The Tortilla Curtain (Google Books ⧉, Amazon ⧉, Bookshop ⧉)

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References To Other Books

Direct References

The Inner Circle

Tortilla Curtain, The T. C. Boyle is the author of The Inner Circle, Drop City (a finalist for The National Book Award), A Friend of the Earth, Riven Rock, The Tortilla Curtain, The Road to Wellville, East Is East, World’s End (winner of the PEN/Faulkner Award), Budding Prospects, Water Music, and seven collections of stories.

Drop City

A Friend of the Earth

Riven Rock

The Road to Wellville

East Is East

World’s End

Budding Prospects

Water Music

The Grapes of Wrath

A tale that squeezes one last cup of vinegar from The Grapes of Wrath.

The Grapes of Wrath

A human being couldn’t stand it to be so dirty and miserable. —John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath

Anaïs Nin’s erotica

…one of the sheer silk teddies I’d bought her at Christmas for just such an occasion as this, reading Anaïs Nin’s erotica or paging through one of the illustrated sex manuals she kept in a box under the bed—waiting, and eager.

Leather-bound volume of poetry

By the end of the second hour she’d settled into a leather wing chair in the library, gazing out into the hazy sunstruck distance, idly thumbing through one of Albert Da Ros’s leather-bound volumes—poetry, as it turned out.

The Bard's works

…descendants of a flock released in Central Park a hundred years ago by an amateur ornithologist and Shakespeare buff who felt that all the birds mentioned in the Bard’s works should roost in North America.

An Introduction to Southern California Birds

He couldn’t recall her name now, but he could see her, bent over the plates in Clarke’s An Introduction to Southern California Birds or squinting into the glow of the slide projector in the darkened room.

Trail Guide to the Santa Monica Mountains

No registration. No Introduction to Southern California Birds or Trail Guide to the Santa Monica Mountains.

Job

He needed to go to confession, do penance, shrive himself somehow. Even Job would have broken down under an assault like this.

El Norte

Cándido had got her some old magazines in English—he’d found them in the trash at the supermarket—and six greasy dog-eared novelas, picture romances about El Norte and how poor village girls and boys made their fortunes and kissed each other passionately in the gleaming kitchens of their gleaming gringo houses.

The Masque of the Red Death

“If it’s too much trouble,” he said, “I mean, if you want to live in a walled city like something out of ‘The Masque of the Red Death,’ that’s your prerogative, but I just assumed…”

Catechism

Was it wrong, was it a sin, was it morally indefensible to take from a dog? Where in the catechism did it say that?

Thomas Guide

She took advantage of the delay to thumb through her Thomas Guide and compare the map with the directions Delaney had scrawled on the notepad by the telephone.

After the Plague and Other Stories

FOR MORE FROM T. C. BOYLE, LOOK FOR THE After the Plague and Other Stories These sixteen stories display Boyle’s astonishing range, as he zeroes in on everything from air rage to the abortion debate to the story of a 1920’s Sicilian immigrant who constructs an amazing underground mansion in an effort to woo his sweetheart.

Descent of Man

Descent of Man A primate-center researcher becomes romantically involved with a chimp. A Norse poet overcomes bard-block. These and other strange occurrences come together in Boyle’s first collection of stories.

Drop City

Drop City Rich and allusive, T. C. Boyle’s ninth novel is about a California commune devoted to peace, free love, and the simple life that decides to relocate to unforgiving Alaska in the ultimate expression of going back to the land. A New York Times bestseller and Finalist for the National Book Award

East Is East

East Is East Young Japanese seaman Hiro Tanaka jumps ship off the coast of Georgia and swims into a net of rabid rednecks, genteel ladies, descendants of slaves, and the denizens of an artists’ colony.

A Friend of the Earth

A Friend of the Earth It is 2025. Ty Tierwater, a failed eco-terrorist and ex-con, ekes out a bleak living managing a rock star’s private menagerie of scruffy hyenas, warthogs, and three down-at-the-mouth lions, some of the only species remaining after the collapse of the earth’s biosphere.

Greasy Lake and Other Stories

Greasy Lake and Other Stories Mythic and realistic, these masterful stories are, according to The New York Times, “satirical fables of contemporary life, so funny and acutely observed that they might have been written by Evelyn Waugh as sketches for ... Saturday Night Live.”

If the River Was Whiskey

If the River Was Whiskey Boyle tears through the walls of contemporary society to reveal a world at once comic and tragic, droll and horrific, in these sixteen magical and provocative stories.

The Inner Circle

The Inner Circle As a member of Alfred “Dr. Sex” Kinsey’s “inner circle”, John Milk is called upon to participate in sexual experiments that become increasingly uninhibited—and problematic for his marriage—as Kinsey ever more recklessly pushes the boundaries both personally and professionally.

Riven Rock Millionaire

Riven Rock Millionaire Stanley McCormick, diagnosed as a schizophrenic and sexual maniac shortly after his marriage, is forbidden the sight of women, but his strong-willed, virginal wife Katherine Dexter is determined to cure him.

The Road to Wellville

The Road to Wellville Centering on John Harvey Kellogg and his turn-of-the-century Battle Creek Spa, this wickedly comic novel brims with Dickensian characters and wildly wonderful plot twists.

Talk Talk

Talk Talk Dana Halter, a young deaf woman, is in a courtroom as a list of charges is read out—assault with a deadly weapon, auto theft, passing bad checks. There has been a terrible mistake—someone has stolen her identity. As Dana and her new boyfriend set out to find him, they begin to test the limits of the life they have started to build together. Talk Talk is both a suspenseful road trip across America and a moving story about language, love, and identity.

