The first thing I need to mention about this book is the fact that the historical note came at the beginning of the narrative. I was, therefore, well prepared for the social setting of the place I was about to visit as well as know the significance. Not having grown up in the US, I had no knowledge of the incidents mentioned here. That said, I wonder how common its knowledge is within the country at this time. The time is 1968 in California. Our lead protagonist is Jack Duncan, who lives with the shadow of his father, hovering at the edges. He does not know much about the man except what his mother reluctantly tells him. His best friend Adrian is on the opposite side of an invisible divide caused by a rift between the growers and the farm owners. Adrian has a much better relationship with his father but that introduces a different kind of disturbance to his life. The main demand of the growers? To be treated like human beings, something that will strike a stronger chord now.
It is a slow story and can be read by even a younger audience. the pacing did have me reading it in bits and pieces, but the characters are well done and very realistic. It is fascinating to imagine how people think because of or despite their backgrounds/upbringing. There is a lot to unpack in the story and will be an interesting addition to book clubs.

⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4 out of 5.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers, but the review is entirely based on my own reading experience

Favorite Quotes:

Coach never yelled. He just stared at that empty space above a boy’s head as if he were wondering what kind of torture would produce one ounce of common sense in the teenager’s brain.

It’s one thing to be poor. It’s another thing to be forced into poverty by men who don’t care that we’re human beings.

He plays like a turkey before Thanksgiving.


My Review:

This was my introduction to John DeSimone and I found his storytelling to be absorbing and deeply insightful. He implanted me so thoroughly in his tale I felt the scorching heat as well as tasted the bitterness of the times in my mouth. I was vaguely aware of Cesar Chavez as a child of the ’70s, although as a white child, his name was not spoken reverently in my parents’ home and as was typical, so often paired with several unflattering slurs that I likely thought it was part of the man’s name. Embarrassing true story, and it happened more than once.

The storylines were well-crafted, profoundly perceptive, distressingly realistic, and adroitly captured the tumultuousness of the period as well as the unfettered arrogance, assumed privilege, blatant corruption, and abuse of power enjoyed at all levels. I remember gaining that same sense of staggering epiphany and awareness of the unfairness and hypocritical inhumanity experienced that was by the teenaged characters as if waking up to the not so well kept secret as a naïve and poorly informed bumpkin, and marveling at how entire communities silently allowed it to not only continue but to flourish.

John DeSimone’s powerful and emotive word choices hit all the feels and a sharp punch to the gut while reminding me of that oh, so, uncomfortable time. I found myself deeply invested in this hauntingly unsettling tale and fearful for all the characters as I knew it wasn’t going to end well for anyone. And along the way, I was well-schooled on baseball, card-playing, and grape growing in the most interesting fashion. Anyone who can get to me like that deserves far more than 5-Stars.

*Many thanks to John DeSiomne, Rare Bird Books and NetGalley for arc in exchange for my honest review.*
An interesting 'coming-of-age' book that covers the grape workers's strike in the 1960s California, something I was ignorant of. Characters are well-portrayed, dynamic and the plot is engaging.

The Road to Delano is a moving and powerful novel of struggle that is more relevant now more than ever. Despite taking place in the mid-20th century, when it comes to the voices of the oppressed against their oppressors, sadly not much has changed. It was staggering reading this novel because we like to think we have progressed as a society, but the truth of the matter is we haven't come that far.

As the descendant of farmworkers in Northern California, this story hit home for me. In addition to being a farmer in the prune orchards of Santa Clara County, my grandfather was a minister who catered to the Mexican migrant farmworkers that came into the Valley every season. My father and his siblings worked the orchards after school and through the summers, back breaking work in horrible conditions. As Mexicans, they faced so much discrimination. My father often tells a story of the first time he had a decent paycheck as an adult and how he wanted to use some of it to treat his father to a fancy meal. Except when they got to the restaurant, there was a big sign that said, "No Dogs Or Mexicans."

My mother came from a family that never had to work the fields, but she was always very active with the UFW. Cesar Chavez was a revered name in my household. Growing up I was very familiar with the UFW headquarters near Monterey and can recall several marches and protests I attended with her. We often went out to the camps, witnessing firsthand the deplorable conditions these exploited workers lived in. In an area of California with so much wealth, it was staggering to see that just out of sight were people living in what was essentially a third world country. This was in the early 2000s, at the heigh of the tech boom, so don't go thinking this was all that long ago.

Obviously this book struck a strong personal chord for me, but it is a book I will be recommending to everyone. It would especially be a fantastic addition to any high school curriculum. Social justice and the greed of corporate agriculture are at the heart of this novel, issues that are still relevant today. The characters were very relatable and often tugged at my heartstrings as we followed them through such difficult situations. Poor Jack had so much on his shoulders before realizing what was going on to not only his best friend Adrian and his family, but to people pretty much in his backyard.

Jack's girlfriend Ella reminded me so much of my mother who was actually a high school senior about the same time as the characters in this book. She was (and still is) a wildcat fighting for what she believes in and also used to runaway to Berkeley for the big protests.

John DeSimone has written a truly captivating book that should be required reading for everyone. I'm so glad to have been given a chance to read The Road to Delano. It will be a book that will stay with me for many years to come.

Full review to come on my blog.

The Road to Delano by John DeSimone

If you were ever curious as to why worker unions are started, this story will explain it to you. Taking place in the 1960s amid the grape pickers’ strike in California, Jack Duncan, a high school student, and his best friend, Adrian Sanchez, get caught up in the struggle between the growers and the pickers in the grape boycott, which affects everyone in Delano.

This book leans to being a YA read, as we follow Jack and Adrian through their day to day activities with girlfriends, lunches, dates, detentions and their baseball games and practices. Jack is trying to save his mother’s farm and Adrian is secretly helping his dad as a picket captain.

The real Cesar Chavez, an American born Latino civil rights activist, and eventual United Farm Workers (UFW) leader, plays a huge role in this boycott, though a minimal role in the story. Having seen enough humiliation and abuse of the poor and uneducated farm workers, he leads the way to force farm owners (the growers) to improve the lives of the workers (the pickers).

There are other parts of the story and other characters which are not a necessary part of this review. The reader will see how it all plays out as Jack and Adrian become the problem solving men they never counted on being at such a young age.

Thank you to #Red Bird Books and # Net Galley for an ARC to review.

Initially intrigued by the premise, I eventually gave up on the uneven tempo of plot and character. I'll keep an eye on this author as I feel this doesn't reflect the entirety of his potential since his plot choices are sound.

An excellent look at life in the Central Valley. Using fictional characters in a believable plot, the author teaches the reader much about the activities and relationships of those who live and work in this area.

This is a novel set in California during the grape harvesters strike, gives an interesting perspective on the striker’s lives and hardships. The history’s insights are true to the times. It a story about Jack a high schooler whose family has lost all their land to an unscrupulous landowner and his efforts to right wrongs he experiences. He and his friend Adrian are obsessed with baseball and hope to use their gifts to get scholarships to college. His girlfriend Ella plans on going to college with them. All three witness the deprivation the workers go through and end up changing their lives. Ella joins an organization that focuses on the living conditions of the workers while Adrian joins his father who works for Cesar Chavez. In the meantime Jack learns how to play poker (like his father) and takes on the landowner who cheated his mother of her land.
The story flows seamlessly from Sugar ( Jack’s father) to the big poker game. Thanks to Rare Birds and netgalley for the opportunity to review this novel.