Where We Come From by Oscar Casares

I found this book in an article entitled something like 17 Books To Read About The Border That Are Not American Dirt. This is the ninth book I have read, and I would lighly recommend this as a reading guide. Like all of them, this book revolves around immigration. The novel takes place in Brownsville, one of the poorest Texan border towns, though the setting, as dramatic as it is, never dominates the narrative. It begins with an American-born teenager, Orly, kicking a soccer ball at a pink house — a guesthouse — behind the main blue house where he’s staying with his godmother, Nina, who is also his great-aunt. His parents were in the process of getting divorced when Orly’s mother died of an aneurysm. It’s now a year later, Orly’s father is away on business, his older brother is at camp, and Orly is in Brownsville because in Houston, where he had been living, he was not manly enough according to his father, and without connection to his roots. Patriarchy and machismo undergird the family structure, as do female gender roles--Nina is taking care of her elderly mother even though she herself is getting on in years. The pink house has a central role in the novel. Nina does a favor for her maid that ends up escallating throughout the story. What is hidden behind the windows? How did it start, how did it worsen and how will it stop? The issue of family, immigration. skirting the law, and being loyal all play a role in this story.