Dogs from Illusion

by Charley Trujillo

Viet Nam war novel on the Chicano war experience

Genres: Fiction

199 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1994

Reviews

[Felipe Quetzalcoatl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing could have prepared me for the sheer depth of Trujillo’s unforgettable Chicano characters from Corcoran Valley, California. If you are looking for Chicano heroes, you will certainly find them here in the Viet Nam war-experiences of Ese, Machete and Chuco. But you will also find these same heroes performing, or at least standing by the performance of, stomach-turning acts. Despite all this, you get to understand these young vatos, their motivations, their desires and fears. And this is because their internal struggles are always front-and-center; their thoughts of home, of their uncertain place within the nation, and of their coming to terms with the killing of those with whom they may have much in common.

Despite its brevity then, the novel bursts with instances reflecting complex relations between all racialized soldiers and the leading (white) echelon, between Latinos and the other racialized troops (African and Native American subjects), between Chicanos and Puerto Ricans, and indeed between Chicanos of distinct class and regionality. Ambiguity is at every turn of the page. And when all is said and done, the ending is most tellingly a demolishing beginning.

[J-Ez- · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Felix · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holy crap! Dark and funny. Ironic humor at its best, all the way until the final pages. I've been coming across gems of Chican@ literature from indie publishing houses, and this is one of those gems that has to be read. It takes a few pages for Trujillo to build up a rhythm to his writing style, but once he does it's kinda difficult to put it down.