Giuseppe Rocco

by Ronald L. Ruiz

Overview

In a penetrating look at our national myth of rags-to-riches success, Ronald Ruiz tells the gripping story of the rise, unification, and decline of two very American families named Rocco and Martinez.

Through his self-made scavenger business and a series of shrewd land investments, Italian immigrant Giuseppe Rocco raises himself from nothing to improbable wealth and political influence in northern California. Rocco’s money and power allow him to possess a bride of high birth and breeding. Although to her he will never be more than a garbage collector, it is through their loveless marriage that Giuseppe Rocco becomes the patriarch of a dynasty of three sons.

When her drug-addicted mother disappears, thirteen-year-old Sally Martinez abruptly becomes the matriarch of her family of six younger brothers and sisters. Over the next several years, Sally manages to keep her family fed, clothed and unbroken through a steely determination equal to that of Giuseppe Rocco. When 19-year-old Sally elopes with 18-year-old Joey Rocco, Giuseppe’s oldest son, Rocco’s world undergoes a subtle change. But only as he gradually recognizes his daughter-in-law’s considerable strengths does he begin to see her as a means to perpetuate his empire. The result is a subtle recasting of America’s Horatio Alger myth by “a talented, painstaking and intelligent writer” The Houston Post.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781518502699
Publisher:	Arte Publico Press
Publication date:	04/12/2017
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

RONALD RUIZ is the author of three critically-acclaimed novels: The Big Bear (Arte Público Press, 2003), Giuseppe Rocco (Arte Público Press, 1998), winner of the 1998 Premio Aztlán, a national literary prize, and Happy Birthday Jesús (Arte Público Press, 2003). A graduate of the University of San Francisco Law School, Ruiz is a former prosecutor for the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office in Oakland, California. Ruiz practiced criminal defense law in northern California for many years and now lives in Mexico where he continues to write.

Editorial Reviews

While not as controversial as Ruiz's first novel, Happy Birthday Jesus, which depicted a Mexican American driven by the shame of discrimination to attack his parish priest and rape a prostitute, this work offers a revised view of the Horatio Alger story. Italian immigrant Giuseppe Rocco pulls himself up from poverty to become the richest man in San Jose but never buys a business suit and continues to prefer the company of Mexican workers to the governor of the state. His experience is contrasted with that of young Sally Martnez, a Mexican American who also attempts to pull herself and her family out of poverty. The two stories converge when Giuseppe's son meets and marries Sally. Ruiz's sparse narrative is highly effective in illustrating the simple tastes of Giuseppe, like his love of the land and his old truck, while showing the complications that success brings. The book vividly portrays the contrasting experiences of immigrant populations in different eras. Recommended for public and academic libraries.
—Joshua Cohen, Mid-Hudson Lib. Sys., Poughkeepsie, NY

Library Journal