More on Marfa

Tony Cano's The Other Side of the Tracks is a book I learned of when I visited Marfa, TX for the first time last year.  Cano's book follows the coming of age of a Mexican teenage boy in the 1950s in Marfa, when he and his friends, who call themselves The Chinglers, begin to challenge the unspoken racial divide between Mexicans and whites living in small-town Marfa.  Cano writes of dynamics on school sports teams, local establishments, and young love between Mexicans and "Anglos."  While the writing isn't beautiful, the pace is good and Cano's voice is authentic and draws the reader in to day to day life at that time, and to the protagonist's thoughts about being treated as lesser by many whites in the town.  I'm fascinated with all things Marfa, so this book provided a new lens through which to see this unique place.