Bodega and the Young Lords

Willie Bodega was an important character in Bodega Dreams by Ernesto Quinonez. He is trying to better his community by helping anyone out by finding them a job, a home, or even financing their education. Not too much information is given about his past, however it is mentioned that he was part of a group called the Young Lords.

The Young Lords are a group of Puerto Ricans that originally started out as a turf gang in Chicago in the 60s. They wanted to empower Puerto Ricans and help them to better themselves and their communities. They soon became a humanitarian group, focused on helping Puerto Ricans to become more accepted in the wider American culture. This sort of start parallels Bodegas life; he started out on the streets and ended up having lots of money and power that he was putting back into the neighborhood.

There are more parallels between Bodega and the Young Lords groups. The Young Lords still exist, however undercover cops that manipulated their demise from the inside took down the majority of their group and the one that was based in New York. They were used by people who pretended to care about the cause. Bodega was used by a friend who he felt supported the cause of making the neighborhood better. In the end Bodega’s dream for a new Spanish Harlem and a better Puerto Rican neighborhood was brought down from the inside as Nazario used him to get to Vera and to take the fall for the illegal dealings that had been going on.

Bodega Dreams was a fun book to read, the book was written like a thriller with twists and turns coming often. I really enjoyed the great melding of fiction with reality, the places were real and most of the background story seems to be drawn from events that really happened.