Tortilla Curtain: Amazon.ca: T Boyle, Silverman: Books

Frequently Bought Together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Things They Carried

by Tim O'Brien

4.5 out of 5 stars (370) CDN$ 16.75

The Secret Scripture

by Sebastian Barry

5.0 out of 5 stars (1) CDN$ 13.51

The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich are Rich, the Poor are Poor--and Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!

by Tim Harford

3.4 out of 5 stars (5) CDN$ 15.33

Shadow Of The Wind

by Carlos Zafon

4.6 out of 5 stars (66) CDN$ 14.60

People Of The Book

by Geraldine Brooks

4.5 out of 5 stars (6) CDN$ 12.05

› Explore similar items

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

Boyle's latest concerns two couples in Southern California?one a pair of wealthy suburbanites, the other illegal immigrants from Mexico.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Go tell it in the valley: Boyle's newest novel is, according to the publicist, "a timely, provocative account" of immigration in central California. With a 100,000-copy first printing and a 25-city tour, you know the publisher expects this book to be big.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Product Description

Inside This Book (Learn More)

First Sentence
AFTERWARD, HE TRIED TO REDUCE IT TO ABSTRACT terms, an accident in a world of accidents, the collision of opposing forcesthe bumper of his car and the frail scrambling hunched-over form of a dark little man with a wild look in his eyebut he wasn't very successful. Read the first page

Explore More
Concordance

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover

Tag this product

(What's this?)

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

Customer Reviews

120 Reviews

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(8)

Average Customer Review

3.9 out of 5 stars (120 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most helpful customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Will the REAL Topanga Canyon please stand up!, Jul 11 2007

By	Adira Rotstein "Scifi Degby" (Toronto) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Many people have already mentioned the lack of characterization in this book and the way Boyle uses the people in this story as symbols rather than actual well rounded human beings, as well as his tendency to overwrite, describing a single event with two or more contradictory similes.

However, no has as yet discussed the fact that the depiction of Topanga Canyon in the book is a complete fabrication, leaving me to wonder if the author has ever actually been to Topanga Canyon at all. I have spent a lot of time there over the years and would like to say that there are no gated or ungated subdivisions in the actual Topanga Canyon. The Canyon community consists of individual houses, precariously built into a wild forested valley along Topanga Canyon Boulevard which winds its way for miles and miles through the Topanga mountains, alongside Topanga State Park. It would be impossible to build a housing development in this area because there is not enough flat land to do so. It is sort of like a little hippie village in the mountains. You would never know you are twenty minutes from LA there as everyone goes around in super casual comfortable clothes, unlike the characters in the novel, and rainboots because it is often muddy in all seasons except summer. The people I met in Topanga are by and large later day hippy freethinkers, older surfers, proffesors, musicians, actors, part-time pot growers and the complete opposite of the brand name and status obsessed people of the story. There are people with money there, but you would never think it by the way people act or dress and some of the cars you see around. Topanga is actually probably one of the safest and most tolerant communities in America. I didn't see any mention of Topanga Days, the Topanga Festival or the Topanga parade in the book, which is kind of like a small, better organized Woodstock, all of which are very big deals for a true Topangite or the problems of frequent rocks slides, roads washed out by mud or rain in the winter and the threat of brush fires in summer.

I realize that Boyle's aim in creating the book was to show the wide gap between the standards of living of illegal Mexican immigrants and the wealthy whites in Southern California, however his false depiction of Topanga Canyon detracts from the realism of his book and unfairly tars a wonderful community with a very nasty brush.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

