By the Lake of Sleeping Children: The Secret Life of the Mexican Border

Normally I read inscrutable fiction by James Joyce and other Ir1ish, in which meanings are hidden beneath deep overcoats and thick layers of linguistic pyrotechnics to get past the British censor, etc. And so it was like walking into bright sunlight for me to read an excellent author who so clearly, concisely, briefly, and openly reveals what he has to say. For Urrea truly is an excellently well-trained author in the modern honest, clear and concise school. He has served at Harvard University as a professor of expository writing, and unlike most such professors, he can also himself write. In his divided blood, as he explains in this book, run rivers of these border issues. His very being and essence is a border issue from before birth. He has devoted a good part of his life after birth to serving first hand and first-aid the border people. And he is a writer. He does not indulge here at any length in political rhetoric and preaching, spoonfeeding us explicitly by dictating to us the conclusions he wishes us to draw, as we have learned to expect on television news opinion shows such as O'Reilly, Coulter, etc., etc., which force their opinions, most often erroneous and fallacious, down our too willing and eager unthinking throats. Urrea is too great a writer for that. He presents the facts, just the facts, in brief vignettes easily read and understood, not obscure as I am also used to. Through unforgettable images he presents to us the reality of the border, of Baja California, of Tijuana, of Arizona, etc. This book reads easily, but unlike most easy readers, this book remains with you. The figures will continue to haunt you and to bring you to think for yourself. Indeed, the figures are so cleaning presented we can miss them, like observing a crucifixion quickly in the distance as we rush by on a long distance bus. Urrea keeps to an appearance of clean narrative presented in a straightforward manner, but the more his simply drawn images work on you, the more you see their multilayered resonances and meanings, their mythic qualities as archetypes brilliantly implanted nearly unnoticed within the narrative. Not only do we see clear examples of the mythic journey heroes of Joseph Campbell, but we hear them within the context of our contemporary sociopolitical reality. In particular, consider the sacrificial goat so cruelly slaughtered alive by the old gringo. This and other images provide powerful portals to deeper meanings in the tales, while remaining compelling vignettes of the tangible events in force in our day. This book will make you eager for further writing from Urrea, especially his Devil's Highway, which explores well and more in-depth these and similar issues. Both volumes make a valuable addition to any personal library. This is a great introduction; the other makes for solid further study. Please do not miss them, and, absent an ability to do the work in the field which Urrea has done so courageously and at great self-sacrifice,

Luis Alberto Urrea's "By the Lake of the Sleeping Childre"n is the haunting journalistic account of the Tijuana garbage pickers and dump residents. Urrea tells of the intense poverty and unbreakable spirit of the citizens who call the dump home. This novel is haunting. It is not fiction and is painfully blunt, but in an elegant way. Urrea makes no judgments upon his subjects, merely reports the impoverished conditions they live in and how they maintain the wherewithal to continue through each day. The narrative is so vivid that the reader will wish and hope that it is fiction, because to think of real people living in these conditions is almost unbearable.

I just finished By the Lake of Sleeping Children: The Secret Life of the Mexican Border, and I would recommend it to anyone who has a heart and open eyes. First, for the person who had a negative review of the book (2 stars), this is not "non-fiction" in the sense that you're used to. No where does the author state all he's writing is dry facts. He's a creative writer, and you can write creatively based on fact. It happens all the time. And why should the author be so PC by changing "gringos" to "American(o)s"? "Gringos" is to imply anglos, not Americans. Anyway, this book is definitely not for the faint of heart because at times is can be graphic in detail. I told my husband about some on the stories, the center theme being the dump, and he said, "what? they live in a dump?" He's Mexican. He's never heard of that. And he's heard many things more than the average person. The thing you just need to take away from this book is not the brutality but the knowledge that other people do live in extremely harsh situations. Whether you want to do something about it is another thing, but the most you can do is talk about it. Mexico is not the only country with such extreme poverty, and this book shouldn't be viewed and as only Mexico's truth. In the harshness, there is still life. The last chapter of the book demonstrates this. Also that people do try to help as much as they can. This would be a great book to teach in High School, but I doubt it would ever make the reading list.

I was scared and upset when I finally realized what the title of the book meant. I am a mexican-american, born on the U.S. side of the border. This book reminded me just how far away America is from Mexico, even though we are neigbors, we are worlds away. This book is blunt. Although it was a harsh reality check for me, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

We, as United States citizens take for granted all that we have and this book is a solemn reminder of all that we do have to be thankful for. Urrea gives character sketches of sorts on the impoverished families and orphaned children that live unseen by the world in their own world of the Mexican garbage dumps. A very sad tale about the suffering in Mexico that goes unnoticed. Thank you Urrea for opening my eyes and my heart to these children.