This is a rarity in contemporary writing, a truly bilingual enterprise, as in Susana Chavez-Silverman's previous memoir, Killer Cronicas. Chavez-Silverman switches between English and Spanish, creating alinguistic mestizaje that is still a surprise encounter in the world of letters today, and the author forms one of a small but growing band of writers to embrace bilingualism as a literary force. Also like Killer Cronicas, each chapter in Scenes from la Cuenca de Los Angeles is a "cronica," a vignette that began as intimate diary entries and e-mails and...