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Delivery
¿Qué tipo de persona quieres ser? A question that haunts him. What kind of person do you want to be? A story that weaves towards clarity through past traumas, intersections of conflicting identities, and many boxes of pizza.
All Daniel Corriente wants is to escape his past and be “normal,” but as he enters his senior year in college, he must face the past traumas that have made him who he is. During his journey, Dani will find himself at the intersections of seemingly conflicting identities — Mexican/Chicano/Anglo, thug/intellectual, straight/queer, loner/friend. Along the way, Dani will begin to weave toward clarity with the help of a therapist, feuding mentors, an elitist boss, a persistent drug addict, a former love, and an old woman obsessed with his character flaws and the pizzas with extra green peppers. If he has any hope of finding himself, Dani must ultimately answer the question posed by one of his customers—a question that haunts him at every turn: ¿Qué tipo de persona quieres ser? What kind of person do you want to be?
All Daniel Corriente wants is to escape his past and be “normal,” but as he enters his senior year in college, he must face the past traumas that have made him who he is. During his journey, Dani will find himself at the intersections of seemingly conflicting identities — Mexican/Chicano/Anglo, thug/intellectual, straight/queer, loner/friend. Along the way, Dani will begin to weave toward clarity with the help of a therapist, feuding mentors, an elitist boss, a persistent drug addict, a former love, and an old woman obsessed with his character flaws and the pizzas with extra green peppers. If he has any hope of finding himself, Dani must ultimately answer the question posed by one of his customers—a question that haunts him at every turn: ¿Qué tipo de persona quieres ser? What kind of person do you want to be?
632 pages, Paperback
Published March 21, 2023
29 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
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October 8, 2023a coming of age story that covers a LOT of ground. really enjoyed it, but definitely a chewy read.
March 7, 2024
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review in my column in the Idaho Press. You can read the column in its entirety below.
One of my favorite things about coming-of-age stories is their settings.
A character's journey growing into themselves by confronting new obstacles and making mistakes wouldn't be memorable if they were growing and changing against a blank canvas. I've always adored reading these types of stories and watching characters grow and change over and over again, but it's not the inevitable awkwardness and all of the "firsts" that draw me in. It's the way these stories are often chock full of memorable characters and memorable places, like towns, cities, schools and other richly imagined places. By the time you close the book you know not only the contours of a character's life, but the streets and people who made them too.
Boise-based author Tomás Hulick Baiza achieves this to great effect in his first novel "Delivery," where he follows biracial college senior Daniel Corriente through a maze of difficulties in 1990s San Jose California. Daniel starts the book on the cusp of graduating with a history degree from San Jose State and wondering what's next, all while juggling a new job as a pizza delivery guy in the rough and tumble parts of the city, his white girlfriend who can't see his Mexican heritage and guilt from a tragic death of a friend.
This hefty book, which clocks in at over 600 pages, immerses you in Daniel's diverse world of San Jose and all of the ways his multi-faceted identity nags at him. He questions what it is to be "more than one thing" in a world obsessed with seeing things in black and white. With flashbacks to the past, you see how he fell in with a party crowd, including a beautiful older trans woman named Saoirse, the rage always under the surface after watching his violent father and all of the questions bubbling beneath the surface as he is on the cusp of adulthood. And beneath it all, is the vibrant dialogue and detailed descriptions of San Jose in all of its glory from the seedy motels to the view from the foothills.
"Delivery" is one of my favorite books by a Boise author. It hits so many interesting notes about what it means to overcome guilt and build confidence while navigating a complicated racial and ethnic identity. Baiza also digs into homophobia, mental illness, sucicide, toxic masculinity, classism and all of the complicated types of people you meet delivering pizzas from high rollers down to drug users. It's a big book that covers a lot of ground and feels like a rich tapestry spooling out in front of you by the time you put it down.
