Overview
From Gary Soto, author of Local News, comes a touching and honest novel about a young Mexican-American boy's coming of age in the shadow of the Vietnam War. Jesse and his brother, Abel, have plans for their lives--to rise above poverty and desolation by furthering their educations.Two Mexican American brothers hope that junior college will help them escape their heritage of tedious physical labor.
Synopsis
Two brothers live the American dream—sort of—in this funny, moving novel.
The ALAN Review
Jesse is a gentle story of a gentle boy growing into manhood. There is violence-Jesse must fight a bully twice-and there is an ominous background of a drunken stepfather, poverty and prejudice in Mexican-American life, and the era of Vietnam. Author Gary Soto nevertheless writes in a quiet tone of hope and faith. Jesse, artistic and religious, is forced to field work to pay for food while he attends a junior college after leaving high school. He remembers that once "I worked on my knees nine hours - one hundred seventy-eight trays of grapes-so I could buy my mom an umbrella." The book ends with the shock of Abel, Jesse's older brother, being drafted. A friend (named Jesus) tells Jesse not to follow by enlisting. Instead he returns to summer field labor. Readers of Jesse will gain appreciation for a young man persevering amid family dysfunction, ethnic injustice, and confusion about goals and girls.