T.C. Boyle Stories

T.C. Boyle Stories A virtual feast of the short story, this volume collects all of the work from Boyle’s first four collections, as well as seven tales that have never before appeared in book form.

Tooth and Claw

Tooth and Claw In T.C. Boyle’s dazzling seventh collection of stories “men are fools, women hold the sexual cards, and nature is full of surprises, few of them pleasant.” —Entertainment Weekly

Water Music

Water Music Water Music, Boyle’s first novel, follows the wild adventures of Ned Rise, thief and whoremaster, and Mungo Park, explorer, through London’s seamy gutters and Scotland’s scenic Highlands—to their grand meeting in the heart of Africa. There they join forces and wend their hilarious way to the source of the Niger.

Without a Hero

Without a Hero With fierce, comic wit, Boyle zooms in on an astonishingly wide range of American phenomena such as a couple in search of the last toads on earth and a real estate wonder boy on a dude safari near Bakerfield, California in this critically-applauded collection of stories.

World’s End

World’s End Set in New York’s Hudson Valley in three time periods—the late seventeenth century, the 1940’s, and the late 1960’s—this fascinating novel, for which Boyle won the prestigious PEN/Faulkner Award for American Fiction, follows the interwoven destinies of three families.

Indirect References

Pilgrim at Topanga Creek

There, in the silence of the empty house, Delaney worked out the parameters of his monthly column for Wide Open Spaces, a naturalist’s observations of the life blooming around him day by day, season by season. He called it “Pilgrim at Topanga Creek” in homage to Annie Dillard, and while he couldn’t pretend to her mystical connection to things, or her verbal virtuosity either, he did feel that he stood apart from his fellow men and women, that he saw more deeply and felt more passionately—particularly about nature.

Referenced By

No books reference this book

Places Referenced

Los Angeles, California

"…to the south lay the rest of Los Angeles, ad infinitum."

Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles, California

"High overhead, a jet climbing out of LAX cut a tear in the sky."

Mexico City, Mexico

"Three hours later it’s in Mexico."

Georgia, United States

"jumps ship off the coast of Georgia and swims into a net of rabid rednecks"

Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California

"…and the dude down there calls his buddies in Canoga Park and they cruise the streets till they find one."

Arroyo Blanco, California

"PART ONE - Arroyo Blanco"

Socorro, California

"PART THREE - Socorro"

Santa Barbara, California

"He lives near Santa Barbara, California."

Los Angeles, California

"He’d been in Los Angeles nearly two years now, and he’d never really thought about it before, but they were everywhere, these men, ubiquitous, silently going about their business..."

Topanga State Park, Los Angeles

"…making the trees and bushes and the natural habitat of Topanga State Park into his own private domicile, crapping in the chaparral, dumping his trash behind rocks, polluting the stream and ruining it for everyone else."

Topanga Creek, California

"To the left, across the road, was a wall of rock; to the right, the canyon fell off to the rusty sandstone bed of Topanga Creek, hundreds of feet below."

Arizona, United States

"I hit a dog once, when I was living out in Arizona? It was this big gray shaggy thing, a sheepdog, I guess it was."

Italy, Europe

"…the old man there at the checkout—a paisano, he called himself, from Italy—he didn’t look at you like you were dirt, like you were going to steal, like you couldn’t keep your hands off all the shiny bright packages of this and that, beef jerky and nachos and shampoo, little gray-and-black batteries in a plastic sleeve."

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

"…he was stalled in the garbage dump in Tijuana, stalled at the wire, and America was sick with the gastro and he didn’t have a cent in the world after the cholos and the coyotes had got done with him."

San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California

"To the north and east lay the San Fernando Valley, a single endless plane of parallel boulevards, houses, mini‐malls and streetlights."

Venice, Italy

"…she’d walked nearly eight miles already, down out of the canyon to the highway along the ocean where she could catch the bus to Venice for a sewing job that never materialized, and then back again…"

375 Hudson Street, New York, New York, U.S.A

"Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, NewYork, NewYork 10014, U.S.A."

90 Eglinton Avenue East, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

"Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)"

80 Strand, London, England

"Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England"

80 Strand, London, England

"Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R ORL, England"

25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin, Ireland

"Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)"

250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria, Australia

"Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)"

11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi, India

"Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi -110 017, India"

67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore, New Zealand

"Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)"

24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg, South Africa

"Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa"

Topanga Creek, California

"PILGRIM AT TOPANGA CREEK"

Santa Monica Mountains, California, United States

"There wasn’t a trail in the Santa Monica Mountains that didn’t have its crushed beer cans, its carpet of glass, its candy wrappers and cigarette butts, and it was people like this Mexican or whatever he was who were responsible..."

Bakersfield, California, United States

"Lettuce? Fruit? This isn’t Bakersfield, this is L.A. There’s no fruit here. No cotton, no nothing."

Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico

"…when he was replaying the past, when he was a boy in Tepoztlán, in the south of Mexico, and his father caught an opossum in among the chickens…"

Hidalgo Street, Los Angeles, California, United States

"…gibbering and raving like one of the inmates of the asylum on Hidalgo Street."

Santa Monica, California

"If you wanted to paint your house sky-blue or Provencal-pink with lime-green shutters, you were perfectly welcome to move into the San Fernando Valley or to Santa Monica or anywhere else you chose, but if you bought into Arroyo Blanco Estates, your house would be white and your roof orange."

