Abstract
Capirotada, Mexican bread pudding, is a mysterious mixture of prunes, peanuts, white bread, raisins, milk, quesadilla cheese, butter, cinnamon, and cloves, Old World sugar—"all this," writes Alberto Ríos, "and things people will not tell you." Like its Mexican namesake, this memoir is a rich mélange, stirring together Ríos's memories of family, neighbors, friends, and secrets from his youth in the two Nogaleses—in Arizona and through the open gate into Mexico. The vignettes in this memoir are not loud or fast.