From one of America's most beloved authors comes a raw and unnerving memoir that explores the transformation of an angry young man into the bestselling author we know today.
When Victor Villaseñor stood at the podium and looked at the group of teachers amassed before him, he became enraged. He had never spoken in public before. His mind was flooded with childhood memories filled with humiliation, misunderstanding, and abuse at the hands of his teachers. With his heart pounding, he began to speak of these incidents. To his disbelief, the teachers before him responded to his embittered recollection with a standing ovation. Many could not contain their own tears.
So begins a touching memoir of an extremely angry adolescent. Highly gifted and imaginative, Villaseñor coped with an untreated learning disability (he was finally diagnosed with extreme dyslexia at the age of forty-four) and the frustration he felt growing up Latino in an English-only American school system that had neither the cultural understanding nor the resources to deal with Hispanic students.
Often beaten by his teachers because he could not speak English, Villaseñor was made to feel ashamed about his heritage, and even questioned the core values prioritized by his tight-knit family. Villaseñor's dyslexia, and growing frustration over not fitting in, fueled his dream to one day become a writer. He is now considered one of the premier writers of our time.
With his signature passion, his gift as a storyteller, and his own incredible story, Villaseñor allows readers into the soul of a young life touched by insecurity yet encouraged by a personal sense of artistic destiny. Burro Genius, a complex and inspiring coming-of-age story, is certain to become an American classic.

Burro Genius: A Memoir

Arts & Photography

Villaseñor, Victor

History & Criticism

Rayo

Standing at the podium, Victor Villaseñor looked at the group of educators amassed before him, and his mind flooded with childhood memories of humiliation and abuse at the hands of his teachers. He became enraged. With a pounding heart, he began to speak of these incidents. When he was through, to his great disbelief he received a standing ovation. Many in the audience could not contain their own tears. So begins the passionate, touching memoir of Victor Villaseñor. Highly gifted and imaginative as a child, Villaseñor coped with an untreated learning disability (he was finally diagnosed, at the age of forty-four, with extreme dyslexia) and the frustration of growing up Latino in an English-only American school in the 1940s. Despite teachers who beat him because he could not speak English, Villaseñor clung to his dream of one day becoming a writer. He is now considered one of the premier writers of our time.

Reference

De pie frente al público, Victor Villaseñor miró al grupo de maestros sentados frente a él, y su mente se llenó de recuerdos de infancia llenos de humillación y abuso por parte de sus profesores. Se sintió enfurecer. Con el corazón en la mano, comenzó a hablar de esos abusos. Y cuando terminó, para su gran sorpresa, encontró a todos los profesores de pie aplau-diéndolo enfáticamente. Muchas de las personas en el público no lograban contener sus lágrimas. Así comienzan las conmovedoras y apasionadas memorias de Victor Villaseñor. A pesar de ser muy talentoso e imaginativo desde muy niño, tuvo que vivir con una dificultad de aprendizaje (no fue sino hasta los 44 años de edad que fue diagnosticado con un caso grave de dislexia), y la frustración de ser latino en una escuela americana en la que sólo se hablaba inglés. A pesar de los profesores que lo maltrataban porque no podía hablar inglés, Villaseñor se aferró a su sueño de un día convertirse en escritor. Hoy en día, es considerado uno de los autores más importantes de nuestra era.

Burro Genio (Spanish Edition)

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

A daring memoir of love, magic, adventure, and miracles, Victor Villaseñor's Thirteen Senses continues the exhilarating family saga that began in the widely acclaimed bestseller Rain of Gold, delivering a stunning story of passion, family, and the forgotten mystical senses that stir within us all. 
Thirteen Senses begins with the fiftieth wedding anniversary of the aging former bootlegger Salvador and his elegant wife, Lupe. When asked by a young priest to repeat the sacred ceremonial phrase "to honor and obey," Lupe surprises herself and says. "No, I will not say 'obey'. How dare you! You don't talk to me like this after fifty years of marriage and I now knowing what I know!" After the hilarious shock of Lupe's rejection of the ceremony, the Villaseñor family is forced to examine the love that Lupe and Salvador have shared for so many years -- a universal, gut-honest love that will eventually energize and inspire the couple into old age.