Hidden Hills, California

"“If we’d wanted a gated community we would have moved to Hidden Hills or Westlake, but we didn’t. We wanted an open community, freedom to come and go—and not just for those of us privileged enough to be able to live here, but for anyone—any citizen—rich or poor.”"

Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, California

"From the living room came the electronic voice of the morning news: Thirty‐seven Chinese nationals were drowned early today when a smuggler’s ship went aground just east of the Golden Gate Bridge ..."

Calabasas, California

"“Busy isn’t the word for it. I’m presenting two offers this morning, both of them real low‐ball, I’ve got a buyer with cold feet on that Calabasas property—with escrow due to close in eight days—”"

Nome, Alaska, United States

"she went through her mailing list (consisting of anyone she’d ever sold to or for, whether they’d relocated to Nome, Singapore or Irkutsk or passed on into the Great Chain of Being)"

Singapore, Singapore

"she went through her mailing list (consisting of anyone she’d ever sold to or for, whether they’d relocated to Nome, Singapore or Irkutsk or passed on into the Great Chain of Being)"

Irkutsk, Russia

"she went through her mailing list (consisting of anyone she’d ever sold to or for, whether they’d relocated to Nome, Singapore or Irkutsk or passed on into the Great Chain of Being)"

Topanga Canyon Boulevard, Los Angeles, California

"The Arroyo Blanco Community Center was located on a knoll overlooking Topanga Canyon Boulevard and the private road, Arroyo Blanco Drive, that snaked off it and wound its way through the oaks and into the grid of streets that comprised the subdivision."

Arroyo Blanco, California

"…but now all of Arroyo Blanco knew the grisly finality of Sacheverell’s fate."

Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

"Cándido came home to find that his wife was living in Cuernavaca with a Sancho by the name of Teófilo Aguadulce. She was six months pregnant and she’d spent all the money Cándido had sent her on her Sancho and his unquenchable thirst for beer, pulque and distilled spirits."

Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico

"He took the vows with Resurrección that day, and he was twenty years old, just back from nine months in El Norte, working the potato fields in Idaho and the citrus in Arizona, and he was like a god in Tepoztlán."

Idaho, United States

"He was twenty years old, just back from nine months in El Norte, working the potato fields in Idaho and the citrus in Arizona,"

Arizona, United States

"He was twenty years old, just back from nine months in El Norte, working the potato fields in Idaho and the citrus in Arizona,"

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

"to lose himself in the North, but the coyote was a fool and the U.S. Immigration caught him before he’d gone a hundred yards and pitched him back into the dark fastness of the Tijuana night."

Oaxaca, Mexico

"this man was a campesino from Oaxaca, in battered jeans and a molded straw hat like the men in Tepoztlán wore, and he used the familiar with her right away and even called her 'daughter."

Piñon Drive, Arroyo Blanco, Los Angeles, California

"He turned up Piñon Drive, conscious once again of the burden in the pocket of his windbreaker. His house sat at the end of Piñon, in a cul‐de‐sac that marked the last frontier of urban development."

Robles Drive, Arroyo Blanco, Los Angeles, California

"The car suddenly turned into the street from Robles Drive, high beams obliterating the night."

Van Nuys, California

"…there was no way he would expose her to life on the streets, to downtown L.A. or even Van Nuys—and though they didn’t have a roof over their heads and nothing was settled, he’d felt happy for the first time since they’d left home."

Coast Highway, Los Angeles, California

"In the morning, at first light, she’d walked along the Coast Highway, and that made her feel good, made her feel like a girl again—the salt smell, people jogging on the beach, the amazing narrow-shouldered houses of the millionaires growing up like mushrooms out of the sand—but the address the Guatemalan woman had given her was worth nothing."

Echo Park, Los Angeles, California

"He remembered his first trip North, hotbedding in a two‐room apartment in Echo Park with thirty‐two other men, sleeping in shifts and lining up on the streetcorner for work…"

Westlake, Los Angeles, California

Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles, California

"Of course, some days went better than others. He tried to confine himself to the flora and fauna of Topanga Canyon and the surrounding mountains, but increasingly he found himself brooding over the fate of the pupfish, the Florida manatee and the spotted owl, the ocelot, the pine marten, the panda."

Arroyo Blanco, California

"There were no streetlights in Arroyo Blanco—that was one of the attractions, the rural feel, the sense that you were somehow separated from the city and wedded to the mountains."

Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

"Then it was time to drive Jordan to school, while Kyra applied her makeup, wriggled into a form‐fitting skirt with matching jacket and propelled her Lexus over the crest of the canyon and into Woodland Hills, where she was the undisputed volume leader at Mike Bender Realty, Inc."

Trippet Ranch, Topanga, California

"From the moment my wife drops me off at the Trippet Ranch trailhead with a kiss and a promise to come for me at nine the next morning…"

Musch Ranch, Topanga, California

"I will spend the night not at the prescribed campground (Musch Ranch)."

Santa Ynez Canyon Trail, Santa Ynez, California

"…but in a more solitary place off the Santa Ynez Canyon Trail, with nothing more elaborate between me and terra firma than an old army blanket."

West Hills, Los Angeles, California

"…she’d catered herself on a new listing in West Hills."

San Bernardino, California

"…the Matzoobs had been big on before they moved to San Bernardino."

Cold Canyon, California

"…a two-point-seven-mil estate in Cold Canyon."

Mexico City, Mexico

"Though he still felt like shit, like some experiment gone wrong in the subbasement of the Laboratorio Medico in Mexico City, Cándido did manage to rouse himself sufficiently to move their poor camp upstream, out of harm’s way."

