A Crooked Path

I wouldn't describe "A Crooked Path" as a romance. It's foremost a love story, a love story about a boy for his father and that boy without his father, and then a man trying to fill the hole in his heart left by his father. Manny -- the boy and the man -- does find his way into filling that hole -- with an unselfish love for an almost unloveable old man. But it takes work, and work is what Manny knows how to do. This book has a lot of layers -- you can read it as a story about race relations. about prejudice, and about abandonment. I was hooked from the opening scene, when Manny's father abandons his 12-year-old son in a gut-wrenching way. Whatever I expected to happen, that wasn't it, but it shapes the entire novel. It's a powerful book, and a powerful look into a man's heart.

Immigration is a hot button now. Everyone has an opinion. Annette Smith tells the other side of the story. Manny Ortega's father walked away from the family, and life has been rough. Manny made the hard, dangerous trip from Mexico to Texas, looking for work to support his mother and siblings. Now he's in his mid-thirties, working for Owen Green, who is cranky and bigoted. He thinks Manny is someone to order around, not his equal, and never will be. Now Owen is sick and Manny is running the ranch. Chaney, Owen's daughter, comes to visit and she and Manny fall in love. How can they tell Owen they plan to marry? Annette Smith lives in Texas and is familiar with the problems of immigration and racism. A Crooked Path is a thought provoking story of a man who is just struggling to do his best in a world where the odds are always stacked against him. Different and compelling.

I thoroughly enjoyed A Crooked Path, the second novel I've read by Annette Smith. Her characters are flawed and real and compelling, and she does a fabulous job of writing from the male point of view. Owen Green was such a complex secondary character. I felt like I knew him--and felt the same frustration-yet-deep-love that Manny felt for his employer. This is a book you close with a sigh because the ending is perfect.

In Mexico, Manny Ortega grew up without a father as his dad abandoned the family. Desperate to care for his family, Manny came to Texas to find work in which he could send money home. Finally obtaining legal status, Manny gets a job on the cattle ranch of Texan Owen Green. Owen thinks Mexicans are scum and treats Manny as such. However, Manny refuses to give up on his dreams of caring for his family so he puts up with Owen's crap. However, the relationship between the immigrant employee and his prejudicial gruff employer abruptly changes when Owen's daughter Chaney meets Manny; as they fall in love with one another. The second Eden Plain romance (see A BIGGER LIFE) stars Manny, who is a sympathetic hard working Mexican immigrant who simply wants to provide a better life for his loved ones back home. However, the more interesting relationship is between the two men that changes from stereotypical scorn by the American to respect and more. Although the ending feels like a gimmick to foster behavioral modification, A CROOKED PATH is a strong relevant look at immigration although fence builders and sitters will be unhappy that Manny is not a killing terrorist, but simply a caring family man. Harriet Klausner