Calle 10

In his first full-length novel, oft-anthologized short-story writer Romero does a good job of portraying the trials associated with an impoverished life. But simply because a novel showcases a Chicano protagonist in a barrio setting does not mean it is necessarily moving or powerful. Calle 10 introduces us to Zero, a college-educated 30-year-old headed nowhere in a rooming house on ""Calle 10""--Tenth Street--in Ciudad Jimenez, near Oakland, Calif. With no prospects, drug-addled companions, addictive tendencies of his own and little hope for his own future, Zero often dreams of ways to escape his situation, but rarely does a thing, save ingesting drugs. Romero provides little insight into Zero's true motivations or lack thereof. It is both the lack of self-examination on Zero's part and the absence of a definitive conclusion to the work which makes Calle 10 a frustrating and disappointing novel. Despite some compelling writing, brazenly realistic at times, it reads like only a fraction of a much larger piece. As an author Romero has talent to spare, but one only wishes that in a novel-length book he had worked longer and more thoughtfully on his characterizations. (Sept.)