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

"…a tall pale man made taller by the slope, speaking the border Spanish of the back alleys and cantinas of Tijuana."

Magic Kingdom, Bay Lake, Florida, United States

"the big T-shirt he wore—Mickey Mouse poised on the steps of the Magic Kingdom—was wet under the arms."

Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

"When he tried to envision the canyon, the white dust trails threaded through stands of mesquite and yucca till the very bones of the mountains lay exposed, or even the parking lot at the Woodland Hills McDonald’s, swarming with one‐legged blackbirds and rumpled, diseased‐looking starlings, he saw only the Mexican."

Santa Monica, California

"...right on the edge of Malibu and only, what, twenty minutes from Santa Monica?"

Malibu, California

"...right on the edge of Malibu and only, what, twenty minutes from Santa Monica?"

Turin, Italy

"Her family has an estate there. Near Turin. Didn’t you know?"

Algodones, California

"You wetback motherfucker, watch where the fuck you’re going or I swear I’ll kick your sorry ass from here to Algodones and back"

Bel Air, Los Angeles, California

"He was president of his own company, Pacific Rim Investments, and he’d lived in Bel Air for the past twenty years, the majority of that time with his first wife..."

Beverly Hills, California

"Kyra barely knew Patricia Da Ros—the referral had come to her from an associate at the Beverly Hills office, and aside from two long-distance calls..."

California, United States

"It was just after he’d got to California, before he met Kyra."

Big Tujunga Creek, San Gabriels, California, United States

"one afternoon in May she went out for a short hike up one of the feeder streams of the Big Tujunga Creek, in the San Gabriels."

San Gabriels, California, United States

"one afternoon in May she went out for a short hike up one of the feeder streams of the Big Tujunga Creek, in the San Gabriels."

Backbone Trail, California, United States

"Delaney had heard of robberies on the Backbone Trail, of physical violence, assault, rape."

Appalachian Trail, United States

"She spent two months on the Appalachian Trail after graduating from high school."

Pacific Coast Trail, California, United States

"she’d been over most of the Pacific Coast Trail from the Mexican border to San Francisco."

Mexican border, United States

"she’d been over most of the Pacific Coast Trail from the Mexican border to San Francisco."

Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico

"América had been chattering away about Tepoztlán to take Cándido’s mind off the situation—she was remembering an incident from her childhood, a day when a September storm swept over the village and the hail fell like stones amid the standing corn and all the men rushed out into the streets firing their pistols and shotguns at the sky—but she stopped in midsentence when she heard the crunch of gravel and looked up into the lean shoulders and predatory snout of the patrón’s car."

Venice, Italy

"America remembered her trip to Venice, the terror and disconnectedness of it, and as she settled into her customary spot against the pillar, drawing her legs up under her, she looked out into the heavy ribs of the trees and felt glad to be there."

Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico

"…if she’d stayed in Tepoztlán through all the gray days of her life she would have had enough to eat, as long as her father was alive and she jumped like a slave every time he snapped his fingers, but she would never have had anything more, not even a husband, because all the men in the village, all the decent ones, went North nine months a year."

Mexico City, Mexico

"…her suffering was nothing compared to the tribulations of the saints or the people living in the streets of Mexico City and Tijuana, crippled and abandoned by God and man alike."

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

"…her suffering was nothing compared to the tribulations of the saints or the people living in the streets of Mexico City and Tijuana, crippled and abandoned by God and man alike."

Baja California, Mexico

"No offense, but probably some judge or police chief down in Baja is driving it right now."

San Diego, California

"He looked up into the face of a tall raw-boned Latino with eyes like sinkholes and a San Diego Padres cap reversed on his head."

Pasadena, California

"She’d worked past two, waitressing for the lunch crowd at a grill in Pasadena, but she thought she’d get two or maybe three hours in before dinner."

Pacific Ocean, Earth

"…and the air off the Pacific crept up the hills to drive back the lingering heat of the day."

Arroyo Blanco, California

"Two stone pillars had framed the road under a wrought-iron bonnet with a Spanish inscription—ARROYO BLANCO—and then a word in English she couldn’t decipher, and there was a little booth there, like the ticket booth in the movies, but no one was inside"

Topanga Creek, California

"Delaney sat in his office, putting the finishing touches to his latest column: PILGRIM AT TOPANGA CREEK."

Santa Monica Mountains, California, United States

"…with an unobstructed view of the Pacific on one side and the long green‐brown spine of the Santa Monica Mountains on the other."

Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

"He drove twice round the block past the Indian restaurant in Woodland Hills, where they’d agreed to meet, but there was no parking at this hour: lunch was big business."

Arroyo Blanco, California

"I have to run at one-thirty. I’m closing that place in Arroyo Blanco—on Dolorosa?—and then, since I’ll be so close, I want to stop in and see that there’re no screwups with the fence company …"

Dolorosa, Arroyo Blanco, California

"I’m closing that place in Arroyo Blanco—on Dolorosa?—and then, since I’ll be so close, I want to stop in and see that there’re no screwups with the fence company …"

Calabasas, California

"…because it had driven the entire white middle class out of Los Angeles proper and into the areas she specialized in: Calabasas, Topanga, Arroyo Blanco."

Topanga, California

"…because it had driven the entire white middle class out of Los Angeles proper and into the areas she specialized in: Calabasas, Topanga, Arroyo Blanco."

Mulholland Drive, Los Angeles, California

"He turned west on Mulholland and followed it to where the houses began to fall away and the stark naked hills rose up out of the chaparral."

