<i>Homestretch</i> (review)
2009; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 63; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1353/bcc.0.1207
ISSN1558-6766
Autores ResumoReviewed by: Homestretch Deborah Stevenson Volponi, Paul. Homestretch. Atheneum, 2009 [160p]. ISBN 978-1-416-93987-0 $16.99 Reviewed from galleys Ad Gr. 7–10 “I emptied out what was left in Dad’s wallet. Then I packed a knapsack and split.” That’s the exit from home of seventeen-year-old Gaston, known as Gas, whose mother was tragically killed only a few months ago, leaving her son with a bitterness toward Mexicans (an illegal resident caused the accident that took his mother’s life) and a drunken, abusive father. After he leaves, he finds himself, much to his disgust, included in a group of Mexicans signed up to work for a shady trainer at an Arkansas racetrack. Starting with drudge work, he quickly lands a position as an apprentice jockey, which gets him even deeper into his employer’s schemes; soon he discovers that the Mexican co-workers he’d initially disdained are, along with the [End Page 87] pretty granddaughter of a neighboring trainer, his best support. The many transformations are all pretty hastily executed, and the plot strains credulity at regular intervals. However, Volponi writes with a blend of informality and taut intensity that’s unintimidating yet absorbing, and the picture of life on the backstretch, with comradeship evolving between the grunt workers regardless of their origins, is plausible and unsentimental. The speed and spareness make this particularly appealing to reluctant readers, who will appreciate Gas’ growth into a young man choosing to honor his late mother by rejecting the ways of his father. Copyright © 2009 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
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