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Parrot in the Oven: Mi vida |  | Author: Victor Martinez
Creator: Steve Scott
Publisher: Rayo
Category: Book
List Price: $5.99
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Seller: thrift_books
Rating:  83 reviews
Sales Rank: 94453
Media: Paperback
Reading Level: Young Adult
Pages: 224
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 6.7 x 4.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 0064471861
EAN: 9780064471862
ASIN: 0064471861
Publication Date: March 31, 1998
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
It's no wonder that Parrot in the Oven won the 1996 National Book Award for Young People's Fiction. Victor Martinez's lush, evocative prose leaps from the page, grabbing the reader by the throat right from the start. Not only do we witness Manuel Hernandez's coming of age, we feel every juicy moment of it: his ache for something just out of reach, the confusion of seeing his family with new eyes, the tickle and flood of awakening passion. It's difficult to portray transformation from the inside, but Martinez does so with grace and power.
Product Description
Dad believed people were like money. You could be a thousand-dollar person or a hundred-dollar person'even a ten-, five-, or one-dollar person. Below that, everybody was just nickels and dimes. To my dad, we were pennies. Fourteen-year-old Manny Hernandez wants to be more than just a penny. He wants to be a vato firme, the kind of guy people respect. But that's not easy when your father is abusive, your brother can't hold a job, and your mother scrubs the house as if she can was the trouble away. In Manny's neighborhood, the way to get respect is to be in a gang. But Manny's not sure that joining a gang is the solution. Because, after all, it's his life'and he wants to be the one to decide what happens to it. Winner of the 1996 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, Parrot in the Oven: mi vida is a fresh, original, and powerfully written account of one boy's coming-of-age in a difficult time. For Manuel Hernandez, the year leading up to his test of courage, his initiation into a gang, is a time filled with the pain and tension, awkwardness and excitement of growing up in a mixed-up, crazy world. Manny's dad is always calling him el perico, or parrot. It's from a Mexican saying about a parrot that complains how hot it is in the shade while all along he's sitting inside the oven and doesn't know it. But Manny wants to be smarter than the parrot in the oven—he wants to find out what it means to be a vato firme, a guy to respect. From an exciting new voice in Chicano literature, this is a beautifully written, vivid portrait of one Mexican-American boy's life.
1998 Pura Belpre Author Award
1996 Americas Award for Children's and Young Adult Literature
1997 Books for the Teen Age (NY Public Library)
1996 National Book Award for Young People's Literature
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 83
 Oven birds August 19, 2004
E. R. Bird (Manhattan, NY)
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
It's hard to review a book that fairly reeks of excellent prose. When you encounter a really GOOD writer, the temptation is to read the pretty words and pay little to no attention to the plot. Victor Martinez fits this category perfectly. Reading, "Parrot in the Oven" is difficult if only because the descriptions in the story are pitch perfect every time. I found myself so continually overwhelmed by the lush characters and interesting metaphors that I would completely forget to pay attention to the narrative and plot. Fortunately, in the case of this particular book, they were perfectly up to snuff.
The tale follows the life and realistic adventures of Mexican-American Manuel Hernandez. Manuel's a good kid. He has a slacker older brother, an older sister that flirts with danger, and a baby sibling that doesn't understand the ways of the world just yet. His father is unemployed leaving him regularly drunk and belligerent. His mother, not quite up to facing the problems surrounding her, stays by his side despite the effects of his actions on the kids. But mostly this is Manny's story. It's a look at a sometimes painful adolescence and the world of classism and racism in which everyone lives. That and it's a beautiful read.
I'll give you a taste of what I'm talking about. For example, after doing painful yard work with his brother the book reads, "When we stopped, finally, the sun was prickling like a hot rash on the back of my neck, and a piece of lava was wedged in my spine. My brother's face was swollen and burnished as a new penny". Another favorite passage of mine speaks of Manny's sister's friend. "She was in love with Nardo, but he didn't pay her any mind, mostly because blocks of fat sagged on her hips like a belt of thick Bibles". Descriptions like these don't appear out of thin air. It takes a skilled eye with a sense of humor to come up with such passages.
