Madre and I: A Memoir of Our Immigrant Lives (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780299236243)

In this moving and funny memoir, award-winning playwright Guillermo Reyes untangles his life as the secretly illegitimate son of a Chilean immigrant to the United States and as a young man struggling with sexual repression, body image, and gay identity. But this is a double-decker memoir that also tells the poignant, bittersweet, and adventurous story of Guillermo's mother, María, who supports herself and her son cleaning houses and then working as a nanny in Washington, D.C. and eventually in Hollywood.
In one memorable scene, after realizing that her friend Carmen is cleaning the house of one of the producers of Annie Hall, María recruits her to take her picture as she poses dramatically with Mr. Joffe's Oscar in hand. It is María's defiant yet determined attitude amidst her sacrifices that allows for Guillermo's spirited coming of age and coming out.
Their common ground is the drama of their encounters with discovery, heartbreak, and passion-the explosive emotions that light up the stage of their two-actor theater. Honorable Mention, Best Auto/Biography in English, International Latino Book Awards

Author: Guillermo Reyes
ISBN-10: 0299236242
ISBN-13: 9780299236243
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Language: English
Published: 05/27/2010
Pages: 288
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 8.90h x 5.90w x 0.70d

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 04/01/2010
Library Journal 05/01/2010 pg. 80
Booklist 05/01/2010 pg. 67
Multicultural Review 12/01/2010 pg. 55
Foreword 04/16/2010