4.0 out of 5 stars I'll have another please, Mar 7 2005

By	S.T.Waller - See all my reviews

This book is stunning and provocative. Its emotional core is able to be both realistic and gut-wrenching, at the same time that it is tragically comic -- a feat T.C. Boyle is famous for. I was moved to tears and I chuckled with derision, but never have I seen familiar headlines interpreted in such a moving and personal way. Boyle does set out to 'lay our cult of hypocracy on the line,' and does that, but he fails in any one particular area: he gives in far too much to the predominant sterotypes. Merely regurgitating sterotypes is useless and makes for flat reading, and it does not help us overcome them. It is, however, a good read, and Boyle's style is one of the freshest alive today. And lest you think that I'm criticising him here, I'm not, for Boyle has the ability to take these sterotypical persons and turn things around, much in the same way that the author Jackson McCrae does in his "Children's Corner,"-another stunning achievement. But Tortilla Curtain also has something that no other book of Boyle's has-insight and justice of the human heart.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

2.0 out of 5 stars just dreadfull, Jun 27 2004

By	maggie walsh (redwood city, ca usa) - See all my reviews

i really thought that this book was poorly written, it had a bad view on the mexican ways. it made me feel anger, sadness, embarrasment, and just plain sorryness towards the author. i hope he has writttne better books than this one.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 120 customer reviews...

Most recent customer reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Ahhh
Predictable storyline and nothing new. I read it for a college English class and I just it was boring. Read more

Published on Jun 7 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking, Worth the Read!
I was recommended to read this book by one of my social justice professors at Pepperdine University. This book was so thought provoking. Read more

Published on May 31 2004 by Sabrina

3.0 out of 5 stars Excess Melodrama
I'm a T.C. Boyle fan, in that I've read several of his books and tend to enjoy them enough to read another. Read more

Published on May 21 2004 by B. Poelman

3.0 out of 5 stars Disturbingly over the top
Boyle certainly makes his point here, presenting the issues he raises with stark clarity. In the intersection of the lives of the Ricon's (a pair of illegal immigrants living... Read more

Published on April 27 2004 by J. P Spencer

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fantastic and Intriguing Read
This is one of the best books I've read in a long time. It was actually assigned for a college English course, but I think it's enjoyable even outside of the classroom setting. Read more

Published on April 22 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Boyle Burns with Intensity
I will keep this short. T.C. Boyle is at his best here, bringing us to a familiar world with familiar dilemmas that come to a head, leaving his characters transformed as well as... Read more

Published on Mar 3 2004 by Barry Fitzsimmons

5.0 out of 5 stars The Haves and the Have Nots...
Contrasting the lives of a smug, spoiled American couple living the good life and a struggling Mexican illegal and his wife just trying to stay alive, the book is very believable... Read more

Published on Mar 2 2004

1.0 out of 5 stars HORRIBLY INACCURATE
I can not begin to describe my disgust with this novel. The way he sets out this farfetched situations just surprises me. Read more

Published on Jan 6 2004 by A Mexican-American With a true...

3.0 out of 5 stars Essential Issue Addressed, But Writing Needs Editing
There were many aspects of this novel that were less than refreshing. For one, the writing was so superfluous in description that it became a slight annoyance to me. Read more

Published on Dec 20 2003 by fra7299

1.0 out of 5 stars Self indulgent trash
The book was so poorly done, with so very many flaws it will agravate any reader. I thought Steinbeck could be depressing, this guy had Steinbeck beat, with needless human... Read more

Published on Nov 21 2003

› See all 120 customer reviews...

Listmania!

Books I've read in the past few months: A list by Emelia Mcdonnell "Knitting Nomad"
A Wildly Random List of Great Reads: A list by Sue Hirst
My Favourite Books: A list by QueenElessar

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( B ) > Boyle, T.C.
Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary

Look for similar items by subject

Feedback

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Tortilla Curtain (Paperback)

Frequently Bought Together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Product Details

Product Description

From Publishers Weekly

From Library Journal

Tag this product

What do customers ultimately buy after viewing this item?

Customer Reviews

Listmania!

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject

Feedback

Your Recent History

	99% buy the item featured on this page: Tortilla Curtain 3.9 out of 5 stars (120) CDN$ 13.14
	1% buy A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali 4.2 out of 5 stars (8) CDN$ 15.33