Ronald L. Ruiz
Happy Birthday, Jesús.
Arte Publico Press, University of Houston, 1994. First edition. 1558851089 314 pages.
Volume, measuring approximately 5.75" x 9", is bound in black cloth, with stamped gilt lettering to spine. Book is in fine condition. Dust jacket displays light shelfwear. Jacket is preserved in mylar cover.
"The boiling pot of emotions that finally erupts in young Jesus has been cooking for years on the flames of religious fanaticism, poverty and race hatred. Transformed into the perfect victim by his grandmother, a religious fanatic, and the teachings of his parish priest, Jesus is progressively abused and brutalized. At eighteen, he marks his coming of age with the savage rape of a prostitute, the only person who loved him, and with an attack that maims the parish priest he both hated and feared. Jesus graduates from the supposedly nurturing institutions of family, church and school into the labyrinth of horrors that is the correctional system."