[.ca] Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez (ISBN 0553272934)

AN EDUCATIONAL ODYSSEY AND POWERFUL POLITICAL STATEMENT...:
In this autobiographical work, the author attempts to put forth his views on a number of topics within a personal context. He does this within the framework of his being Mexican-American. His parsing of the effect that education had on his life is both interesting and food for thought. While education provided a means of connecting to the world outside his cultural enclave, it also created a distance between him and his cultural roots. As he assimilated into the larger world outside his immediate cultural milieu, it created a divide between him and his parents. As they remained in their self-contained, unassimilated world, only their mutual love for each other was able to bridge the chasm that education created, for figuratively they no longer spoke the same language. Likewise, the impact and influence that his early Catholic parochial school experience had on him resonated with me, as I myself was a product of such schooling. His reminiscences brought back many memories for me, most of them positive ones, despite some of the obvious pitfalls inherent in that sometimes narrow, parochial education framework that often favored rote learning over intellectual or critical thinking. Indeed, his love of reading, as is mine, emanated from that early educational experience, which greatly emphasized reading. The impact and influence that Catholicism had on him had are fertile grounds for discussion in the context of liturgical reform and its effects upon community. As a Catholic having lived through the reforms initiated by Vatican II, I understand and appreciate his analysis on the demystification of the liturgy and the loss of the mystical in its transition from Latin into a vernacular language in its celebration of the concept of community. These reflections are intermingled with his thoughts on the Catholicism that he was taught in school by the nuns, a Catholicism that was influenced by the "bleak melancholic strain" that runs through Irish Catholicism. Having been taught by Irish nuns as a child, this, too, resonated with me. I also remember well those lessons taught through the strict use of the Baltimore Catechism, a fairly dogmatic and rote approach to Catholicism that is, for the most part, no longer employed. The author's personal educational experiences and reflections have caused him to formulate certain views on bi-lingual education and affirmative action. His views on these issues are the very same views that I hold. Being a Cuban-American, I relate to many of his experiences as a Mexican-American, and his careful analysis of these issues hits home in many ways. Integrated into his analysis is a certain amount of irony. I agree that, oftentimes, a minority who has succeeded academically and professionally is often marginalized by society, relegated to speaking for all minorities, as if one size fits all. Missing from the equation, now a parody of social reform, is the fundamental issue of class. It is an issue that is largely unaddressed n in these programs of social reform. For those who claim that the author was the beneficiary of affirmative action, it should be noted that the author would have been able to get into Stanford, where he went to college, on his own merits, as he was certainly not educationally disadvantaged. Moreover, as a scholar who desired the intellectual stimulation of academic life, he chose to give it up as a form of protest against affirmative action. Instead, he became a noted essayist and social critic. What is also of interest in this book is what is missing. As I read the book, the sense of estrangement from his family was palpable, as was his loneliness and the lack of any mention of social congress. His was, indeed, a solitary existence, as if the author were not yet in touch with a part of himself that he had sublimated. His sexual identity is a totally blank slate within the pages of this book, as if a portion of himself had been excised. Where it is indirectly alluded, it is ambiguous, at best, referred to as sexual anxieties. At Stanford, he notes, however, that he began to have something of a "conventional" sex life". This, I felt was a curious use of the adjectival and more meaningful within the context of what is not discussed. His mother called him, "Mr. Secrets", ostensibly because he told her little about his work in San Francisco. As a mother, I suspect it is probably because she already knew at some level what the author was reluctant to reveal at the time, even to himself. Later on, the author made a declaration that was probably already subliminally known to his family. As did his educational advancement, this secret may have also contributed to his feeling of estrangement from his family and his culture. After all, in the world of machismo, the concept of homosexuality is one that many traditional Latino families still have difficulty accepting. It took the author many years to come to grips with his sexual orientation. It was only years later that he publicly acknowledged what is evident to the discerning reader of this book. While the author has a voice that should be heard, his style of writing is often pedantic and somewhat strained. The construction can be quite awkward and stilted, as if the author were stylistically distancing himself from his own life. So, while I find his critical analysis of certain issues to be on point and often brilliant, the style in which he conveys his thoughts, at times, acts as a distraction and an irritant. Still, for those readers who can look past some of the stylistic bombast, they will find a wellspring of insightful, critical analysis of social issues.

open your eyes to the experiences of other Americans:
a great insight into what it was like to grow up Mexican American in California before it was "cool" to be of other ethnic Richard Rodriguez is a guest on the pbs news show, the Newshour. It will certainly make you think about how certain groups are treated in America and how that still goes on today. His life as a boy was interesting and then in later books he writes about being a gay Mexican American and being a person of color-the color Brown. Inspirational to anyone especially those of mixed heritages.

Tio Tomas:
Richard shed himself to become a white man. He defines himself by the success standards set by white people. Although I don't disagree with him on everything, he clearly has been white washed and it's really sad. HE rants about himself like his 'ethnic' look is so mesmerizing to people. He's got a big head that I really can't empathize with. He made a choice many people of color make, assimilation in most extreme way. If you need a reason to feel pride in your cultural, read this book and see how you cold turn out if you have no pride in your culture

SELLOUT:
I wont purchase a book by Rodriguez because he is a sellout to himself and his people. The man has consistently come out against affairmative action when he himself is a product of it, and owes his success to it. We all make choices in life and Rodriguez chose to distance himself from his Mexican roots and wants us to validate his choices. Rodriguez is a sucess in the Anglo world but nothing is worth the cost of selling your soul to achieve success at such a high cost. The man is not Mexican he is best described as a pitiful soul that wrote a book trying to find redemption, but you cant have it both ways. Be what you are, take pride in your difference and you can still succeed in this country. I feel contempt not pity for the man.

Makes some good points but boring as hell:
Indeed Richard makes some good points about bilingual education and affirmative action - and they ARE well worth noting (how affirmative action doesn't benefit those who need it the most)....but everything else about this book \ois bad\c. His writing style is very self-absorbed. His opinions are inserted after just about EVERY comment and EVERY action ANYONE (his family or the outside world) commits, it's like he's trying to beat his own opinion into your head. There's also very stuck-up tone lurking under his writing; he VERY often notes his own accomplishments endlessly (...at a cocktail party in Bel Air...entered high school having read 100s of books...), it's all fabulous but reading about his greatness gets very tedious after awhile (especially when he's describing how he started making lists of books he read...that alone is 6 pages - go look yourself: p.59-64. Many advocates of this book say that they like it because of how he becomes "aware of his assimilation" and "recognizes that with all gain comes some loss." Well, unfortunetely, even though Ricahrd becomes AWARE and RECOGNIZES all these things - he lets everyone know he knows by portraying himself as a suffering hero and a "cosmic victim." By saying he's a "cosmic victim" implies some divinity "choose" him to suffer - as if! He chose to separate himself from his family the minute he decided he repected his teachers more. And yes, Mr. Rodriguez dedicated his book to his parents - but it's funny how he wrote "For him and her-to honor them." To me, if he hadn't written the "to honor them", I would have though he was writing this book as almsot a cruel parody of them - of what they never could be anything else but what they already were in his world, that they are not as great as he because of their lack of education. Overall, this book is nothing remarkable, if not very boring. Read for an opinion of affirmative action and biligual education (but ignore the fact HE frequently benefited from both, even he admits that!). Yes, he is educated, intelligent, and perhaps (I wouldn't know) a "provocative speaker"....but his image at the end is not of a strong, modest, "manly" man, but a pathetic figure of a person who wants to comfort himself in the glory of his accomplishments. The overall taste you walk away with this book is not respect for Richard Rodriguez, but pity.