SOURCE: Read, Piers Paul. “Rome versus Los Angeles.” Spectator 274, no. 8695 (4 March 1995): 34–35.

In the following review, Read offers a positive assessment of Days of Obligation and comments on Rodriguez's exploration of the differences between Anglo-Saxon and Latino-American culture.

At first sight, these essays [in Days of Obligation] by ‘a gay, Catholic Mexican-American’ journalist promise to be of little interest to Anglo-Europeans. We are a long way from San Francisco where Mr Rodriguez is an editor with the Pacific News Service. He does not write with the candy-coloured razzamatazz of the East Coast's Tom Wolfe. We are prepared to watch what comes from California but do not associate that particular culture with wisdom imparted through the written word.

First impressions are misleading: perseverance reveals a delightful writer who is not slick but amusing, not clever but wise. The poetic nonchalance of his style conveys not just his own mellow personality...