Status
Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Flatiron Books (2020), Edition: 1st, 400 pages
Description
Lydia Quixano Perez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while cracks are beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, reasonably comfortable. Even though she knows they'll never sell, Lydia stocks some of her all-time favorite books in her store. And then one day a man enters the shop to browse and comes up to the register with four books he would like to buy, two of them her favorites. Javier is erudite. He is charming. And, unbeknownst to Lydia, he is the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city. When Lydia's husband's tell-all profile of Javier is published, none of their lives will ever be the same. Forced to flee, Lydia and eight-year-old Luca soon find themselves miles and worlds away from their comfortable middle-class existence.… (more)
Media reviews
I am an immigrant. My family fled El Salvador with death pounding on our door. The terror, the loss, the injustice of this experience shaped everything about me. I see no part of myself reflected in American Dirt, a book white critics are hailing as the great immigrant novel.
Let me be clear: because American Dirt contains multiple inaccuracies and distortions, the White US readership in particular will come away with a stylized understanding of the issues from a melodramatic bit of literary pulp that frankly appears to have been drafted with their tastes in mind
Ah, and there’s the rub. White folks and other non-Mexican Americans in the US: you CANNOT judge for yourselves whether American Dirt is authentic. You’re going to have to trust Mexicans and Chicanx folks. I know that runs counter to the upbringing of so many. I know it defies our national discourse.
Pero ni modo. That’s too bad.
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(rather than the authentic voices of Mexicanas and Chicanas).Ah, and there’s the rub. White folks and other non-Mexican Americans in the US: you CANNOT judge for yourselves whether American Dirt is authentic. You’re going to have to trust Mexicans and Chicanx folks. I know that runs counter to the upbringing of so many. I know it defies our national discourse.
Pero ni modo. That’s too bad.
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Cummins has put in the research, as she describes in her afterword, and the scenes on La Bestia are vividly conjured. Still, the book feels conspicuously like the work of an outsider. The writer has a strange, excited fascination in commenting on gradients of brown skin: Characters are
The real failures of the book, however, have little to do with the writer’s identity and everything to do with her abilities as a novelist.
What thin creations these characters are — and how distorted they are by the stilted prose and characterizations. The heroes grow only more heroic, the villains more villainous. The children sound like tiny prophets. Occasionally there’s a flare of deeper, more subtle characterization, the way Luca, for example, experiences “an uncomfortable feeling of both thrill and dread” when he finally lays eyes on the other side of the border, or how, in the middle of the terror of escape, Lydia will still notice that her son needs a haircut.
But does the book’s shallowness paradoxically explain the excitement surrounding it? The tortured sentences aside, “American Dirt” is enviably easy to read. It is determinedly apolitical. The deep roots of these forced migrations are never interrogated; the American reader can read without fear of uncomfortable self-reproach. It asks only for us to accept that “these people are people,” while giving us the saintly to root for and the barbarous to deplore — and then congratulating us for caring.
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“berry-brown” or “tan as childhood” (no, I don’t know what that means either). In one scene, the sisters embrace and console each other: “Rebeca breathes deeply into Soledad’s neck, and her tears wet the soft brown curve of her sister’s skin.” In all my years of hugging my own sister, I don’t think I’ve ever thought, “Here I am, hugging your brown neck.” Am I missing out?The real failures of the book, however, have little to do with the writer’s identity and everything to do with her abilities as a novelist.
What thin creations these characters are — and how distorted they are by the stilted prose and characterizations. The heroes grow only more heroic, the villains more villainous. The children sound like tiny prophets. Occasionally there’s a flare of deeper, more subtle characterization, the way Luca, for example, experiences “an uncomfortable feeling of both thrill and dread” when he finally lays eyes on the other side of the border, or how, in the middle of the terror of escape, Lydia will still notice that her son needs a haircut.
But does the book’s shallowness paradoxically explain the excitement surrounding it? The tortured sentences aside, “American Dirt” is enviably easy to read. It is determinedly apolitical. The deep roots of these forced migrations are never interrogated; the American reader can read without fear of uncomfortable self-reproach. It asks only for us to accept that “these people are people,” while giving us the saintly to root for and the barbarous to deplore — and then congratulating us for caring.
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A self-professed gabacha, Jeanine Cummins, wrote a book that sucks. Big time.
Her obra de caca belongs to the great American tradition of doing the following:
1. Appropriating genius works by people of color
2. Slapping a coat of mayonesa on them to make palatable to taste buds estados-unidenses
3. Repackaging them for mass racially “colorblind” consumption.
Rather than look us in the eye, many gabachos prefer to look down their noses at us. Rather than face that we are their moral and intellectual equals, they happily pity us. Pity is what inspires their sweet tooth for Mexican pain, a craving many of them hide. This denial motivates their spending habits, resulting in a preference for trauma porn that wears a social justice fig leaf. To satisfy this demand, Cummins tossed together American Dirt, a “road thriller” that wears an I’m-giving-a-voice-to-the-voiceless-masses merkin.
Her obra de caca belongs to the great American tradition of doing the following:
1. Appropriating genius works by people of color
2. Slapping a coat of mayonesa on them to make palatable to taste buds estados-unidenses
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and3. Repackaging them for mass racially “colorblind” consumption.
Rather than look us in the eye, many gabachos prefer to look down their noses at us. Rather than face that we are their moral and intellectual equals, they happily pity us. Pity is what inspires their sweet tooth for Mexican pain, a craving many of them hide. This denial motivates their spending habits, resulting in a preference for trauma porn that wears a social justice fig leaf. To satisfy this demand, Cummins tossed together American Dirt, a “road thriller” that wears an I’m-giving-a-voice-to-the-voiceless-masses merkin.
