Hunger of Memory

The Education of Richard Rodriguez

By: Richard Rodriguez

Narrated by: Jonathan Davis

Hunger of Memory is the story of Mexican-American Richard Rodriguez, who begins his schooling in Sacramento, California, knowing just 50 words of English, and concludes his university studies in the stately quiet of the reading room of the British Museum. Here is the poignant journey of a "minority student" who pays the cost of his social assimilation and academic success with a painful alienation - from his past, his parents, his culture - and so describes the high price of "making it" in middle-class America.

Provocative in its positions on affirmative action and bilingual education, Hunger of Memory is a powerful political statement, a profound study of the importance of language...and the moving, intimate portrait of a boy struggling to become a man.

©1982 Richard Rodriguez (P)2018 Tantor

Disagree with Many of Author’s Claims

Narrator did fantastic job! But that was the only 5-star for me. As an immigrant and bicultural individual, I was very surprised at the author’s claims in this book. I especially disagree with his arguments regarding bilingualism and bilingual education. For me and many of my colleagues (that also happen to be immigrants and read this book) it was disappointing to see how he presents and endorses assimilation, rather than acknowledging that systemic racism and oppression are inherently what drive us assimilate, many times unknowingly. Immigrants who choose to break away from enclaves and integrate into American society, by means of education, business, or both, eventually learn that to encounter success we must camouflage as the norm (whites). However, that does not mean we need to give up who we are, but instead we learn to codeswitch, we learn to adapt our behaviors, shape-shift, etc. We eventually can become fluently bicultural—which is beautiful! Weaving between two worlds and paving our own paths. I would never agree with anyone who says anything about changing or letting go of any part of my identity, and especially not my name, as the author did. Aside from disagreeing with much of his arguments and point of view, I enjoyed reading about his early experiences at school as a newcomer and thought it was something special, that many could benefit from seeing through the eyes of a child who has been displaced from all that is familiar—Especially in this day and age. Sadly, he drew different conclusions than I expected, and I wish he would have had supports available to him when he was young—this may have saved him a lot of frustration and potentially given him more guidance and understanding. I think it needs to be highlighted that this is entirely his personal opinions and the conclusions he’s drawn from his own experiences and that they do not represent how all of us think and feel.

Book reads very well

It reads like a book meant to be read out loud, and the voice work is also strong. Easy to listen to and retain details.

His perspective on bilingual education

I enjoyed reading his perspective would like to sit down and talk to him even though that was not his intention Hos intention was to write to people he would never meet

Powerful

A very real book of a few of the realities that many Mexican Americans face.

Worthy investment of time

Overall, I very much like this book. The middle third, I found, was a little bogged down with discussion of Spanish versus English usage. It picked up afterwards, however. I do wish that Rodriguez would have spent more time on the pleasure of learning. The way he paints his story is one almost strictly of external validation, but it is hard to imagine that someone would put in so, so many hours reading, simply so that someone else could acknowledge his effort. And it seems more implausible that someone would go to the effort of getting a PhD in renaissance literature only in order to receive accolades of others. There are many other prestigious professions for him to go into that would not require nearly as much thought and reflection. I wish you spoke more about that. That said, I appreciated his nuanced perspective on affirmative action. I wish they were more about his experience as a gay man but I guess I will have to read Late Victorians for that. The narrator did a very good job.

Great book

I struggled reading on my own, but listening was awesome. Author shared a great perspective.

Very informative

Great book, needs to heard/read to understand his pov that he has. Sort of a minority within a minority. Very well written. A must read if you are a Chicano