Point of View

Bodega Dreams is narrated in first person and in the past tense by Julio “Chino” Mercado, a young, recently married man living in Spanish Harlem with his wife and attending Hunter College. Chino is a character torn between divided loyalties and two different worlds that represent two different potential paths to success. One world is that of Spanish Harlem's streets, where Sapo, Willie Bodega, and Edwin Nazario pursue better lives for themselves through Willie's drug empire. The other world is that of legitimacy—succeeding without taking part in criminal behavior—represented by Blanca and Chino's educational pursuits. Initially, Chino believes he can straddle both worlds by simply setting Willie up with Blanca's aunt Vera in exchange for a new apartment, but he soon finds himself drawn deeper into the criminal underworld as he learns about the murder of Alberto Salazar and Willie's rivalry with Aaron...