Review: Could a kid from Harlem survive in the desert?
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 2, 2013
I've been a fan of Maria Schneider's writing for several years, first becoming hooked after reading Sage, a short collection of stories set in a magical mythical realm. My favorite books were the three in her "Moon Shadow" series about the escapades of a young witch in modern day New Mexico. In Soul of the Desert, the setting is also New Mexico, but there are no witches or magic spells or anything supernatural. Ms. Schneider has gotten far out of her normal comfort zone of magic and cozy mysteries, but the story is a splendid narration of a young boy's struggle to escape his past and make a new life for himself.The story began in 1976 in Harlem, New York. Rand, a teenager whose dad was long gone and his mom an alcoholic and drug addict, was doing the best he could to raise his younger brother Bo by himself, but it wasn't easy, and their outlook for a better life was grim, with their neighborhood's drug dealing, crime-ridden streets, and the hopelessness of escaping from grinding poverty. Through Rand's sheer determination and an incredibly bold scheme, he managed to get Bo out of Harlem and into the hands of a family of cattle ranchers in the New Mexico desert, about as far geographically and culturally from Harlem as it gets. But even two thousand miles away, was Bo - now called Bobby - safe from the drug dealers who were looking for him?The story followed Bobby's life on the ranch with his adopted parents. His life, though safer, was still very hard. He was expected to work, and he did, learning to ride a horse, brand calves, mend fences, kill marauding coyotes, and do all the other chores that needed doing on a ranch. And still, his past threatened to undo him. When the FBI learned of Bobby's past, he was asked to help them bust a drug ring in New Mexico. As much as Bobby hated drug dealers, would he put his life back in danger to help bring them to justice?It's a different kind of novel, but it's written in the style that made the author's earlier books so successful. She's created some memorable characters in Bo/Bobby, Rand, and Bobby's new parents, the Enciñas. Dialogs are realistic, sometimes gritty, but nothing inappropriate for younger readers (okay, a handful of f*bombs, but nothing young people don't hear on cable TV every day). And what shines through is an inspiring story of a young boy who struggles to overcome the disadvantages of birth and survive.A few words about the title: The Enciñas and their neighbors all struggled in their own way to survive in the New Mexico desert, an environment so hostile and forbidding that few people could even imagine living there. The desert shaped the characters' lives and challenged their audacity to live there among the cactus and rocky, barren land. And yet to the survivors, the desert was a special place that beckoned to them even after they left. I think author Maria Schneider hears that soul of the desert calling.As much as I enjoyed Soul of the desert, it's also an ideal story for a young adult audience. Young Bobby entered his new school in New Mexico free of the dangers that he faced in Harlem, but there were new challenges, some of them painfully similar to those in Harlem. How he dealt with these challenges would determine if he could ever be at peace with himself.