Upon finishing The Tortilla Curtain, my first thought was, Is this what people who read Grapes of Wrath when it was current felt? Not to suggest this book will reach those canonical heights (also not to suggest it's not a great read), but when it comes to reading about issues we're still so tangled up in, like the immigration debate, is there enough distance to appreciate somebody else's thoughts or does it just add to the knot? So if I were some random easterner reading the latest Steinbeck, would I have loved Grapes of Wrath and foretold it being assigned to ninth graders as summer reading everywhere or would I just have been annoyed by Steinbeck's proselytizing?
As for this book, the story was compelling, but I kept being dragged out of it by my own opinions which isn't why I read fiction. The most interesting contribution Boyle brings to the immigration debate by approaching it in literature is his comparison to nature. Our caucasian leading man loses two small dogs to coyotes in his mountaintop community. He believes it's because fellow community members feed these wild animals and encourage them to come around and sniff for food, then stealing said food (or puppies) when there's none being handed out. Whether or not you agree with the comparison, it certainly brings up some thoughts worth thinking.
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