Nobody's Son: Notes from an American Life

by Luis Alberto Urrea

Book Overview

Here's a story about a family that comes from Tijuana and settles into the 'hood, hoping for the American Dream. . . . I'm not saying it's our story. I'm not saying it isn't. It might be yours. "How... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0816518653
• ISBN13: 9780816518654
• Release Date: August 1998
• Publisher: University of Arizona Press
• Length: 188 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

About coping with division and borders

Nobody's Son: Notes From An American Life by Luis Alberto Urrea (who teaches creative writing at the University of Illinois, Chicago) is the deeply personal memoir of an American born to a Mexican father and an Anglo mother. Recounting a childhood thrust in the middle of different cultures and languages, Nobody's Son is about the search for balance, about coping with division and borders, and about the pain as well as the joy of being multicultural. Nobody's Son is a candid, engaging, thoughtful, thought-provoking, and very highly recommended autobiography.

A journey through the heart of a writer.

From multinational beginnings impossibly diverse, Urrea leads us on a journey that explores how he became what he is, an American writer of the first order. Sometimes poignant, sometimes hilarious, always heartfelt, it is a wonderful journey for the reader. Before he can write from the heart, an author must first know his heart. Luis Urrea knows his, and shares it with us beautifully.

This book touched my heart!

All his stories are written from his soul. They always have been. I wish that I could have taken the pain away from his childhood. I'm glad that I have known him. I wish him much success in all he does. I knew he was a great writer. I'm glad others are seeing how good he is now!

Another fine book by America's best "unknown" writer

Luis Alberto Urrea is among the finest living writers. He has written about the border in three books. Nobody's Son is the latest. But he is not regional, not limited to a single geographic area. In Nobody's Son he moves from Tijuana and San Diego, to the Southwest, and further north to the high plains, in what amounts to a continuing journey. A journey across the land, through memory, in exploration of spirit. Urrea's story is uniquely American--the child of a Waspy, Wonder Bread white mother and a muy macho! Mexicano father, his is the story of those differences that divide us and yet hold us inevitably together. He is America's best kept secret, its soul.

life on both sides of the US-Mexican border.

Luis Urrea is the John Steinbeck of the border, offering a nostelgic, heartfelt, first-person experience of what it is like to grow up in two cultures, two cities (Tijuana and San Diego) and two worlds. He writes with passion, heart, and a gift for words in two languages.