Oscar Casares is known for his short story collection, "Brownsville," a publication that has become a new classic about life in this border city.
The stories were peopled by such astutely and realistically drawn denizens of this place, it was easy to feel like you knew them.
Now with his latest novel, "Where We Come From," Casares again expertly depicts life in Brownsville. But it's a very different Brownsville with characters who are new to the city, who have just arrived from Central America and who come face-to-face with the people who live on the fringes of Brownsville.
Here again, Casares with precision and compassion brings us the realities of a space where the innocent fall prey to human traffickers and immigration officials alike. In the middle of the nightmarish scenarios are an unassuming, middle-aged woman and her godson who become the center of a tension-filled, life-and-death situation and help us see that the issues on the border can and should be treated humanely because they recognize that no matter what elements us, or "where we come from" we are really all the same.
Texas Public Radio contributor Yvette Benavides spoke to Oscar Casares about his novel, "Where We Come From."
