Barrio Boy, written by Ernesto Galarza, is an extraordinary novel that tells the story about his childhood. This book was originally published during 1971 and was later published during 1991 by the University of Notre Dame Press. It starts in Jalcocotan, a poor Mexican village south of where the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean connect. The Mexican Revolution caused great upheaval, forcing Galarza and his family to leave the small village in search of safety and security.
They end up moving to a nearby city, yet it wasn't untouched by the Revolution's strife. This made it hard for his family to experience upward mobility, not to mention the difficulty of adapting to a fast-paced city. He finally settled in Sacramento, California, where his newfound experiences helped shape a more profound view of life. The New York Review of Books described this memoir as "long and vivid," yet felt it was lacking some consistency. In 1976, Galarza was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
