters pull me in every direction (first person narrator, third person narrator, omniscient…) but I believe that they are all spinning me towards an inevitable end when all characters will come together. So far, this hasn’t happened, but I’m still eagerly waiting. [CAUTION: PLOT SPOILER!] When the boy in the beginning was shot by that old man I thought, “wow, this has got to be a central plot!” But I’m halfway into the book and haven’t heard a peep explaining the outcome of that scene (although I do have a few guesses as to the identity of the dead person who was thrown in the well).

It’s a little unnerving to read a book that doesn’t give names to its principal characters, and at times I am completely confused as to who’s speaking. But this gives me more of a pull towards the story. It makes me curious. I will often read a page two or three times until I actually understand (or at least have my guesses) about who is speaking and what they are talking about. At first I thought that the novel was a mix of 2 stories: one of the humans and one of the spirit world. I think this still might be the case and I’m eagerly awaiting the moment of the devil’s arrival amonst the humans (my guess so far is that he may already be there in the form of that not-so-righteous ‘fulano’ (p. 41)). But in all fairness, I love stories like this….as long as the ending lives up to its suspense.

I’m also curious why the author adds the repitition of ‘luego, luego’ to much of the dialogue. I guess this may be more obvious later………later 😛 (sorry i couldn’t resist!)

I’m enjoying the read immensely…especially the senses described (so many smells!!), and the inner monologues of the first person characters. This book exemplifies that old saying, “Never judge a book by its cover.”

Este libro es interesante por el estilo en que esta escrito. Esta narrado en numerosas cuentitas distintas involucrando varias caracteres. Parece que hay una tema de sentir siempre como extranjero en los Estados Unidos, maltratados por los Americanos y desfavorecidos. Por ejemplo, en el capitulo “es que duele,” un chico Mexicano esta involucrado en una pelea en escuela que no empieza el, pero cuando habla el principal de lo, dice: “The Mexican kid got in a fight and beat up a couple of our boys…they could care less if I expelled him…They need him in the fields…I know you warned me.” El chico esta identificado solamente por su raza, y lo mas facil solucion es a expelarle, sin preocupacion por su cuenta de los hechos, por su educacion, o por justicia. Tengo el sentido que el chico esta el unico Mexicano el la escuela y que ningun de los padres de los otros estudiantes van a preocuparse si el principal lo expela, tambien el principal presuponga que los padres del chico mexicano tampoco van a preocuparse, porque pueden usar su labor en las motas. Hay tambien otro aspecto de prejusticia cuando el principal expresa a su conversador que ya fue preavisado del peligro de acceptar un estudiante Mexicano y mezclarlo con los estudiantes blancos.

La verguenza tambien es una tema que se encuentra en muchas cuentas en la primera mitad de este libro. Verguenza en ser diferente, verguenza en la suposicion de ser sucio, etc., pero hay tambien una reaccion opuesta de coraje o orgullo en la recognicion de la absurdidad de estos preconcepciones e injusticias. El capitulo corto llamado “Una tarde el ministro…” lleva esta tema de verguenza. Enlo, los hombres en un pueblo y su iglesia, son todos avergonzados por un hombre blanco que supuestamente iba a ensenarles, pero en lugar de esto, toma todo sus tiempo del dia y la esposa del ministro.

Well, obviously, this is quite a change of pace from Martí’s work, and a welcome respite from the dictionary-heavy task of that reading. However, being written from a young boy’s perspective by no means detracts from the depth of the ideas presented. Some of the stories he tells are absolutely heartbreaking. Tales of encountering racism and unfair treatment from the gringos (pg 11? tragic) as well as the experiences he describes while staying with don Laíto and Doña Bone are emotionally harrowing. Rivera is certainly talented at creating a bond between reader and protagonist, as I felt my heart bleeding for this little boy. 

Hi!
My name is Juliana S., I’m 19 and from Brazil.
I’ve never had a blog so this might be interesting 😉
I’ve been living here since I was 11, and this is my second year at UBC.
I plan on graduating with a psychology major and a spanish minor, and then taking a year off to travel before going to grad school.
In my spare time I enjoy long romantic walks on the beach (haha jk)
See you all in class!