N. Maria Serna?s Muchácho takes place during a time when Mexican Repatriation and Operation Wetback were designed to remove Mexicans from American soil. He brings this era to life in the characters of Eloisa, a girl awakened to the realities of a harsh world, and Parras, a man beset by corruption and his lost youth. Parras becomes Eloisa?s benevolent svengali while he searches for his own redemption among the traces of a fading way of life.
The improbable relationship between these two victims of thwarted love and a less-than-forgiving world brings to life a story where justice is scarce. As Serna?s novel shows, crossing the Rio Grande in the middle of the night does not guarantee freedom from sorrow.