Stunt Road, Los Angeles, California

"It was barely two. He could go out to Stunt Road and hike up in the hills above the ocean—he wouldn’t have to be back until five for Jordan, and they could go out to eat."

Ventura Boulevard, Los Angeles, California

"For Kyra, this stretch of Ventura Boulevard was among the most familiar stretches of road in the world."

Fallbrook, Los Angeles, California

"The station she liked, where they still had old-fashioned service and only charged you thirty-five cents a gallon more for it, was at the corner of Ventura and Fallbrook…"

Shoup, Los Angeles, California

"Two blocks up, at Shoup, she noticed a group of men gathered round the 7-Eleven parking lot."

Monte Nido, California

"…and then cross back over the hill to the place she was showing at four in Monte Nido."

Brittany, France

"commanding the hilltop like a fortress looking out on the coast of Brittany instead of the deep blue pit of the Pacific"

Pacific Ocean, Earth

"commanding the hilltop like a fortress looking out on the coast of Brittany instead of the deep blue pit of the Pacific"

Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California

"…the sort of thing she’d expect to find out back of the 7-Eleven, in Canoga Park, Hollywood, downtown L.A."

Hollywood, Los Angeles, California

"…the sort of thing she’d expect to find out back of the 7-Eleven, in Canoga Park, Hollywood, downtown L.A."

Downtown Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California

"…the sort of thing she’d expect to find out back of the 7-Eleven, in Canoga Park, Hollywood, downtown L.A."

Yucatán, Mexico

"Suddenly the image of a village she’d seen on a tour of the Yucatán ruins came back to her"

Idaho, United States

"He’d been working up in Idaho, in the potatoes, sending all his money home to Resurrección, and when the potatoes ran out he made his way south to Los Angeles because his friend Hilario had a cousin in Canoga Park and there was plenty of work there."

Bakersfield, California, United States

"having learned on an old Peugeot in a citrus grove outside of Bakersfield on his first trip North"

Wagontire, Oregon, United States

"Finally the snow gave out, but so did the transmission, and they’d only made it as far as Wagontire, Oregon, where six indocumentados piling out of the smoking wreck of a rust-eaten 1971 Buick Electra were something less than inconspicuous."

Oregon, United States

"There was no one in the entire state of Oregon who spoke Spanish. And worse: he wasn’t even sure, in terms of geography, where exactly Oregon was and what relation it bore to California, Baja and the rest of Mexico."

Guerrero, Mexico

"News came finally that Hilario was back in Guerrero, deported from Oregon and stripped of everything he owned by the Federal Judicial Police the minute he reentered Mexico."

California, United States

"he wasn’t even sure, in terms of geography, where exactly Oregon was and what relation it bore to California, Baja and the rest of Mexico."

Baja California, Mexico

"he wasn’t even sure, in terms of geography, where exactly Oregon was and what relation it bore to California, Baja and the rest of Mexico."

South Africa, Africa

"As Delaney and Jack strolled past the familiar Spanish-style homes, they talked about everything under the sun—the Dodgers, lawn care, the situation in South Africa, the great horned owl that had taken a kitten off the Corbissons’ roof—and yet Delaney couldn’t help wondering what the whole thing was about."

Los Angeles County, California

"In a quieter moment at the bar, Delaney noted, “The device was on loan from the Los Angeles County Electronic Monitoring Service house‐arrest program, and he would be wearing it, night and day, for the next three years.”"

Mexico City, Mexico

"he wasn’t even sure, in terms of geography, where exactly Oregon was and what relation it bore to California, Baja and the rest of Mexico."

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

"while the puke-green buses from the Immigration pulled up to the curb to take them one-way to Tijuana, the doors locked, the windows barred"

Echo Park, Los Angeles, California

"reminded him of his first stay in Los Angeles, in the filth of Echo Park."

Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles, California

"and finally up over the dry Valley-side swell of Topanga Canyon and into the cleft of the creekbed."

Topanga Creek, California

"Delaney Mossbacher, the Pilgrim of Topanga Creek—he who led the least stressful existence of anybody on earth besides maybe a handful of Tibetan lamas."

Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

"Cándido shared a place off Shoup in Woodland Hills with six other men and the close quarters and the dirt and the foul smells reminded him of his first stay in Los Angeles, in the filth of Echo Park."

Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California

"In Canoga Park, Cándido was able to find Hilario’s cousin with no problem"

Tarzana, Los Angeles, California, United States

"Maybe I should go down into Tarzana to the car wash and have it waxed, to protect it, just in case."

Topanga, California

"During the discussion of recent burglaries Jim Shirley explained, “Joe Nardone of the Topanga Homeowners’ Association told me the people down there were good and sick of the whole business anyway—it was an experiment that didn’t work.”"

Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico

"While the conversation turned to community security, Jack Cherrystone remarked, “No offense, but it’s beginning to look like fucking Guadalajara or something down there.”"

Santa Monica, California

"When Delaney broached the idea of taking in a movie that evening, he observed, “I was about to say that I hadn’t really decided, but there were two foreign films in Santa Monica, one at eight‐forty‐five and one at nine‐oh‐five, but of course that would exclude Jordan…”"

Morelos, Mexico

"She’d have been better off in Morelos, in her father’s house, waiting on him like a servant till she was an old maid dried up like a fig."

Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico

"After Tepoztlán, Cuernavaca even, after the Tijuana dump and Venice and the leafy dolorous hell of the canyon, this was a vision of paradise."

Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

"After Tepoztlán, Cuernavaca even, after the Tijuana dump and Venice and the leafy dolorous hell of the canyon, this was a vision of paradise."

