Description
Buzzy Digit, a young soldier killed in Vietnam, recalls growing up Chicano during the 1960s in El Paso, Texas, his life with an extended family on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border, and his escape from the claustrophobia of home to the war in Vietnam
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Compared to Richard Rodriguez and Sandra Cisneros, Diego Vazquez presents an audacious debut novel about seventeen-year-old Buzzy Digit and his coming of age in 1960s El Paso, Texas. Though already dead, Buzzy's memory remains alive as he narrates his tale while flying back from Vietnam in a casket. Through family crises, parties, infidelities, Little League, and days spent at mercado, we see that he longs to escape what he calls "the yellow canary cage" of Nana Kika's bustling house. The dust and solitude of El Paso oppress him, and his sexual confusion marks him as painfully different from his friends. He drops out of high school just as the government has started a draft lottery for Vietnam, and the first numbers picked are Buzzy's. Earning comparisons to Richard Rodriguez and Sandra Cisneros, Diego Vásquez, Jr., presents and audacious debut novel about seventeen year-old Buzzy Digit and his coming of age in the 1960s. Though already dead, Buzzy’s memory remains alive as he narrates his tale while flying back from Vietnam in a casket. Through family crises, parties, infidelities, Little League, and days spent at mercado, we see that he longs to escape what he calls the “yellow canary cage” of Nana Kika’s bustling house. The dust and solitude of El Paso oppress him, and his sexual confusion marks him as painfully different from his friends. He drops out of high school just as the government has started a draft lottery for Vietnam: the first numbers picked are Buzzy’s. “Affecting...Diego Vásquez manages to fill this story with wit—and bite.”—The New York Times Book Review
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