A fabricated Mexican

Rick Rivera's first novel charts the at times hilarious, at times bitter-sweet saga of growing up in two cultures with the American Dream as a guiding light. In a series of poignant vignettes, the reader follows Ricky Coronado's search for identity, a search made more difficult by the specter of his father's suicide and the pressures placed upon him by his strong-willed mother. The narrator is a quiet, although mischievous boy who reports on the antics of his close-knit and often eccentric family. The amusing misadventures of the clan include his stepfather's proposal to his mother, visits to the psychiatrist and the comic misconstruction of the Catholic catechism by well-meaning nuns. In his journey of self-discovery that hearkens to the pioneer work of Oscar Zeta Acosta's Brown Buffalo adventures, Ricky comes to the realization that generations of hyphenated Americans have reached: the painful but rewarding creation of a new self that combines elements of both ethnic realities.