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

"After Tepoztlán, Cuernavaca even, after the Tijuana dump and Venice and the leafy dolorous hell of the canyon, this was a vision of paradise."

Sherman Way, Los Angeles, California, United States

"“That string of lights there—see it? Sherman Way.”"

Topanga Creek, California

"one coyote, who makes his living on the fringes of my community high in the hills above Topanga Creek and the San Fernando Valley, has learned to simply chew his way through the plastic irrigation pipes whenever he wants a drink."

Los Angeles County, California

"Of course, a simpler solution (the one most homeowners resort to when one of these “brush wolves” invades the sanctum sanctorum of their fenced-in yard) is to call in the Los Angeles County Animal Control Department, which traps and euthanizes about 100 coyotes a year."

Los Angeles Basin, California

"Werner Schnitter, the renowned UCLA biologist, has shown in his radio-collaring studies that the coyotes of the Los Angeles basin demonstrate a marked decline in activity during periods coinciding with the morning and evening rush hour."

Monte Nido, California

"I had the infinitely sad task last year of interviewing the parents of Jennifer Tillman, the six‐month‐old infant taken from her crib on the patio of the Tillmans’ home in the hills of Monte Nido, directly over the ridge from my own place of residence."

The Great Wall of China, Beijing, China

"How high’s the wall going to be, Jack? Fifteen feet? Twenty? The Great Wall of China? Because if eight feet of chain link won’t keep them out, you’re just wasting your time."

Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

"…picked up at the French bakery in Woodland Hills…"

Santa Monica, California

"…the Cherrystones had gone to Santa Monica and wouldn’t be back till seven."

Northridge, Los Angeles, California

"“Cal State, huh?” … “Think you can handle Northridge? I mean, I hear it’s like Little Mexico or something.”"

UCLA, Los Angeles, California

"…I talked with the coyote expert at UCLA the other day—Werner Schnitter?—and he says stucco will do the trick."

Robles, Los Angeles, California

"…He’d just turned onto Robles, head down, oblivious to the heat, reflecting bitterly that he wouldn’t even have the dogs to keep him company…"

Monte Nido, California

"…if your filthy coyotes start attacking children—that incident in Monte Nido, that was an aberration, a one-in-a-million chance, and it was only because the people were feeding the animals—"

Arroyo Blanco Estates, California

"A SPECIAL MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE ARROYO BLANCO ESTATES PROPERTY OWNERS’ ASSOCIATION, it read in block letters across the top."

Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California

"AMÉRICA never asked herself what she was doing sitting on that concrete wall out front of the post office building in Canoga Park, never gave it a thought."

Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

"The sidewalks weren’t crowded, not in the way she’d expected, not like in the market in Cuernavaca or even Tepoztlán, but there was a steady flow of people going about their business as if it were the most natural thing in the world to live here."

Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

"She’d been watching two girls in jeans and heels… and suddenly the wind shifted and she thought she was back in the dump at Tijuana."

Canyon Road, Los Angeles, California

"And the traffic—it wasn’t like the traffic on the canyon road at all. Later, as they moved along, they were back on the canyon road, right back where they’d started, where the shade trees overhung all those pretty little unattainable houses."

Santa Monica, California

"…that meant they’d have to go into the city, down to Santa Monica or Venice, or up over the canyon and into the Valley."

San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California

Venice, Italy

"…that meant they’d have to go into the city, down to Santa Monica or Venice, or up over the canyon and into the Valley."

Piñon Drive, Arroyo Blanco, Los Angeles, California

"…and then he turned into his own street, Piñon Drive, and saw that life existed after all:"

Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California

"“Tomorrow morning I’m going to walk up the canyon … I was thinking of Canoga Park maybe—and see if I can find anything.”"

Sherman Way, Los Angeles, California, United States

"The nearest service station was five blocks up the street, up Sherman Way, and nobody said a word to her with Cándido at his side."

Great Basin, United States

"A high-pressure system had been stalled over the Great Basin for weeks now and every day was a replica of the day before: hot, cloudless, wind like a rope burn."

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

"She’d had a breakdown then, like nothing he’d ever seen—even on the streets of Tijuana, even in the worst and lowest places."

Tarzana, Los Angeles, California, United States

"putting an addition on a young couple’s living room in Tarzana, and what was wrong with that?"

Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico

"his mind back in Tepoztlán, the rocky cerros rising above the village in a glistening curtain of rain, the plants lush with it, fields high with corn and the winter dry season just setting in, the best time in all the year"

Yonkers, New York, United States

"…took him back to his childhood and his grandparents’ sprawling apartment in Yonkers, the medley of smells that would hit him in the stairwell…"

Hudson River, New York, United States

"There’d be ice on the lakes now and the wind off the Hudson would have a real bite to it."

California, United States

"This was California, after all—you could wear hip boots and a top hat and nobody would blink twice."

New England, United States

"Old New England right here in California."

Fernwood, California, United States

"…just below Fernwood less than an hour ago…"

Pacoima, Los Angeles, California, United States

"…no doubt thinking about her apartment in Pacoima and how she was going to get there if the buses weren’t running…"

Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

"…stale air in the bus on the ride from Cuernavaca to Tijuana…"

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

"…stale air in the bus on the ride from Cuernavaca to Tijuana and the smell of the dump…"

Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico

"…the sky was black, as black as the night sky in Tepoztlán during the rains…"

Arizona, United States

"…except maybe the time in Arizona when the man they called Sleepy burned to death under the tractor…"

California, United States

"…what would they do to him now, what would they do if they found out? They had the gas chamber here in California, didn’t they? Sure they did.…"

Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles, California

"Delaney watched it from behind the police barrier at the top of Topanga Canyon, his wife, stepson and mother-in-law at his side."

