Overview
Set on both sides of the Texas-Mexico border and spanning more than a century, this powerful multi-generational debut charts the fate of a gifted, young Mexican-American woman and the corrupting consequences of misogyny, racism, and colonialism on her family, her community, and, ultimately, her life.
Martha Consuelos is an overachieving, defiant teenager, wise beyond her years. Omar Romero is her perceptive, albeit mostly directionless, neighbor, a guy who rarely thinks beyond his desires. Yet, when Martha unexpectedly returns to their east Dallas neighborhood to finish high school, the two form a surprising, if uneven, bond.
Over the course of a year, Omar and Martha grow close, but it won’t last. Omar doesn’t turn out to be the man he thinks he is, while Martha’s quest to change her circumstances only deepens. The further Martha gets—whether it’s learning about her revolutionary great-grandmother or discovering what drove Mexican families like hers North—the clearer it becomes that a person like her was never going to simply be allowed to live on her own terms.
Narrated by an older Omar reflecting on his complicity in the events of that year, Decent People is an epic novel about entitlement, inheritance, and the quiet violences that can shape a life, especially a woman’s. It’s a story that explores how confronting our past—personal and collective—may reopen old wounds but also provide a way to heal.
Martha Consuelos is an overachieving, defiant teenager, wise beyond her years. Omar Romero is her perceptive, albeit mostly directionless, neighbor, a guy who rarely thinks beyond his desires. Yet, when Martha unexpectedly returns to their east Dallas neighborhood to finish high school, the two form a surprising, if uneven, bond.
Over the course of a year, Omar and Martha grow close, but it won’t last. Omar doesn’t turn out to be the man he thinks he is, while Martha’s quest to change her circumstances only deepens. The further Martha gets—whether it’s learning about her revolutionary great-grandmother or discovering what drove Mexican families like hers North—the clearer it becomes that a person like her was never going to simply be allowed to live on her own terms.
Narrated by an older Omar reflecting on his complicity in the events of that year, Decent People is an epic novel about entitlement, inheritance, and the quiet violences that can shape a life, especially a woman’s. It’s a story that explores how confronting our past—personal and collective—may reopen old wounds but also provide a way to heal.
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