Jesus Christo this is a good book. Let me say this. This book hurts. It really hurts. Why? Because of where I live and what I used to do for a living. Héctor Tobar’s “The Barbarian Nurseries” hit me like a sucker punch. California, Southern California, Los Angeles, etc. Race, wealth, economic isolation running in both directions and a flawed legal system all running parallel in the gated lands of Rancho…whatever you want to call it.
I stopped a hundred times and said “Man, this book.” It really got me because it’s true and Tobar has an uncanny ability to present a cruel picture with copy that lures you in with its subtlety then kicks you in the teeth with truth. Mexican immigrants, neighborhoods, wealth, drama, deceit and a system we have all learned to despise yet ignore. This book might be more poignant for me because I live in Southern California, but this same story is playing out all over the United States.
Just get it and read it.