Our House on Hueco

by Carlos Nicolas Flores

Ten-year-old Junior is thrilled and a bit nervous about moving from an El Paso barrio to the house his father has purchased in an Anglo part of town. His mother, who speaks only Spanish, is somewhat less thrilled, especially when she finds out the family will be living in the subterráneo—a dark, unfinished basement—until the white family renting the house above moves out.As the ever-optimistic Pop works to improve his family’s situation by adding an apartment to the back of the house, Junior and his little brother make friends with Tim and Kim, the children living above them. But soon tensions erupt—between Junior’s mother and Tim and Kim’s parents, between Pop and co-workers at his new job, and between Tim and Boogie, Junior’s friend from the barrio—and these conflicts reshape Junior’s relationships with family and friends, and threaten the new world his father is striving to create.“This is truly an extraordinary story by a gifted writer.” —Rudolfo Anaya, author of Serafina’s Stories“A delightful coming-of-age story by a new young adult author.” —Lila Guzmán, author of Lorenzo's Secret Mission“This book feels like a classic to me.” —Naomi Shihab Nye, author of You and Yours“Carlos Flores’s insightful domestic drama is a study on what it means to be an American: love and tragedy aren’t too far apart.” —Ilan Stavans, author of The Hispanic Condition: The Power of a People

288 pages, Paperback

First published March 3, 2006

Reviews

[Jean · Rating 4 out of 5]

For months I judged this book by its cover and didn't bother picking it up. Now that I've read it, I can't get it out of my mind. I felt like I was right there, experiencing everything that Junior experienced as a 10-year-old who moves from the barrio with his parents and pesky brother to their new house. Except that they can't live in the new house - it is rented to gringos, so that Junior's parents can make the house payments. His family has to live in the basement while his father builds an apartment in the backyard for them to live in. And Junior's mother is humiliated - a fact that she won't let his father forget. But Junior and his brother discover that the gringos have kids that they can play with and their world suddenly expands in ways they never before imagined.
The characters are so well defined and the action is so well paced that I was never bored. My only negative comment was that I learned a lot of Spanish cuss words (there is a glossary), so the writing is above what the readership would be for a book about kids this age. So I don't know who I'd recommend it to. But I liked it anyway.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

A touching memoir that cannot decide if it wants to be a teen, kids or adult novel. Set in the 1950s, a Latino father moves his family out of a depressed barrio and moves them into a new house he just bought. Sounds like the American dream, right? Well, he purposely leaves out the fact that the family must live in the basement and rent out the upstairs in order to afford to buy the house. With a mother that is completely humiliated and speaks no English, she is mortified to share the bathroom with the Anglo military family living upstairs.

But the story is really about Junior, a 10 year old boy beginning to learn what life is all about...from playing with the neighbor kids, to remembering his best friend from the barrio, who learns lessons about life and growing up.

[Cooper Renner · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. A bit slow in getting started, but then a fine book of "ordinary life" in El Paso in the '50s, with an emphasis on the complicated relationships between white and Hispanic, and between husband and wife.