Echo Park, the Los Angeles neighborhood down the hill from Chavez Ravine, is the setting for this novel-in-stories-a vivid portrayal of the lives of Mexican Americans who live and work there. Skyhorse (Mexican himself, but given his stepfather's last name) weaves his characters-migrant farm workers, gardeners, dishwashers, bus drivers, house cleaners, gang members-in and out of his stories in various time frames. These are the people we pass every day and never give much thought. Now Skyhorse demands our attention as he deftly humanizes their stories. We meet Felicia, the cleaning woman for a wealthy couple who becomes the wife's only real friend, and Felicia's mother, who sent Felicia away when she was four. And Efren, a bus driver whose strict adherence to the rules of the Los Angeles MTA insulates him from feeling remorse over a preventable tragedy, and his brother Juan, a gang member who escapes by joining the army. Each is trying to make a life where "everything is paid for in cash and sweat." Eye-opening and haunting, Skyhorse's novel will jolt readers out of their complacence. --Deborah Donovan 

 

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