New York, New York

"“I never had anything like this in New York, maybe a hurricane or something every ten years or so, a couple of trees knocked down, but this—”"

Malibu, California

"“Two of my listings went up in the Malibu fire last year, and believe me, there was nothing left, nothing but smoldering ash and metal twisted up out of the ground where the plumbing used to be, and if you think that’s funny you must have a pretty sick sense of humor. That’s our house down there. That’s everything we own.”"

Arroyo Blanco, California

"The fire burned to within five hundred yards of Arroyo Blanco, swerving west and on up the wash in back of the development and over the ridge, where it was finally contained."

Santa Ana, California

"Night choked down the Santa Ana winds and in the morning an onshore flow pumped moisture into the air..."

Piñon, California

"as they swung into Piñon, Jordan began to lean forward in his seat, dangling like a gymnast from his shoulder strap."

Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

"it had been past midnight when they’d finally decided to get a room at the Holiday Inn in Woodland Hills, the last room available."

White Plains, New York

"when they went up the steps of the abortion clinic in White Plains and the hard-line crazies had yabbered at them like dogs, faces twisted with rage and hate till they were barely human."

Croton Dump, New York

"He watched the lingering odor of charred brush and timber filled the car with a smell that reminded him of the incinerator at his grandmother’s apartment all those years ago, or the dump, the Croton dump, smoldering under an umbrella of seagulls."

Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico

"…what a joke that was—he was no closer to realizing his dream now than he was at the Tijuana dump."

Los Angeles County, California

"I know it wasn’t for you, but if I could have had my choice of any house in all of Los Angeles County, that would have been it."

Italy, Europe

"She would call Patricia Da Ros late tonight, when it would be morning in Italy, and let her know what had happened."

San Francisco, California

"“Kit Menaker. I’m visiting from San Francisco.”"

Bay Area, California

"‘I can’t really see what all the fuss is about,’ she said petulantly. ‘We have brushfires all the time in the Bay Area and they just come in with those planes and snuff them right out.’"

Panama City, Panama

"He’d built hundreds of houses in his day, built whole developments, and not only in California, but in Panama too, where he’d picked up his Spanish that was so bad it made Cándido feel the way he had as a kid when the teacher would scratch her nails on the blackboard to get the attention of the class."

Topanga, California

"…the main body of the fire seems to be climbing toward the populated areas around Topanga Village…"

Arroyo Blanco, California

"They were on Arroyo Blanco now, Kyra giving a little wave to the moron at the front gate."

Topanga Creek, California

"…which officials now think began along the bed of Topanga Creek just below Fernwood less than an hour ago…"

Socorro, California

"Tortilla Curtain, The PART THREE Socorro"

Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

"They’d already spent two hundred and eighty dollars at the Von’s in Woodland Hills, where nearly everything was cheaper, but the list of odds and ends had grown to daunting proportions."

Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California

"the promise of that day in Canoga Park, after the luncheonette and the flush toilet and all those rich things and the houses with the cars out front and the peace and security inside."

Pacific Coast Highway, Los Angeles, California

"…was at first headed toward the Pacific Coast Highway, and all residents of the lower canyon are being evacuated."

Rome, Italy

"They were like the barbarians outside the gates of Rome, only they were already inside, polluting the creek and crapping in the woods, threatening people and spraying graffiti all over everything, and where was it going to end?"

Burbank, California

"Jack was at a sound studio in Burbank, but Selda let Delaney in."

Santa Monica, California

"Jack reserved the Range Rover for the freeway wars, five days a week, down the canyon road to the PCH and up the Santa Monica and 405 freeways to Sunset and his office in Century City."

405 Freeway, Los Angeles, California

"Jack reserved the Range Rover for the freeway wars, five days a week, down the canyon road to the PCH and up the Santa Monica and 405 freeways to Sunset and his office in Century City."

Pacific Coast Highway, Los Angeles, California

"Jack reserved the Range Rover for the freeway wars, five days a week, down the canyon road to the PCH and up the Santa Monica and 405 freeways to Sunset and his office in Century City."

Century City, Los Angeles, California

"Jack reserved the Range Rover for the freeway wars, five days a week, down the canyon road to the PCH and up the Santa Monica and 405 freeways to Sunset and his office in Century City."

Florida, United States

"He had spent half his life observing animals in the field, diving among manatees in Florida, crouching outside fox dens in upstate New York, once even roaming the Belizean jungles with the world’s foremost jaguar expert, watching over kills and waiting through endless mosquito‐infested nights for the magical photo of the big beast prowling among the lianas."

Upstate New York, New York, United States

Belize, Central America

Tepoztlán, Morelos, Mexico

"But even before he lifted it and felt in the recess beneath it for his hoard, the money that would at least get them back to Tepoztlán, if nothing else, he knew what he would find: melted plastic, fused coins, U.S. Federal Reserve Notes converted to dust through the alchemy of the fire."

Canoga Park, Los Angeles, California

"“We could walk into Canoga Park again, if you think you’re up to it,” he said finally. “They must have a priest there. He would know what to do. At least he could baptize her.”"