But, I think Baiza could have benefited from an editor. It's an enjoyable reading experience, but he needed guidance cutting down some of the extra fluff to make a tighter story with room for a more fleshed-out ending series of events. His encounters often felt like excuses for him to learn something, which often had the sense of a character only there to impart some wisdom instead of move the plot forward. And as the story progressed, Daniel faced a monumental choice of whether to chase his dreams or the traditional path of a white corporate worker, but despite its length the book didn't give enough breathing room to show how he decided what path to take and the resulting fallout from it. It sometimes felt too long and too short in all the wrong places.
"Delivery" is fun, heavy and complicated all at once. It's a labor of love and an ode to a corner of California often missed in fiction. It didn't 100% hit the mark, but I was impressed by the effort and all the targets he did hit that I forgave the misses. If he writes a second novel, I'll be at the release party.
One of my favorite things about coming-of-age stories is their settings.
A character's journey growing into themselves by confronting new obstacles and making mistakes wouldn't be memorable if they were growing and changing against a blank canvas. I've always adored reading these types of stories and watching characters grow and change over and over again, but it's not the inevitable awkwardness and all of the "firsts" that draw me in. It's the way these stories are often chock full of memorable characters and memorable places, like towns, cities, schools and other richly imagined places. By the time you close the book you know not only the contours of a character's life, but the streets and people who made them too.
Boise-based author Tomás Hulick Baiza achieves this to great effect in his first novel "Delivery," where he follows biracial college senior Daniel Corriente through a maze of difficulties in 1990s San Jose California. Daniel starts the book on the cusp of graduating with a history degree from San Jose State and wondering what's next, all while juggling a new job as a pizza delivery guy in the rough and tumble parts of the city, his white girlfriend who can't see his Mexican heritage and guilt from a tragic death of a friend.
This hefty book, which clocks in at over 600 pages, immerses you in Daniel's diverse world of San Jose and all of the ways his multi-faceted identity nags at him. He questions what it is to be "more than one thing" in a world obsessed with seeing things in black and white. With flashbacks to the past, you see how he fell in with a party crowd, including a beautiful older trans woman named Saoirse, the rage always under the surface after watching his violent father and all of the questions bubbling beneath the surface as he is on the cusp of adulthood. And beneath it all, is the vibrant dialogue and detailed descriptions of San Jose in all of its glory from the seedy motels to the view from the foothills.
"Delivery" is one of my favorite books by a Boise author. It hits so many interesting notes about what it means to overcome guilt and build confidence while navigating a complicated racial and ethnic identity. Baiza also digs into homophobia, mental illness, sucicide, toxic masculinity, classism and all of the complicated types of people you meet delivering pizzas from high rollers down to drug users. It's a big book that covers a lot of ground and feels like a rich tapestry spooling out in front of you by the time you put it down.
But, I think Baiza could have benefited from an editor. It's an enjoyable reading experience, but he needed guidance cutting down some of the extra fluff to make a tighter story with room for a more fleshed-out ending series of events. His encounters often felt like excuses for him to learn something, which often had the sense of a character only there to impart some wisdom instead of move the plot forward. And as the story progressed, Daniel faced a monumental choice of whether to chase his dreams or the traditional path of a white corporate worker, but despite its length the book didn't give enough breathing room to show how he decided what path to take and the resulting fallout from it. It sometimes felt too long and too short in all the wrong places.
"Delivery" is fun, heavy and complicated all at once. It's a labor of love and an ode to a corner of California often missed in fiction. It didn't 100% hit the mark, but I was impressed by the effort and all the targets he did hit that I forgave the misses. If he writes a second novel, I'll be at the release party.
June 27, 2024
Beautiful, touching, tragic and triumphant story. Enjoyed the nostalgic 90s culture references. The start of the book felt grittier and darker and took me longer to read while the second half flew by. It felt more like watching an independent film, full of beautiful moments and characters whose stories aren’t usually told.
June 28, 2024
Excellent read recommand it.
February 4, 2025
Powerful writing that kept me hooked the entire read. Mrs. Magana is now a hero of mine. Must read for everyone.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews