Texas born Chicano author Sergio Troncoso’s autobiographical novel, “From This Wicked Patch of Dust,” tells the story of a a multi-generational family from Isleta, Texas that spans decades. The novel begins in the 1950s and traverses four decades of family members struggling to become part of the American experience in spite of setbacks. You’ve seen movie trailers, welcome to this Latinopia first: a Book Trailer!
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Posted in LATINOPIA WORD,LiteratureOctober 10, 20111 comment
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From This Wicked Patch of Dust:
“In a media market where cultural stereotypes abound, it’s refreshing to read a novel featuring Latino characters who are nuanced and authentic. Sergio Troncoso’s latest, From This Wicked Patch of Dust, follows a family from humble beginnings in a Texas border town through several decades as its members move beyond their Mexican Catholic culture to inhabit Jewish, Muslim and Ivy League spaces….These middle spaces have long been fodder for writers, though the El Paso-born and Harvard-educated Troncoso has created new, empathetic characters to explore it. No, the real beauty of this book is that it mines the rich diversity of tradition and culture among Latinos, as well as the commonalities they share with other Americans — love of family, faith and country.”
—Dallas Morning News
"Sergio Troncoso's admirable second novel From This Wicked Patch of Dust tells the story of the Martínez clan and how it copes when its individual members make decisions that threaten the harmony and unity of the entire family….Troncoso resists a comfortable ending and challenges readers to envision the Chicano family within a global context because, as this novel illustrates, the safety of home is no longer true in the post-9/11 Americas….From This Wicked Patch of Dust presents difficult lessons about growing up and growing apart, but there's also genuine heart and pride in the depiction of the "four children, four worlds" that spiral out of a single immigrant dream."
—The El Paso Times
“Author Sergio Troncoso’s From This Wicked Patch of Dust is an intimate, revealing chronicle of the odyssey of the multigenerational Martinez family from Mexico by way of Ysleta, Texas.”
—Albuquerque Journal
Crossing Borders: Personal Essays:
“Troncoso is a complicated man trying to understand a complicated world. In his quest for understanding, he eloquently shares lessons learned in 16 provocative essays. These very personal essays cross several borders: cultural, historical, and self-imposed….We owe it to ourselves to read, savor and read them again.”
—The El Paso Times
“The frankness with which Troncoso approaches painful themes is surprising, as he does in the three-part letter to his sons in which he relates his wife’s battle against breast cancer….
It is these details that fill the simple and accessible prose of these essays with life, demonstrating how from such personal experiences emanate a universal message about what unifies us, despite our many differences.”
—Spanish News Agency EFE
“Troncoso is at his best when he gets personal. In an unusually honest essay, he talks about an intense argument with his father. He describes how much he loathes some of his father’s characteristics, yet still loves him….Troncoso is an elegant writer whose work will make readers grateful that he writes his life down.”
—The Hispanic Reader