Jimmy Santiago Baca
A Glass of Water
I came across A Glass of Water by Jimmy Santiago Baca on the new books shelf at the library and picked it up because of a single poem I had read by Baca. That poem was taking place during a prison riot and he is describing the smoke and the struggle to be human in the middle of it all. I would put the poem in here but I haven't been able to find it.
The book is about two illegal immigrants and their two U.S. born sons. The story takes place as the sons have grown up. The mother was murdered when they were very young, so she is there only in memory and as a kind of spiritual presence.
Unfortunately I never really got caught up with the novel. I enjoyed it. Some of the descriptive language in it is quite beautiful. I'm not sure quite what is missing for me. Maybe it is partly that the two sons seem to make their way too easily and unrealistically. One is a fighter who takes on his first fight to pay off damages from an accident, but is good at it from the first. The other starts dealing marijuana, making a lot of money with it which he and his girlfriend use to better the life of migrant workers on the farm where they work. There isn't a lot of tension around that - doesn't seem to be much threat of getting caught.
For me, the book doesn't have the passion that the poem has. However, because of what is strong about this novel, and because of the poem, I would read a second or third novel by Baca, if he writes them. I think it likely that he could use the form of the novel with the same strength as he uses the form of the poem.