You can’t turn on the news or surf the internet without seeing some reporting from the U.S.-Mexico border. Opinions differ and emotions flair, which makes award-winning author Rudy Ruiz such a vital voice in these turbulent times.
Growing up the son and grandson of immigrants in Brownsville, Texas, a town across the Rio Grande from the Mexican city of Matamoros, Ruiz encountered the complexities of border living firsthand. And with a little help from the next generation, he penned the groundbreaking novel Valley of Shadows, examining the people, the landscape, and the controversies that lie there.
“A lot of the elements had been floating around in my mind for many, many years, because of its setting on the border and its historical context of U.S.-Mexico relations, and also the long, fraught history of the relations between the two countries and the cultures,” Ruiz said.
“In that sense, I feel like it’s been germinating my whole life. But what sparked me to write this particular kind of novel, which is unique, was strangely my son. He asked me, ‘Dad, would you write a Western horror story?’”
And Rudy Ruiz did just that, committing his rich voice to paper to examine this vital subject in a fresh, important way.
Rudy Ruiz: Navigating Cultural Crossroads
A distinguished voice in contemporary literature, Rudy Ruiz weaves tales of identity, migration, and borderland living through his novels and short stories. His early life experiences of navigating the cultural crossroads and shuttling between Mexico and the U.S. profoundly influence his storytelling.
Raised in a multicultural environment, he found himself at the intersection of two worlds, each with its unique language, traditions, and expectations. The border, rather than being a mere geographic divide, became a permeable membrane shaping Ruiz’s worldview and laying the foundation for his literary exploration, resulting in years of literary exploration.
Ruiz’s novels serve as windows into the intricacies of cultural identity, particularly for characters navigating the borderlands. In Valley of Shadows, which won the Texas Institute of Letters’ Jesse H. Jones Award for Best Book of Fiction as well as two International Latino Book Awards, characters grapple with the fluid boundaries between two distinct cultures, highlighting the challenges of belonging and the negotiations required to maintain one’s identity. The story unfolds in the late 1800s, where the fictional shifting course of the Rio Grande strands the Mexican town of Olvido on the Texas side of the border. This historical backdrop serves as a metaphorical canvas for exploring the dark past of injustice, isolation, and suffering in the region.
“Defiantly, and yet optimistically, Valley of Shadows imagines how the course of history might have differed had there been people of color in positions of power to help shape its flow,” Ruiz wrote in an essay published by LitHub’s CrimeReads. “The novel strives to flip the Western genre on its head, redefining the classic American narrative.”
The protagonist, Solitario Cisneros, encapsulates the struggles of individuals caught between two worlds. Having lost his wife, family, and country due to the geographical upheaval, Solitario seeks solace on his ranch, only to be reluctantly drawn back into the tumultuous currents of life when a string of gruesome murders plagues Olvido. Through the fusion of magical realism, mystery, and horror, Ruiz unravels a tale that goes beyond the confines of time, echoing the challenges faced by those grappling with cultural identity in the borderland.
Ruiz ingeniously uses Solitario’s character to pose timeless questions: Can one rewrite their own history and shape their future? What does it mean to belong to a place, or for a place to belong to a people? As Solitario ventures into the desert, accompanied by the enchanting Apache Mexican seer Onawa, readers are beckoned to ponder the universal human condition and the eternal quest for belonging, irrespective of temporal and geographical boundaries.
Rudy Ruiz’s Rich Literary Oeuvre
Valley of Shadows is just the latest Ruiz work to examine these themes. In The Resurrection of Fulgencio Ramirez, he offers a poignant exploration of identity and cultural dynamics on the border. The titular character embarks on a quest triggered by the death of his long-time nemesis. This journey becomes a reflective odyssey through different periods of Fulgencio’s life, illustrating the flawed perspectives that shape his identity. The novel unravels the intertwining threads of magic and spirits in Fulgencio’s life, culminating in a transformative exploration of gender roles, relationships, and personal growth.
In Seven for the Revolution, for which Ruiz won four International Latino Book Awards, seven unique stories capture American slices of the Latino immigrant experience. Each narrative explores the human condition, longing, suffering, and hope, beckoning for America to reconsider and revolutionize its views of immigrants and immigration. The seven characters navigate the challenges of the U.S.-Mexico border, offering poignant glimpses into their lives as they grapple with the slippery nature of laws, rules, and ambition. Each story becomes a reflection of humanity, illustrating the long, arduous process of growing up and growing out of faulty scripts about gender and relationships. Through interconnected narratives, the novel challenges stereotypes, providing a nuanced perspective on the immigrant experience.
“I grew up on an unhealthy diet of Western films and books,” Rudy Ruiz wrote on CrimeReads. “The heroes, as we all know, were quintessential Anglo white men. The only roles for people of color were those of villains, sidekicks, and drunks. The roles for women of color were typically even worse. When a public is taught a certain view of history in school and this view is reinforced through arts and entertainment, it becomes cemented as that people’s truth. I naively enjoyed those Westerns and — as a child — I believed what I saw and read. But what does such wide-eyed faith do to a person’s view of themselves and the world when they are not properly represented?”
Advocacy Beyond Storytelling
Beyond storytelling, Rudy Ruiz is an advocate for marginalized and traditionally underserved populations. He uses Interlex, the marketing agency he co-founded with his wife, Heather, to address pressing social issues that disproportionately impact multicultural communities. These issues span a range of areas, including public health, the digital divide, financial literacy, access to capital, educational attainment gaps, and environmental impact.
Ruiz often emphasizes the shocking disparities revealed by statistics and research data between these communities and the rest of the United States. In response, Interlex strives to bridge the gap through culturally relevant advocacy marketing, undertaking campaigns for government agencies, non-profit organizations, and socially conscientious corporations.
Wrote Rudy Ruiz, “To achieve this kind of progress, we must grapple with the hidden truths of history, expose them for all to see in their nuanced and often horrific glory. Banning books is never the answer to healing. Facing the truth together and with eyes wide open is the first step.”
