Soto writes straightforward, action-filled novels with adolescent protagonists who are streetwise. In Buried Onions, Soto's spare prose is full of place names, and adolescent slang dialogue. Although much happens to these characters, the heart of the novel is Eddie's thoughtful reflections on his experiences. Eddie's interior monologues reveal his emotions, his choices. Buried Onions depicts an adolescent carefully observing his world forced to act before he knows where he is going.

Soto, as a poet, is adept at using concrete language to show his characters and their world. Soto tells interviewer Hector Avalos Torres, "I would rather show and not tell about certain levels of poverty, of childhood: I made a conscious effort to not tell anything, but just present the stories and let the reader come up with assumptions."

Soto's characters exist in a crowd. They bang up against each other, fight, and love.

Eddie...