In this Book
- Amado Muro and Me: A Tale of Honesty and Deception
- Book
- 2016
- Published by: TCU Press
summary
In Amado Muro and Me, ten-year-old Robert Seltzer discovers that his father, Chester, actually leads two lives—one as a newspaperman and father who somehow always knows what his son is thinking; the other as Amado Muro, a passionate and gifted writer whose pseudonym is adapted from the name of his Mexican immigrant wife. Chester was born in Cleveland, Ohio, but in Amado Muro’s stories, he channels an intense love of Mexican culture to create deep, strong roots in Chihuahua, Mexico. Throughout the pivotal year of this memoir, the family moves from El Paso, Texas, (home to Robert’s Mexican grandmother, Alita, and always home to Robert) to Bakersfield, California. Robert experiences everything from bullying and young love to racism and cross-culturalization. Chester guides his son through this difficult period with the wisdom he gained from the “dark turn” he himself faced as a young man. Robert, who knows his father as “the old man,” now begins to learn about “Young Chess.” Tying it all together is Amado Muro, who from time to time abandons Robert and his mother and hops freight trains in order to write his wonderful stories. Reaching beyond background research, Chester’s alter ego lives the life in order to share the tale. Robert’s ethnicity is the result of his mother’s ancestry, but his father chooses his Mexican identity. It is through this perspective, as a man who sees bridges where others see barriers, that the father helps his son deal with his first, jarring experience of racism and so much more.
Table of Contents
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- Author's Note
- p. x
- Acknowledgments
- pp. xi-xii
- Introduction
- pp. 1-6
- Chapter 1: The Surfboards
- pp. 7-12
- Chapter 2: The Sage in Boxer Shorts
- pp. 13-17
- Chapter 3: El Gringo
- pp. 18-39
- Chapter 4: The Dark Turn
- pp. 40-41
- Chapter 5: The Ring of My Dreams
- pp. 42-46
- Chapter 6: Beyond Reach
- pp. 47-48
- Chapter 7: My Alita
- pp. 49-54
- Chapter 8: The Old Man
- pp. 55-62
- Chapter 9: The Detonation
- pp. 63-66
- Chapter 10: The Odyssey
- pp. 67-71
- Chapter 11: The Monkey Bars
- pp. 72-75
- Chapter 12: Long Tall Sally
- pp. 76-79
- Chapter 13: The Granadas
- pp. 80-87
- Chapter 14: Bobo and Jack
- pp. 88-96
- Chapter 15: The Hobo Jungle
- pp. 97-102
- Night Train to Fort Worth
- pp. 103-107
- Chapter 16: The Deer
- pp. 108-116
- Chapter 17: The Night of the Cicadas
- pp. 117-123
- Chapter 18: The Saint
- pp. 124-129
- Chapter 19: The Holidays
- pp. 130-142
- Chapter 20: Syncopation
- pp. 143-152
- Chapter 22: The Conscientious Objector
- pp. 161-170
- Chapter 24: El Enojon
- pp. 182-185
- Chapter 25: The Chihuahua
- pp. 186-191
- Chapter 26: The Movie Reel in my Head
- pp. 192-195
- Chapter 27: The Confession
- pp. 196-201
- Mala Torres
- pp. 202-207
- Chapter 28: El Enano
- pp. 208-221
- Chapter 29: The Baseball Game
- pp. 222-228
- Chapter 30: La Preciosa
- pp. 229-233
- Chapter 31: The Dirty Pool
- pp. 234-239
- Chapter 32: The Spelling Bee
- pp. 240-245
- Chapter 33: The Alley of Doom
- pp. 246-255
- Chapter 34: "Let's Do It"
- pp. 256-267
Additional Information
ISBN
9780875656434
Related ISBN(s)
9780875656366
MARC Record
OCLC
962131385
Pages
276
Launched on MUSE
2016-11-09
Language
English
Open Access
No