As I mentioned before, it would have been easy for Martinez to rest on his descriptive selections and pay little or no attention to character development and plot. Fortunately, this is not the case. While the plot is less a single tale of a boy becoming a man and more a series of significant vignettes in that boy's life, it still is a stunning piece of work. There are elements of painful realism in this tale, such as Manny's father attempting to shoot his mother in a drunken stupor and his mom defending that same husband to the police moments later. Characters act stupidly, nobly, or a little bit of both from time to time. The best way to determine how well you'll understand this story is to read the first chapter. If you finish it and don't feel that the author is monumentally gifted, you may as well move on and not bother with the rest of the book. Yet I'm confident when I say that people who don't recognize this book's beauty will be few and far between.
Great writing deserves a great audience. As it is, "Parrot in the Oven" is supposedly a teen novel. Don't let that discourage you (especially if you're a teen). The book is just as deeply satisfying and wonderfully written as any adult book out there today. After all, they say that if "Catcher in the Rye" was written today it would be published as a teen novel. If you're looking for a book that will wow you with its prose, this is the tale to purchase. A stunning and honest accomplishment.
Parrot in the Oven by Victor Martinez December 20, 2000
Isabela Berta (USA)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
Victor Martinez's Parrot in the Oven, was in my opinion, one of the most inspiring books I have ever read. Its not a book that demands a great amount of intelligence from the reader because it is written in a form that can be read by a wide range of ages, but the story is truly genuine. It focuses on the life of Manuel Hernandez and his family's struggle with problems such as a racism, poverty, and violence. Forteen year old Manuel, often called "Manny", has an older brother, Bernardo, often referred to as "Nardo", an older sister, Magda, and a younger sister Pedi. They live in the projects, constantly avoiding people such as the Garcia family, who are almost always up-to-no-good. Manuel's father can't keep a job, much like his son Bernardo. His father spends most of his free time at Rico's Pool Hall intoxicating himself into an angry stooper, only to return to his home, occasionally reulting in abusive behavior. Manuel's mother tries so hard to maintain a clean, and socially acceptable home, but her continuous arguments with her husband, as well as Magda's lack for respect and responsibility, manage to keep her stress level high, and the thought of true happiness inconceivable. Manuel desperately wants to be respected, but what he really wants is to be loved, especially by a girl. He once said, "Just thinking about telling a girl I liked her clamped the muscles on my chest and made my lungs pull hard to catch a breath." Eventually, Manuel gave up the idea that he would ever be "smooth" with girls and decides to join a gang in hopes of being allowed to kiss a girl in the gang. He kisses the girl, but later realizes that he doesn't really need to belong to a gang. In the end, Manuel realized what he has had the entire time, a home. He sits in his house, watching his sisters sleep peacefully on the couch and he knows, for the first time, that his is where he is supposed to be. He is at home. This book made me realize how much I personally, neglect the things and people that I love. I realize now, how much I take for granted. I not too, walk into my house and feel like it is where I belong more than any other place in the world. There, I have a family that I love and that loves me in return. I knew that before I read this book, but Parrot in the Oven made me appreciate my home and the fact that I am loved even more than in the past. I would recommend this book to anyone who occationally takes their life for granted.
Really interesting story that makes a great read June 27, 1999
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This is a look into the life a young boy named Manuel, not just 'mi vida', but the lives of everyone around him and how they affect him. Manuel lives in Spanish projects with his dysfunctional family. I was really delighted by this book. While it is somewhat depressing all around, focusing on the hard life of a young boy, it is funny as well. The events of Manuel's life are very well-written. The story is expertly told, and while it is just one part of one person's life, it seems very significant, as a view into the less-mentioned part of America. This is one of my favorite books, and it is certainly one to add to your collection. Rose, age 12 (we're not all that stupid)
Growing up with cultural differences and expectations July 27, 2000
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I was suprised to have read a young adult book that was so true to itself that defied a category. Martinez shows us the conflicts of being poor, from a minority, and trying to grow up around circumstances that are difficult at best. In the traditional sense, life has it own rules, but they often clash with those rules imposed by its sorrounding community and we are all enriched by learning of other's experiences.
great book February 1, 2002
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
I really enjoyed reading the book called PARROT IN THE OVEN. I would recommend any one to
Read it, because it keeps the reader wanting to read , and it is not a boring book .
I wish there were more series and I could read them all. This book was about a boy that has the worst life growing up. Although his family needs help they still manege to keep living .Manuel the main character has a dad who is very mean and cant keep a job. He also has a mom who cares about the family and tries to convince Magda his sister to not do things she would regret . He also has a little sister and an older brother. This book was a great book. I enjoyed reading it.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 83
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