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The Short Sweet Dream of Eduardo Gutierrez by Jimmy Breslin Recommendation: •••
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Cheap Labor With his characteristic style, Jimmy Breslin lays out a sad and poignant story of an illegal Mexican worker and his life in New York City in his new book, The Short Sweet Dream of Eduardo Guiterrez. Whatever you think about NAFTA and globalization, the story of Eduardo’s life in Mexico and in New York will wash its sadness over you. Locked in poverty as a bricklayer in Mexico, Eduardo pays a coyote to guide him across the border into the United States, and he ends up working for an unscrupulous builder in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, for a fifth of what reputable builders would pay skilled bricklayers. Since the pay was much greater than what he would earn in Mexico, Eduardo was glad to have the work, although his alienation in being away from home, family and a woman he loved, made his life sad. Breslin presents the Mexico context, the New York political and building environments, and immigrant life with a liveliness and with good writing that retains a reader’s interest through all 200 pages of this book. Here’s an excerpt: “If you had building violations or even a building collapse and were Hasidic, City Hall took care of everything. What did a report by a building inspector or a fireman mean? The builder was the mayor’s friend, or had relatives raising funds for him. A Mexican immigrant like Eduardo Daniel Guiterrez didn’t count. Eduardo moved into a space on an upstairs floor in an attached frame house that was across the street from Grady High School in Brighton Beach. The landlord, who lived on the first floor, was never seen, and the Mexicans were crowded onto the second. There was a kitchen, bathroom, a small bedroom, and a large front bedroom with dark brown paneling and a blue carpet. The large bedroom had two windows looking down at the stoop and street. A television set was in one corner of the room. Eight from Mexico slept and lived there when Eduardo arrived. They slept on the floor on thin pads and pillows. You picked your place to sleep and then it became yours. Eduardo slept between Alejandro and Mariano Ramirez, Gustavo’s brother. They had their heads to the wall under the windows. The room was long enough so that their feet did not touch those of the others sleeping with their heads against the opposite wall. Eduardo was stunned by the bathroom. Never before had he seen one in a house. With nine people and one bathroom, there was an implied agreement that each would take no more than ten minutes. He soon learned that each time somebody slipped past him, it would be ten minutes of listening to running water. Let three get ahead and you lose a half hour. He realized that he had to stand around as if thinking of something and then suddenly jump at the first click of the bathroom door opening. He often lost out to a shoulder and a fully slammed door. The most familiar sound in the house was that of someone rapping on the bathroom door to get the occupant to hurry.” Breslin presents home life and work life in Mexico and New York, and provides insight into the character of many of the players. By the end of the story, nobody got what they deserved. Pick up a copy of The Short Sweet Dream of Eduardo Guiterrez and find out why. Steve Hopkins, May 1, 2002
ã 2002 Hopkins and Company, LLC The recommendation rating for this book appeared in the July 2002 issue of Executive Times Hopkins & Company, LLC • 723 North Kenilworth Avenue • Oak Park, IL 60302 Phone: 708-466-4650 • Fax: 708-386-8687 E-mail: books@hopkinsandcompany.com www.hopkinsandcompany.com