In the border shantytown of Ysleta, Texas, Mexican immigrants Pilar and Cuauhtemoc Martinez strive to teach their four children to forsake the drugs and gangs of their neighborhood.

Their multiplicity of itineraries shatters monolithic and caricatured views of Chicanos....From This Wicked Patch of Dust suggests that the handing down of a patrimony, literally and figuratively, is synonymous with mutations due to intercultural dialogues.

"[1] Miroslav Penkov, judge for biannual PEN/Texas Southwest Book Award for Fiction, wrote: "What is it to be American, Mexican, Catholic, Jewish or Muslim?

Effortlessly, with elegance of style, Troncoso weaves a tapestry of lives, of human beings who by the end of the book feel not just real, not just intimately close, but undeniable, inescapable, a part of ourselves.

"[3] A reviewer from The Dallas Morning News wrote: "In a media market where cultural stereotypes abound, it’s refreshing to read a novel featuring Latino characters who are nuanced and authentic.

Sergio Troncoso’s latest, From This Wicked Patch of Dust, follows a family from humble beginnings in a Texas border town through several decades as its members move beyond their Mexican Catholic culture to inhabit Jewish, Muslim and Ivy League spaces....

No, the real beauty of this book is that it mines the rich diversity of tradition and culture among Latinos, as well as the commonalities they share with other Americans — love of family, faith and country.