Drift: A Novel

by Manuel Luis Martinez

Overview

An explosive, fierce, and lyrical novel, set in the barrios of San Antonio and Los Angeles, from an electrifying new voice in American fiction

At sixteen, Robert Lomos has lost his family. His father, a Latin jazz musician, has left San Antonio for life on the road as a cool-hand playboy. His mother, shattered by a complete emotional and psychological breakdown, has moved to Los Angeles and taken Robert's little brother with her. Only his iron-willed grandmother, worn down by years of hard work, is left. But Robert's got a plan: Duck trouble, save his money, and head to California to put the family back together. Trouble is, no one believes a delinquent Mexican American kid has a chance—least of all, Robert himself.

Wrenching and wise, Drift gives an unflinching vision of the menace of adolescence, the hard edge of physical labor, and the debts we owe to family.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780312309954
Publisher:	Picador
Publication date:	04/01/2003
Edition description:	First Edition
Pages:	264
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.58(d)
Age Range:	14 - 18 Years

About the Author

Manuel Luis Martinez is Assistant Professor of American literature at Indiana University. His novella, Crossing, was selected as one of the ten outstanding books by a writer of color by the PEN American Center. He lives in Bloomington, Indiana.

Editorial Reviews

Manuel Luis Martinez takes us into a world that exists all over this country but is rarely portrayed so deeply—the decidedly unmagical realm of struggling Mexican Americans. In Drift, he delivers the trials of his young hero with honesty and passion and some of the best writing about work I've ever read.” —Stewart O'Nan, author of Wish You Were Here

“Forget the sociology for a minute, Drift's great achievment is the dear and moving portrayal of a grandmother and grandson who love each other profoundly. Such affection is just about the hardest art to pull off, but Manuel Luis Martinez makes it seem easy.” —Victor LaValle, author of Slapboxing with Jesus and The Ecstatic

“Drift is the searing tale of a teenage boy torn apart by his longing for his broken family and the demands of his coming adulthood. The book is a sustained and beautiful triumph of voice — a voice that cries out in every line with anguish, anger, and love.” —Jonathan Ames, author of The Extra Man

“This novel is necessary. Manuel Luis Martinez takes us into a world that exists all over this country but is rarely portrayed so deeply—the decidedly unmagical world of struggling Mexican-Americans. In Drift, he delivers the trials of his young hero with honesty and passion and some of the best writing about work I've ever read.” —Stewart O'Nan, author of A Prayer for the Dying

“A comical, lyrical, and urgent force of a novel. No matter how lost, abandoned, or unloved life makes us feel, Drift leaves us seeing the glass half full.” —Ernesto Quinonez, author of Bodega Dreams

From the Publisher

Martinez's impressive second novel (after Crossing) gives us the world through the eyes of 16-year-old Mexican-American Robert Lomos, part tough-talking cynic, part sensitive older brother and son who is forced to learn more than he wants to about adult responsibilities when his mother has a mental breakdown. Robert's father, a jazz musician, abandoned his family two years before; his mother became unstable after his desertion and left San Antonio, Tex., to live with a sister in Los Angeles, taking Robert's three-year-old brother with her. Robert now lives with his no-nonsense grandmother, who sends him to the evangelical Sunnydale Christian Academy when he gets kicked out of public school for acting out. Robert is no angel-favorite activities include fighting, getting high and cruising for girls-but he longs to reunite his family. The jobs available to him, mainly busboy positions, are arduous and low paying, but he toughs it out until he has the money to get to Los Angeles (and succinctly sums up what many restaurant employees think of customers: "Watching them eat is enough to turn you against humanity"). He is hardly welcomed in L.A. with open arms, however. His aunt, Naomi, is hostile and suspicious, fearing that he'll upset the family's fragile equilibrium. Robert's efforts to help his brother, Antony, in school go awry, and he's once again getting into fights. Above all, his mother is more fragile than he imagined, and his attempt at a gallant rescue does not work out as he'd hoped. The story flags somewhat when he returns to San Antonio and a construction job, but Robert's biting, assured voice makes the book a standout. (Apr.) Copyright 2003 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

The coming-of-age of a young Chicano in Texas, as told by newcomer Martinez. Happy adolescents are the same everywhere, but no one would put Robert Lomos in that category. A Mexican-American born and raised in San Antonio, Robert lives alone with his grandmother, a pious and strong-willed woman who cleans houses for a living and is determined that her grandson will grow up decent, honest, and pure. Robert isn't entirely with the program, but since grandma has sent him to Sunnydale Christian Academy, he can't rebel quite as openly as he'd like. The fact is that Robert comes from fairly wild stock: His father was a jazz musician who abandoned his family years ago, leaving Robert with his grandmother while Robert's mother ran off in desperate (and hopeless) pursuit of her husband. Sunnydale is about as strict as you might imagine (dress code, prayers, continual lectures about Satan), but Robert can spot a kindred spirit at a glance, and he quickly finds one in Nacho, who cultivates sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll just as avidly (and secretly) as Robert. Together, the two raise about as much hell as possible without being expelled, and Robert has the added thrill of scoring with Diana, a convent-school girl whom Nacho is madly in love with. But eventually these small pleasures are just not enough, and Robert runs away to LA to search for (and possibly reunite with) his father and mother. Los Angeles is a different scene entirely, and Robert takes to it well, but his reunion is cut short when his grandmother dies. Is this the end of his innocence? The beginning of his adult life? Will it drive his parents closer together? Or farther apart? Either way, there's no going home again. Standardteenaged angst with a Latin accent. Decently done but unremarkable. Author tour

Kirkus Reviews