I wanted to be like Charles

Set against the backdrop of the turbulent Sixties, in this real-life story that reads like a novel, the teenage protagonist struggles with the usual and some particular difficulties: a domineering and judgmental father, an oppressive homelife, a weakling physique that makes him a target of bullying at school, rejection in team sports, anguish over the possibility of World War III and the constant fear of being drafted at eighteen for the Vietnam War. At the same time, we are privy to his innermost thoughts and feelings of inadequacy regarding his budding sexuality, his first sexual experience, and his first love, all of which challenge his deep religious beliefs. With his usual keen eye for details in mood and setting, much like a camera, Hiram Sánchez Martínez records his rite of passage to manhood, overcoming the negative aspects of his early life and walking through the college campus gate into the beginning of the rest of his life. Alberto Medina Carrero