Giuseppe Rocco

Giuseppe Rocco, an Italian immigrant, raises himself from nothing to immense wealth and political influence in northern California through his self-made scavenger business and a series of shrewd land investments. His money and power allow him to possess a bride of high birth and breeding, and through their loveless marriage Giuseppe Rocco becomes the patriarch of a dynasty of three sons: Joey, Johnny, and Matthew. Everyone is stunned when eighteen-year-old Joey abruptly runs off to Reno to wed Sally Martinez, a penniless grocery-store checkout clerk. But as Rocco gradually recognizes in his tough young daughter-in-law a steely determination equal to his own, he begins to see her as a means to further his empire. The outcome is not what readers have come to expect from countless Hollywood and television versions of the old Horatio Alger myth.

Library Journal

While not as controversial as Ruiz's first novel, Happy Birthday Jesus, which depicted a Mexican American driven by the shame of discrimination to attack his parish priest and rape a prostitute, this work offers a revised view of the Horatio Alger story. Italian immigrant Giuseppe Rocco pulls himself up from poverty to become the richest man in San Jose but never buys a business suit and continues to prefer the company of Mexican workers to the governor of the state. His experience is contrasted with that of young Sally Martnez, a Mexican American who also attempts to pull herself and her family out of poverty. The two stories converge when Giuseppe's son meets and marries Sally. Ruiz's sparse narrative is highly effective in illustrating the simple tastes of Giuseppe, like his love of the land and his old truck, while showing the complications that success brings. The book vividly portrays the contrasting experiences of immigrant populations in different eras. Recommended for public and academic libraries.
—Joshua Cohen, Mid-Hudson Lib. Sys., Poughkeepsie, NY