Juan Salvador Villasenor

On Aug. 18, 1929, Juan Salvador Villasenor married Lupe Gomez in a church in Santa Ana, Calif. Each came from a family that had fled the horrors of the Mexican Revolution. The life their families led before that cataclysm and their eventual settlement in the United States is one of survival and wonder. Now their son, Victor Villasenor, has written "Rain of Gold," a grand and vivid history of both clans in an ambitious narrative that draws …

…and telegraphed scenes diminish it somewhat. Mr. Villasenor's style swerves from engaging and moving to cornier than a hip-pocket novela. His characters are keenly drawn, however, and the smells pungent. Often I felt like a family member quietly watching from a corner stool. Put "Rain of Gold" on the same shelf with Cary McWilliams's "North From Mexico" and "Bracero," by Eugene Nelson, to better understand how overwhelmingly the Mexican border renews life and fosters love.