Sheryl (Momof2boys) reviewed The New Face of Small-Town America: Snapshots of Latino Life in Allentown, Pennsylvania on + 28 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
The "snapshots" in this book were originally written for the newspaper, and have now been combined into a collective book. The stories are short, easy reads, which I liked.
The book information on the dust jacket basically states that the purpose of these essays is to show that Latinos are just like everyone else and to further acceptance of Latino immigrants.
My reactions to each essay varied considerably. I found the essay in which adults were working hard to get their GED to be particularly inspiring. The essay about the men who are serving their less fortunate neighbors through the church was also enlightening. However, I felt that many of the essays showed Latinos in a negative light. In one essay, for example, a woman was repeatedly cited by the police for noise violations for playing her music too loud, so much so that she was facing eviction. Instead of simply turning the music down, she stated that she played it loud in her country of origin and that she would continue to do so, even though there were multiple complaints from other residents of her apartment building.
I also found that many of the essays actually reinforced negative stereotypes of Latinos. One essay described how, despite numerous attempts at getting them more involved, Latino parents were uninvolved in their children's education, a contributing reason to why Latino children lag behind their peers in school. Another essay mentioned how an illegal Hispanic immigrant used hospital services and couldn't pay, leaving the burden to the hospital and the community. Yet another essay discussed how Hispanics wanted college students to come to their neighborhood and frequent their shops, yet they refused to go to the other neighborhoods.
I found that several of the essays had conflicting conclusions. For example, while several of the essays discussed how Latino buying power is contributing to the local economy, many if not more of the essays mentioned how the money earned by Hispanics was being sent to South America and was not helping the local economy. Many of the essays mentioned how Latinos were generally poor, yet other essays described Hispanics living in affluent neighborhoods and gated communities.
I feel that these essays were probably better left as short newspaper articles, each standing on its own merit. While some of the essays furthered the author's goal, I felt others set him back.
The book information on the dust jacket basically states that the purpose of these essays is to show that Latinos are just like everyone else and to further acceptance of Latino immigrants.
My reactions to each essay varied considerably. I found the essay in which adults were working hard to get their GED to be particularly inspiring. The essay about the men who are serving their less fortunate neighbors through the church was also enlightening. However, I felt that many of the essays showed Latinos in a negative light. In one essay, for example, a woman was repeatedly cited by the police for noise violations for playing her music too loud, so much so that she was facing eviction. Instead of simply turning the music down, she stated that she played it loud in her country of origin and that she would continue to do so, even though there were multiple complaints from other residents of her apartment building.
I also found that many of the essays actually reinforced negative stereotypes of Latinos. One essay described how, despite numerous attempts at getting them more involved, Latino parents were uninvolved in their children's education, a contributing reason to why Latino children lag behind their peers in school. Another essay mentioned how an illegal Hispanic immigrant used hospital services and couldn't pay, leaving the burden to the hospital and the community. Yet another essay discussed how Hispanics wanted college students to come to their neighborhood and frequent their shops, yet they refused to go to the other neighborhoods.
I found that several of the essays had conflicting conclusions. For example, while several of the essays discussed how Latino buying power is contributing to the local economy, many if not more of the essays mentioned how the money earned by Hispanics was being sent to South America and was not helping the local economy. Many of the essays mentioned how Latinos were generally poor, yet other essays described Hispanics living in affluent neighborhoods and gated communities.
I feel that these essays were probably better left as short newspaper articles, each standing on its own merit. While some of the essays furthered the author's goal, I felt others set him back.