Thirteen Senses: A Memoir

History

Wild Steps of Heaven: A Memoir

Trece Sentidos, de Victor Villaseñor, continúa la estimulante epopeya familiar que empezó con el ampliamente reconocido bestseller Lluvia de Oro-en un deslumbrante relato de pasión, familia y los olvidados sentidos místicos que revolotean en el interior de cada uno de nosotros -- con una atrevida memoria de amor, magia, milagros y crimen.
Trece Sentidos abre con las bodas de orb del ya mayor y antiguo fabricante de whiskey clandestino Salvador y su elegante esposa, Lupe. Cuando un joven sacerdote le pide a Lupe que repita la sagrada frase ceremonial 'respetar y obedecer', Lupe se sorprende a sí misma al contestar -- ¡No, no voy a decir obedecer! ¡Cómo se atreve! ¡Ah, no! ¡Usted no me va a hablar así después de cincuenta años de matrimonio y sabiendo lo que sé! --. Después de la comiquísima sacudida del rechazo de Lupe, la familia Villaseñor se ve forzada a examinar el amor que Lupe y Salvador han compartido por tantos años: un amor universal, entrañable y sincero, que eventualmente dará energía e inspiración a la pareja en su vejez.
En Trece Sentidos, Victor Villaseñor introduce a sus lectores al mundo pintoresco de su familia inmigrante, el cual evoca al de Bonnie y Clyde: un mundo que se desarrolla durante la época de la Depresión en el sur de California. Un mundo cruel donde sólo sobreviven los fuertes y los mañosos, y donde el amor, la pasión y el compromiso a la familia son las únicas fuerzas que alientan las vidas de Salvador y Lupe. A través de la narración vemos a Lupe librarse de sus jóvenes e inocentes convenciones de la feminidad y convertirse en un acorazado de poder, fuerza, valor, e inteligencia. A su vez, Salvador se ve obligado a ampliar su imagen de patriarca macho, y a convertirse en un ser más pleno al aprender aescuchar la sabia intuición de su joven esposa.
Al final de cuentas, Trece Sentidos es una representación delirante del amor entre todo hombre y toda mujer. Al escribir esta memoria parteaguas del atrevido deseo de Lupe y Salvador. Villaseñor descubre una senda hacia la iluminación y nos ayuda a darnos cuenta que un alma que ha despertado no se restringe por el uso de los cinco sentidos, sino que es capaz de usar la fuerza de todos los trece sagrados sentidos.

Trece Sentidos (Spanish Edition)

On May 20, 1971, the body of a brutally murdered man was dug up by sheriff        s deputies near Yuba City, California. Over the next two weeks, two dozen more bodies would be discovered. Juan Corona, a labor contractor, was arrested and charged with the largest mass murder ever attributed to one man in the United States. Victor Villasenor        s detailed recreation of the trial is the product of sixty hours of taped interviews with each juror and reveals the shocking truth behind a devastating murder spree that rocked the country.

Jury: The People Vs. Juan Corona

True Crime

Little,Brown

From Victor Villase-or, author of the critically acclaimed bestseller Rain of Gold, comes the stunning story of a young man's coming of age—a novel that captures the cadences and color, passion and pride of the Mexican-American experience. Roberto Garcia was only seventeen. But he already had big dreams of freedom, respect, money, familia. With ambition to burn and a passion to prove his manhood, Roberto took the dangerous journey north, crossing the Mexican border to pick fruit in the golden fields of California. There, a good man could make more money in a week than in a whole year in the mountains of Michoacan. Nothing could have prepared Roberto for the jammed boxcars and bolted trucks carrying migrants through burning deserts to fields of dreams. But he was determined to become a norte-o, coming home with a family to save and a score to settle, no longer a boy, but a man. At once raw and powerful, poetic and heartbreaking, Macho! brings to life the brutality of migrant labor, Cesar Chavez's efforts to unionize the workers, and a vivid portrayal of the immigrant experience as seen through the eyes of a young man who saw it all.

Macho!

Literature & Fiction

United States

Delta

Rain of Gold, the magical Mexican-American family saga and critically acclaimed bestseller, is now available for Spanish-speaking readers in Lluvia De Oro. Rain of Gold is the captivating true story of author Victor Villasenor's Mexican-American family heritage and of the people who fled war-torn Mexico at the turn of the century to find a better life in the United States. This enchanting translation, Lluvia De Oro, reveals the moving story of Villasenor's mother, Lupe, whose family was forced to flee their homeland during the Mexican Revolution, and how despite this hardship, she met and fell in love with the man who would become Villasenor's father. Lluvia De Orois a telling narrative of Mexico's cultural richness, of a family whose tragedies are endured through the power of mysticism and unconditional love, and of all immigrants: brave people who embrace life with an unwavering spirit.

Lluvia de Oro

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Villaseñor, Victor. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Villaseñor, Victor

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Villaseñor, Victor. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Burro Genius: A Memoir

Burro Genius: A Memoir

Burro Genio (Spanish Edition)

Thirteen Senses: A Memoir

Wild Steps of Heaven: A Memoir

Thirteen Senses: A Memoir

Trece Sentidos (Spanish Edition)

Jury: The People Vs. Juan Corona

Macho!

Lluvia de Oro