Topanga Canyon Road, Topanga, California

"…report a crime in progress—or no, an apprehension of a suspect—on Topanga Canyon Road near Topanga Village, just south of—"

Coast Highway, Los Angeles, California

"He’d been coming up the road from the nursery on the Coast Highway, the trunk crammed with bags of ammonium sulfate and fescue seed, his view out the back partially obscured by a pair of areca palms for the front hallway…"

Arroyo Blanco Drive, Agoura Hills, California

"It was getting dark, black dark, by the time he reached Arroyo Blanco Drive, and when he saw by the lights of a passing car that the prints turned left into the road he wasn’t surprised, not really."

Agoura Hills, California

"…she didn’t know this part of Agoura as well as she should have, and she’d confused Foothill Place with Foothill Drive."

Foothill Place, Agoura Hills, California

"…she’d confused Foothill Place with Foothill Drive."

Foothill Drive, Agoura Hills, California

"…she’d confused Foothill Place with Foothill Drive. She was on Foothill Drive now—and there, there it was, Comado Canyon Road, in the upper‐left‐hand corner of the map."

Comado Canyon Road, Agoura Hills, California

"…and there, there it was, Comado Canyon Road, in the upper‐left‐hand corner of the map. She’d never heard of it before—it must be one of those new streets that jog up and down the grassy hills like roller coasters."

Malibu, California

"…and it was just a hop, skip and jump from Woodland Hills, Malibu and Calabasas."

Calabasas, California

"…and it was just a hop, skip and jump from Woodland Hills, Malibu and Calabasas."

Beverly Hills, California

"…a three‐story stone‐and‐plaster mansion that could have been lifted right out of Beverly Hills, or better yet, a village in the South of France."

South of France, France

"…a three‐story stone‐and‐plaster mansion that could have been lifted right out of Beverly Hills, or better yet, a village in the South of France."

Van Nuys, California

"…they’d gone to Grantham’s GunMart in Van Nuys."

U.S. 101, California

"There were accidents on the Coast Highway, Malibu Canyon Road, 101, the dispatcher’s voice numb with the monotony of disaster."

Malibu Canyon Road, Malibu, California

"There were accidents on the Coast Highway, Malibu Canyon Road, 101, the dispatcher’s voice numb with the monotony of disaster."

Topanga Creek, California

"Then they were in the bed of the big creek, Topanga Creek, and the mountain was behind them. But this wasn’t the creek Cándido had drunk from and bathed in and slept behind through all those punishing months of drought—it wasn’t even the creek he’d seen raging under the bridge earlier that day."

California, United States

"T. C. Boyle’s ninth novel is about a California commune devoted to peace, free love, and the simple life that decides to relocate to unforgiving Alaska"

Alaska, United States

"the simple life that decides to relocate to unforgiving Alaska in the ultimate expression of going back to the land"

Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California

"…and it was just a hop, skip and jump from Woodland Hills, Malibu and Calabasas."

Tarzana, Los Angeles, California, United States

"…after tennis one afternoon at a sushi bar in Tarzana, it must have been six months ago now."

Battle Creek Spa, Battle Creek, Michigan

"Centering on John Harvey Kellogg and his turn-of-the-century Battle Creek Spa, this wickedly comic novel"

Highlands, Scotland

"and Scotland’s scenic Highlands—to their grand meeting in the heart of Africa."

Niger, Africa

"to the source of the Niger."

Bakerfield, California

"on a dude safari near Bakerfield, California"

Hudson Valley, New York

"Set in New York’s Hudson Valley in three time periods"

Africa

"to their grand meeting in the heart of Africa."

London, England

"through London’s seamy gutters"

New York, New York

"Or old New York, anyway."

Los Angeles, California

"Lettuce? Fruit? This isn’t Bakersfield, this is L.A. There’s no fruit here. No cotton, no nothing."

Los Angeles, California

"He’d been caught three times before—once in L.A., once in Arizona, and then with America just over the Tijuana fence."

Los Angeles, California

"when the potatoes ran out he made his way south to Los Angeles because his friend Hilario had a cousin in Canoga Park and there was plenty of work there."

Los Angeles, California

"But here, in the bleached hills above Los Angeles, fall was just another aspect of the eternal summer, hotter, drier, hurled through the canyons on the breath of winds that leached all the moisture from the chaparral and brought combustible oils to the surface of every branch and twig."

San Francisco, California

"she’d been over most of the Pacific Coast Trail from the Mexican border to San Francisco."

Mexico City, Mexico

"‘Mexicans,’ Delaney said, and there was no hesitation anymore, no reluctance to identify people by their ethnicity. Later, the conversation turned as Kyra asked, “But whose constitution—Mexico’s? Did Mexico even have a constitution?”"

Mexico City, Mexico

"He couldn’t go back to Mexico, a country with forty percent unemployment and a million people a year entering the labor force, a country that was corrupt and bankrupt and so pinched by inflation that the farmers were burning their crops and nobody but the rich had enough to eat."

San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California

"When they reached the top and the San Fernando Valley opened up beneath them like an enormous glittering fan, she had to stop and catch her breath."

Central Park, New York City

"…descendants of a flock released in Central Park a hundred years ago by an amateur ornithologist and Shakespeare buff who felt that all the birds mentioned in the Bard’s works should roost in North America."

Topanga, California

"…report a crime in progress—or no, an apprehension of a suspect—on Topanga Canyon Road near Topanga Village, just south of—"

Arroyo Blanco, California

"“I’m trying to tell you, it was this Mexican—he’s crazy, he throws himself in front of cars to try and collect on the insurance, he’s the one, and I’ve got a photograph, I caught him out front of Arroyo Blanco, that’s where I live, where we’ve had all that trouble with graffiti lately?”"