River of Traps: A Village Life

River of Traps is an exceptional story of the kindness of people. We meet Jacobo in the twilight of his life. He's set in his ways by this time. Though he never comes out and says it, he clearly enjoys the company of these interlopers who were warned by a Taos Realtor that they would not be welcomed in the mountains of New Mexico. He teaches them how to irrigate their land and spends time in the darkroom watching Alex develop film. In the process, he shares the example of his life and provides an education that, though different, is every bit as valuable and significant as what they learned on the east coast. River of Traps flows like few books I have ever read. Perhaps it is because it carries me back to the time I spent living beside the Sangre de Cristo in southern Colorado, but I don't think so for it is not the mountains or the landscape that interests me, but rather Jacobo. His life. His village. His people. Jacobo is gone, but his spirit lives on not only in El Valle but in many others who have so much to teach us if only we let them. I believe that is the message of this book, and it is a message worth sharing.

This is the second time I purchase this book. I gave the first one to a favorite brother-in-law-author not realizing how much I missed the ability to go back and re-read passages whenever I wanted. I can now do so, however my new River of Traps is already on loan to a friend! Asi es la vida. I live close to the River of Traps and treasure deBuys ability to so exquisitely write about these places that mean so much to me.

RIVER OF TRAPS is a collaborative tribute by William deBuys (text) and Alex Harris (photographs) to a friend and neighbor and to a mountain valley and village where they lived for some years. "River of Traps" is a translation of the "Rio de las Trampas," a mountain stream which flows off Trampas Peak, north of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and by the village of El Valle on its descent to the Rio Grande. But much more than a book about the Rio de las Trampas, this is a book about village life of the Hispanic "Nortenos" in Northern New Mexico and one Norteno in particular, Jacobo Romero. Romero was 78 in 1975, when deBuys and Harris, not long out of college and refugees from the societal upheaval of the Vietnam and Nixon years, settled in remote El Valle and tried their hands at small-scale mountain farming while they also pursued their respective careers as a writer and a photographer. Jacobo Romero was their neighbor, and he became their friend and their principal guide to the life of the Nortenos. DeBuys and Harris did not set out to create a book about Romero until after he died (around 1986 at the age of 87). In the words of Barbara Kingsolver in her "New York Times" review of the book, "Because it was assembled after the fact, their portrait of him has a pleasantly jumpy, associative structure, like human memory, and is blessedly free of the self-consciousness of a premeditated 'memoir.'" The book is a moving and affectionate portrayal of an anonymous (outside his family and village) but quietly noble man. And it also is a wonderful portayal of the life of the Hispanos of Northern New Mexico, one of the many, and one of the oldest, small distinct cultural groups scattered throughout this country. RIVER OF TRAPS is as good an introduction to Northern New Mexico as I know, to be recommended -- along with Stanley Crawford's "Mayordomo" and deBuys' own "Enchantment and Exploration" -- to anyone interested in the area. But RIVER OF TRAPS transcends the category of "regional book." Ultimately, it is a book about humanity and living on this earth simply and with determination, grace, and dignity.

A captivating read, a joy, a lovely picture book. You will fall in love with this book... You will not be able to help yourself.

This is a fluid and absorbing book. Each chapter/vignette builds carefully upon the preceding one. The author's knowledge of the Southwest and its intertwined cultures and his affection for the land and his friends makes this a powerful read. Anyone interested in the Southwest, biography and/or photography should read this. It's wonderful!