The Dark Side of the Dream

Despite some awkward writing and morally simplistic plot resolutions, Grattan-Dominguez's first novel offers a generally interesting account of a Mexican family's struggle to make it in America after emigrating to Texas at the start of WWII. When the family farm in Chihuahua fails, Sebastian Salazar sends his clan--led by his sons Francisco and Jose Luis--north in pursuit of the American dream. The novel's first half deals with the wartime heroism of Jose Luis's son, Miguel. After winning the Congressional Medal of Honor for his valor as a member of a Hispanic-American platoon fighting the Nazis in Italy, Miguel returns stateside only to confront the corruption of the construction company that has hired him to capitalize on his military record. The second half chronicles Francisco's efforts to unite the migrant farm workers in the Rio Grande Valley, focusing on a confrontational strike against the growers that brings tragic results. Miguel's tale is the more compelling, in part because the military efforts of Mexican-Americans in the war remain largely undocumented. The conclusions to both Miguel's and Francisco's stories are somewhat predictable and formulaic, and at times Grattan-Dominguez seems only to skim the surface of his characters' emotional lives. Still, the author (who directed a feature film about the Mexican experience, Only Once in a Lifetime), is a solid storyteller who here has created a tale that sheds new light on a recent yet shadowed aspect of American history. (Nov.)