Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #22653 in Books
• Published on: 1992-10-01
• Released on: 1992-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780385311779
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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From Publishers Weekly
Villasenor recounts the story of three generations of his family in this earthy Mexican American saga, gripping and inspirational despite occasional sentimentality.and cliches. Author tour.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Advertised as the Hispanic-American Roots , Rain of Gold is the story of three generations of the author's family's migration from revolutionary Mexico in the 20th century to California. But Rain of Gold is no Roots and Villasenor is not Alex Haley. His style is naive and disturbing--he ranges back and forth between his family's historical past and a more contemporary setting. Nevertheless, there is good material in this oral history. Villasenor blends family stories and tales handed down through generations into an uneven narrative but a text which is credible social history. The most visible persona is the author's mother Lupe, who grew up among soldiers and moved North from her native La Lluvia de Ora, the Mexican gold mine operated by omnipresent American economic colonial interests. The final episodes concern the family's transformation from rural Mexico to heavily Hispanic-populated California. The result is a narrative which reflects the true social fabric of Mexican Americans. Not all the publishers claim, but still recommended for most libraries. A six-hour Corporation for Public Broadcasting series is planned for 1993.
- Boyd Childress, Auburn Univ. Lib., Ala.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
A writer of Mexican-American heritage (Jury, 1977) tells the engrossing saga of his family's immigration to, and subsequent life in, California in the wake of the Mexican revolution. A sort of Hispanic Roots, the book focuses on three generations as they struggle with poverty and prejudice, love and life. When Villasenor was first contracted to write Rain of Gold, it was to be a ``major'' work of fiction. As he began interviewing his relatives for background material, however, he realized that there was a much more important story to tell: the nonfiction account of his family's history. Unable to convince his publisher to go along with his new plans, Villasenor gave back his $75,000 advance, took a $1,500 advance from a lesser-known house, and set about writing ``a history of a people--a tribal heritage, if you will--of my Indian-European culture as handed down to me....'' It was a brave and rewarding decision. From beginning to end, the chronicle is filled with one remarkable story after another. All have the simple warmhearted quality of family tales told around the kitchen table, yet all are eminently believable. Many episodes have to do with overcoming hardships: A daughter is brutally raped and goes blind; a proud mother is forced to become a beggar to support her children; a son admits to a murder he didn't commit in order to collect money for his family. Others deal with love and God and the ``meaning of life.'' The book is heavy-handed and sketchy at times, and bogs down in the second half, but, overall, it's a page-turner. Perhaps not the definitive Hispanic family epic, but an inspiring, fast-paced tale with a simple, fable-like quality that's often surprisingly moving. -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Customer Reviews

The Best I've Read!
Rain of Gold is a book written by Victor Villaseñor an author of Mexican Heritage. Villaseñor wrote this book when he felt the urge to pas down to his children the history behind their name. Villaseñor traveled to Mexico and after years of hard work and several conflicts he published "Rain of Gold", the biography of his family. In "Rain of Gold" Villaseñor describes with full detail the lives of his ancestors in Mexico and later in the United States. More than just a story, Villaseñor gives a vivid image of life during the Mexican Revolution {the times of Pancho Villa}. He explains how his family was forced as well as other families to abandon their beloved country because of the violence and danger the Mexican Revolution brought to its citizens. Villaseñor also explains the hardships his family had to got through to adapt and survive prejudice, hunger and unfair work in the states. Not only does Villaseñor capture the struggles of his family but also the exciting and glorious moments his ancestors lived. This book has a vivid message to everybody of Mexican background. Especially to teenagers who usually don't get the chance to be taught their history with out somebody making fun or putting down their culture. This is the first book that I have truly related to, because of my Mexican background and hardships I've faced in this country. This is a book you just can't stop reading because you get so close to the characters. By the end of the book I assure you that not only will you know all of the people in the book but you will also respect and consider them part of your family! More importantly, I recommend this book to everybody who has parents or somebody who has immigrated to this country in search of opportunities and better life.

Extremely Powerful book
This book started slow. It came as a gift from a friend, and just the size was intimidating. As I started, all the talk of religeon, miracles and spirits was a bit much for a supposedly true family history. The more I read, the better it got. The history of how Mr. Villasenor's grandparents came to America and met is an epic of love, transcendence and overcoming odds. If you can make it past page 20, you won't put it down.

It would have been very easy for this to be a whitewashed view of the world. Instead, the author confronts some of the darker sides of his family history. Many relatives spent time in jail. Grandpa was a bootlegger. Many of his great-aunts and uncles were jealous at the best of times, and awful at the worst. Yet somehow a great story emerges.

I can only imagine the effort required to produce this book. Mr. Villasenor, your effort was well worth it.

One family' s history
The first time I read Rain of Gold, I thought to myself, "My God this is my family!" Victor Villasenor has the ability to draw in the reader and make he or she feel that they are living the story. This is particularly true in Rain of Gold.

The book follows two people and their families very different journeys through the hard times of the Mexican Revolution and into the U.S. and the very different life waiting for them there. They meet new challenges in and find each other as they adjust and learn to make a life in this new country.

The book abounds with the mystical love of spirits, nature and God that is so commonplace for us Mexicanos. I believe it is hard for people not of our culture to understand just how real the spirits are to us. This is not magical realism, but daily life to us. Mr. Villasenor shows that aspect of our culture, that old wisdom of our grandmothers so well that it brought tears to my eyes as I remembered my own mystical, wise and wonderful grandmother.


The fact that Victor Villasenor is extremely dyslexic and encountered myriad problems in school at a very young age makes this book all the more astounding. He writes with pathos, humor and his love for his beautiful family shines through it all. His simple style of storytelling makes you feel you're sitting on the floor listening to an uncle or other family member and you are completely enraptured and caught up in his spell.