In this episode we’re talking about the book: The Tattooed Soldier by Hector Tobar.

The Tattooed Soldier was first published in 1998 by Delphinium Books and was hailed by LA Weekly in 2014 as “The Best LA Novel Ever”.

The story of The Tattooed Soldier begins with Antonio, a refugee from Guatemala's dictatorship during the 1990’s who stumbles upon his wife's killer in MacArthur Park, recognizing the soldier by his unforgettable tattoo. He plots his act of personal justice as Los Angeles explodes into what we now know as the LA Riots.

I had the great pleasure of speaking a bit with the author Hector Tobar, about his early days of journalism and covering the LA Riots. I also ask him about nurturing more budding Latino writers.

We ask our group if they connected to the book more deeply because it’s set here in LA, and we talk about empathy for the two main characters in the book who, by the end of the book, both have committed murder.

The Real WORD Podcast produced by Reading Opens Minds and edited by Saul Black.

Special thanks for this episode goes to Stacy Reader and Mercedes Vasquez for facilitating the book club.

Next episode we’ll be talking about the book, Everything I Never Told You, by Celeste Ng

Until then, Happy Reading!