Take This Man

PEN/Hemingway Award-winning author of The Madonnas of Echo Park, Skyhorse tells the story of his own upbringing in a working-class area of Los Angeles, trying to find a father figure. He lives with both his mother and grandmother and though actually of Mexican descent, his mother has him and everyone else believing that he and she are Native American, as she believes this gives them greater cachet. Supposedly abandoned by his biological father, Skyhorse attempts to find support and role models through the many stepfathers and boyfriends that his mother accumulates. Unfortunately, these men are as duplicitous as his single parent and don't hang around all that long; only one of them, Frank, continues to maintain a relationship with him over the years. The author's mother's explanation for their life and the myths she has created is "At least it's never boring." The same cannot be said for this memoir.