Happy Birthday Jesus

Not since Richard Wright's Native Son has there been such a scathing indictment in fiction of the institutional racism propagated and supported by white America, or a more horrifying account of the travails faced by minority members unfortunate enough to be born into poverty. Jesus Olivas is a human monstrosity, a Mexi c an boy raised in Northern California whose crimes include brutally raping a prostitute and maiming a priest. First-novelist and criminal lawyer Ruiz brackets Jesus's tortured upbringing in the Fresno ghettos and the abuse he suffers at the hands of his fanatic Catholic mother with the prison experiences that constitute his adult life. The sparse, simple prose lets the story tell itself, and in developing his lead character Ruiz never falls into the trap of trying to generate sympathy for Jesus or justify his actions. The prison scenes are particularly savage and disturbing, and while the courtroom passages stumble a bit, Ruiz manages to wring blood from the time-worn twin stones of Catholic guilt and repression. The supporting characters are briefly but fully drawn, particularly Jesus's grandmother, Ama, and Chole, the whore who becomes both his victim and the sole love of his empty life. Few readers will be able to forget the chilling experiences of a forlorn hero who's destined to take his place next to Bigger Thomas in the honor roll of seminal characters in American literature. (Mar.)