Daniel Chacon

In the novel I felt he was really making you feel like you got to know each one of the characters. I feel like I connected the most with Joey though. I can remember being in a new school and I would over exaggerate to make myself look a little better with the kids to fit in. In junior high and High school kids have a tendency to try to fit in. You never want to be the kid that sits alone or never gets invited to go to the parties. Joey felt this same way and so when he went to his new school in Medford he acted like he was in a gang in Fresno so he would get the respect of the other misfits in school and maybe kids would be so scared of the fact he was in a gang that they would like him more. This really ended up working great for him. He ended up with lots of friends and just was a little confused about who he really was. In one of the comments that were posted someone referred to Daniel Chacon portraying Mexicans in the wrong fashion. I don’t think he was trying to make it sound like all Mexicans were poor but more that Joey’s family wasn’t the wealthiest. When they moved he was considered wealthier than some of the other children. Also I don’t feel he was trying to imply that Mexicans were all from gangs. He did go into some detail about the part of Fresno Joey was from and that gangs were also from that part. He did not specifically say that Joey lived in a town were all the Mexicans lived and were in gangs. Just that were Joey would have to move back to in Fresno on that part of town your only choice is to be in a gang.
Now let me give you my opinion on the end of the book. The book was a little slow for me at the beginning and then as it comes to close it starts to really pick up. That was a little hard for me to understand that there is so much that you are left wondering about. You never know what happened to Joey that causes his father to attempt to murder him like the next door neighbor sees. Also does Joey end up with Leah or Amy? So many questions but that was the point we are all still asking ourselves these questions which lets us not forget about the book and if there was a sequel I bet over half of the people that read this book would go and buy it just to find out the ending. I think it takes a good writer to end a story like that.
I would recommend this book to people that like to hear family life stories and enjoy a little questioning. If you don’t you should look for something else. I look forward to reading other books by Daniel Chacon and also enjoyed meeting him at MJC he is a great speaker.