What it Means to be Mexican

There is so much reference to skin color, language fluency, family, and point of origin that the average person has to ask "What is a real Mexican?" Is it the person from Mexico City, cultured with just enough Indian blood to never forget the tragedies that ensued, but Spanish enough to not show the Indian that exists? Or is the Mexican in the north, close to the border that eats the flour tortillas instead of the corn tortillas eaten in the middle and southern states? Perhaps it's even the Mexican-Americans that call themselves Chicanos, or Xicanos, that want desperately to belong to a past that even the Mexican-Mexicans barely admit to. The author is both strong and subtle about the racial and cultural cues she chooses throughout the book. They range from blonde to black hair, blue to almost-black eyes, and can speak...