Book Review: Parrot in the Oven Mi Vida

–Pura Belpre Award Winner

Martinez, Victor. Parrot in the Oven: Mi Vida. New York: HarperCollins, 1996.
Victor Martinez is an insider to Chicano literature because he is the son of migrant workers in California. A lot of the fodder for his novel comes from personal experiences.
Manny goes through so many experiences in his life and the novel does not dwell on them. It is refreshing to find a book that can incorporate multiple aspects of life into it in a manner that flows. Manny works on a farm picking peppers which may seems stereotypical except that the reader is provided with reasons for him working there. He is not a migrant worker; he is a young boy trying to earn some extra money for baseball. His home life is rough, but it is something that a lot of people can relate to. Manny struggles with how to deal with his home life in a way that seems most natural to him, meaning he does not want to rush out and join a gang because he sees others using that as a solution.
The white male in the story is trying to be the hero for Manny and give him money to help turn his life around allow Manny to go to a better school to get a better education. It is amazing at the naivety of thinking that twenty dollars is going to be enough to change Manny’s life. Manny wants to go to another school, a better one, but when he is told that there is no room for him there and his father takes the money given to him by his teacher he gives up on that dream.
One might assume that his giving up on that dream was a sign of weakness, but Manny was a very strong young boy. He was confused about the world around him, but was shown just how important family can be. His sister is faced with a crisis that Manny and his mother help her through. The surprising part is that before the crisis is over, the father finds out and instead of reacting the way Manny thinks he will, he shows love and compassion for his family. Manny might not have the best or most ideal life, but it is his and he deals with it in the way that he feels most comfortable with as a person. That seems to be the biggest message from this whole book, that while Chicano peoples may face a lot of hardships simply because of who they are, they still have the choice and the power to become the person that they want to be.