Macho!

Heralded Latino writer’s first novel deals with the experience of illegal Mexican immigrant laborers in the United States Seventeen-year-old Roberto Garcia has big hopes for a future different from that of his compatriots in the highlands of Michoacán. Inspired by his thirst for the prosperous life that he dreams of on the other side of the border, Roberto steps onto the dangerous trail that so many immigrants have taken before him, a trail that leads him from his mountainous home into the dangers of the world outside. Before long, Roberto finds himself in the land of promise in the midst of golden fields and fertile fruit orchards where he can make more money in a week than he could have made in a year back home. Quickly he learns that the backbreaking work in vegetable fields under the powerful sun does not gain him the wealth, freedom, and power that he’d hoped. But even in that world of cramped trains, deadly deserts and horrifying conditions, Roberto is determined to make a place for himself.