Giuseppe Rocco /

While not as controversial as Ruiz's first novel, Happy Birthday Jesus (LJ 4/15/94), 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 Martínez, 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 (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.