Mikel Ruiz's The Errant Children, the first novel published in the Tsotsil Maya language, offers a brutal account of how Indigenous people can go astray due to insidious outside influences and their own impulses. Pedro Ton Tsepente' has a position in his village's traditional council, but rather than taking just a few ceremonial drinks, he becomes an alcoholic, subject to blackouts and delirium tremens. His wife, Pascuala, rages at God to step in and change her husband's behavior, taking extreme measures when He does not. Their neighbor, seventeen-year-old Ignacio Ts'unun, learns about gender relations by watching television programs where beautiful women are lighter-skinned and about sex by watching pornography, which leads to disastrous choices. These characters' suffering comes not from conquerors, missionaries, or settlers but from the invasive economic and cultural forces that make Indigenous people devalue themselves. Do not expect to be uplifted, but do prepare to be astonished at Mikel Ruiz's bold and unflinching portrayal of contemporary Maya life in Chiapas, México.
