A novel in which an indigenous man from southern Mexico travels to the U.S. and becomes a bracero (guest worker) in the 1950s.
Praise for Bracero:
“From the opening scenes in the blistering Mexican cane fields where wages are 48 cents a day, to the searing conclusion, Nelson fastens the human qualities of the worker upon the reader.” - The Houston Post
My Thoughts:
I found Eugene Nelson’s Bracero in the additional resources of a UC Berkeley Library Selected Resource Guide while combing the internet for a novel inspired by the Bracero Program. First published in 1972, the novel’s digital footprint is virtually nonexistent. That said, the novel is one of only a handful of titles that make any reference to the Bracero Program, and the only one that appeared to center on the experience of the initiative’s laborers.
Three days and more than three hundred pages later, I can say the novel has its moments. Nelson was affiliated with the United Farm Workers of America and the Industrial Workers of the World, and his experience as an activist clearly shaped the novel’s critical discourse on bureaucratic corruption, wealth inequality, and social disparity.
Bracero’s thematic strengths, however, are undermined by its execution. Nacho, the story’s protagonist, is painfully one-dimensional, a fact which makes little impression on the reader one way or the other. Chapters, particularly those dedicated to the gratuitous detail of China’s labor, have no evident purpose in the narrative, and Nelson's fondness for long passages of cluttered and unattributed dialogue makes it difficult to get lost in the story.
Historically, the novel also falls short in its depiction of the Bracero Program, as Nacho is not granted a service contract, does not participate in the labor strikes, and doesn’t take part in the subsequent legal battles. In focusing so intently on the trials and tribulations leading up to an official assignment, Nelson shortchanges his audience by failing to illustrate the experiences and exploitation that occurred north of the border.
A niche interest piece, Bracero is not the novel I’d hoped it’d be, and while I don’t regret the time I spent with it, I can understand how and why it has faded into obscurity.
Eugene Nelson | Peace Press | Novel Published 1975
Unsolicited Review from Personal Collection
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