From the Pulitzer Prize-winner Oscar Hijuelos comes a novel about identity, circumstance, and a way in which we all struggle to accept our true selves. In gritty, clear prose, Dark Dude captures New York City in the 1960s - violent, decaying, slouching away from the American dream - and brings to life a character who has no choice but to head out west in search of something better. But, when Rico and his ex-druggie friend arrive in Wisconsin, they discover that picket-fenced apple-pie people can be just as violent and judgmental as the neighbors they left behind. No longer an outsider by appearances, Rico is forced to swallow an uncomfortable truth: he is still an outsider.
Reviews
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Set in the 1960s, this coming-of-age story follows Rico, the son of Cuban immigrants, and his abused and drug-addicted friend, Jimmy, on a journey from the New York City ghetto to white-bread Wisconsin. With parallels to Huck Finn's journey, Rico's story of self-discovery is skillfully chronicled by Armando Dur‡n, whose ease with accents is noteworthy. He seamlessly delivers the many Spanish phrases interspersed throughout the text and conveys Rico's sense of alienation and bewilderment when he experiences injustice and random violence in the rural Midwestern community. This title has been nominated as one of the top audiobooks for young adults by the American Library Association. M.H.N. (c) AudioFile 2009, Portland, Maine
Ellen Hopkins, New York Times best-selling author of Crank and Glass...
"Dark Dude's journey toward self-discovery is a compelling read. Today's teens will be thrilled to discover a voice as authentic and accomplished as Oscar Hijuelos's."
About the Author
Oscar Hijuelos is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize, the Rome Prize, grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, and a National Book Award nomination.
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