Bulletproof Vest: The Ballad of an Outlaw and His Daughter
In her debut memoir,  Venegas tells the inseparable stories of her reckless father’s outlaw lifestyle together with her own experiences as the daughter of a man who repeatedly threatens the livelihoods of the people around him. From his wanton drinking to his indiscriminate gun waving, Jose Venegas is a man easy to disdain as he makes enemies with his neighbors in Chicago, with local law enforcement, even with his wife, Pascuala. But when his eldest son is murdered in Mexico, Jose abandons the family to move back to the hacienda where both he and his daughter were born. Estranged from her father, Venegas travels from Chicago to Spain and New York, deciding eventually to visit Jose in Zacatecas. Though she finds him still carrying on in his intoxicated, philandering ways, the author manages to create a sympathetic portrait of this selfish, stubborn, and, ultimately, broken man, especially after a harrowing close call with members of a drug cartel. A candid memoir of strained relationships, impossible personalities, and the complex motivations of deeply flawed yet deeply moving individuals. --Diego Báez