Behind the Eyes

Hector missed his brother’s wake. He missed the funeral. Dr. Hernández, the intern who treated him in the emergency room, had told him it would be at least a week before he could leave. The ear, the ribs, the spleen, all had to be evaluated. All needed stillness in order to begin to heal.

So begins Francisco X. Stork’s wonderful, and powerful, novel about what it means to really learn to be in control of your life and not let the actions of other negatively influence or direct it. Behind the Eyes is about Hector Robles, a 16-year-old bright, intelligent Chicano living in the projects of El Paso, Texas. We find that Hector is the hope of his family, including his father who died about a year before, his sister, Aurora, and his brother Filiberto, who like the father suffers from a lack of control over his life.
The novel is told in the present with flashbacks and we learn that Filiberto wants the girlfriend of Chava, the leader of the Discípulos, a local gang. A series of events resulting from this “crush” lead to the death of Fili and Hector attacks Chava; Chava is a better fighter and causes serious injuries to Hector. Then the family finds out that there is a contract on Hector’s life. Whether seen as a blessing or curse, Hector is sent to Furman, a reform school in San Antonio.
Hector’s bunkmate is X-lax, who progresses from crass and obnoxious to redeemer; Sansón, seems dumb, and he is “slow” school-wise, but he has the heart of a peacemaker. Forced to take part in the school’s rehabilitation programs or else leave, Hector takes a “mind training” with weights class taught by Díaz, an inmate serving a life sentence without parole at a nearby prison. With the help of X-Lax, Sansón, and Díaz, Hector gets hope back. However, a new student named El Topo arrives and begins to start a psychological warfare with Hector. Thinking that El Topo is there to kill him because of the contract, Hector struggles with fear and whether and how to take action to protect himself.

I won’t give away the ending, but it is very satisfying—and not what readers will expect.

I loved this book and I think that teen readers, especially males, will relate with the struggle to protect, be proactive, take revenge, and all of the other behaviors that only serve to often make things worse. In this novel, it is the “tough” guys who live in peace rather than fight.

The schools here are getting more and more Latino/a students and there are not enough books in the library with Latino/a and Chicano/a characters in them. Behind the Eyes is a book that should be in classrooms and libraries. It resonates with Matt de la Pena's books, but would be an especially good pairing with We Were Here.

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