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American Dirt
Most often we hear talk about the American Dream but what American Dirt did was portray the reasons for leaving one's home country and the journey to the United States. What is truly fear though, is there fear of the unknown or fear of the past to repeat? Fear is present and develops throughout the
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book. Keeping that in mind we´ĺl continue to talk about American Dirt. Some information on the author Jeannine Cummins before we get into the book, age 46, was born December 6, 1974 in Spain. She wrote this book through research and visiting several migrant shelters and orphanages in Mexico as well as migrant helpers who like to provide water, food in the desert. They influenced her writing very deeply by seeing what these people go through just to get to the United States such as hopping on a train knowingly they could fall and get crushed or split in half to death. The book started with Luca and Lydia, a mother and son with their family at a quinceanera but quickly turned into them fearing for their life, as they were hidden in a bathroom waiting for the bullets to stop. Fear was the only word that was present in that moment. ¨Luca does not breathe. Mami does not breathe. Their eyes are closed, their bodies motionless, even their adrenaline is suspended within the calcified will of their stillness¨(Cummins 3). Lydia always had a hidden fear, she feared for herself and her family when her husband became a journalist and it came true. As they came out they saw their family stripped away from them as they were murdered brutally by the cartel. American Dirt started with action but then quickly retraced what caused the murder as well as explained the current situation with Luca and Lydia fleeing the cartel in order to be able to survive they had to cross into the United States or to the American Dirt. Luca´s father, Sebastian, was a journalist and he would often write about the cartel, especially Javier (the cartel leader). This is where another fear for Lydia developed as she knew her husband could die for writing about the cartel. At the same time though Javier began to develop a friendship with Lydia without Sebastian knowing and as Javier grew closer to Lydia the relationship became more of a romantic relationship only through Javier´s eyes though as he wanted to be with her. Throughout Sebastian´s career though the biggest fear was death, as where they lived it was a big-time period where the cartel killed people, anyone really. Continuing on in the book Lydia is told a reporter was shot by men on a motorcycle and right away she began to fear for Sebastian´s life. ¨She panicked and cried out¨ (Cummins 123). Giving us another example of a moment in her life where she feared not only for her life but her husbands´. The book then talked us through her journey from a third-person point of view. She left Acapulco and her struggles to get away from there. The fear becomes such a vivid image at this point in the book as she turns and all around her people are getting raped, jumped, or even killed off the train. At the same time of the journey the book often talks about her life before the massacre and things along the journey that remind her of her past life giving her motivation for the new country as well. Towards the end of the book we see the ends all tying together and some untying but throughout it all the fear still remains, not of the cartel but of the legal status, the possibility of being deported at any time can be scary and it creates an unavoidable fear. Although the fear of dying from the cartel disappears, the book shows us that fear can be a motivator for immigrants to pursue a new life on American soil or dirt. For a new life and a new dream.
There may be people who may not like this book for the simple fact it is very gruesome. It gives details about the cartel, as to how they killed people, what they did to women, and many other details that may trigger some audience members. There may also be people who may not like it because it may be hard to read about the journey of crossing to Mexico, and the details it gives on what happens to those who are not successful on the train and crossing. Now for those that are interested in reading this book, it provides another eye-opener of what immigrants go through when they cross to the United States. It is really a new perspective as to what situations may cause them to leave their home country and come to a new one for a better life.
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User reviews
LibraryThing member brenzi
Yes I dared to read this book. Critics be damned. Had circumstances been different, I might've waited until the brouhaha died down, which I'm sure it will, before I took it up. And when I finished the book I looked up some of the critical reviews to see if I could figure out what the hell went on
I'm probably not telling you anything new when I briefly outline the book's premise: a heart thumping flight from Acapulco where Lydia Perez and her eight year old son Luca had enjoyed a fairly middle class life. They're on the run from the drug cartel that massacred her entire family in the first pages of the narrative and trying to get to the U.S. border and the freedom they feel will be theirs finally. That's a bit naive considering the present administration but at any rate that's the premise. Along the way, they meet other migrants running from other circumstances. They all have the same goal.
The whole journey is amazingly fraught. From riding atop cargo trains (I still question how a mother hoists her eight year old aboard a train that's barreling down the tracks but once again, I'm assuming this came up in the research.), to meeting up with other migrants who become as close as family, to the rapes and assaults suffered by the women, to the fear that the cartel will track them down, to the trek through the Sonoran Desert where the need for shade and water makes the brutal journey deadly, I found the narrative to be incredibly gripping.
But beyond the compelling flight from danger, I thought Cummins made the people very real and human. I could feel their fear and their kindness. Their desires for a good life and their losses were palpable. Luca was such a real boy I wanted to put my arms around him and tell him it would be ok.
Errors? Non-facts? Maybe. I don't know. I didn't see them.
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with this particular book. Evidently, the book itself is not the problem. The author is really not the problem. The problem is hurt feelings (and pocketbooks) on the part of Latino authors who feel underrepresented by the publishing industry. I'm sure they're probably right. There should be more representation both in the publishing houses and among authors. But that has little to do with what kind of read this book turned out to be. I really believe Cummins did her homework. If there were cultural or factual errors in the book, I certainly didn't unearth them but then, I'm not Latina. I'm probably not telling you anything new when I briefly outline the book's premise: a heart thumping flight from Acapulco where Lydia Perez and her eight year old son Luca had enjoyed a fairly middle class life. They're on the run from the drug cartel that massacred her entire family in the first pages of the narrative and trying to get to the U.S. border and the freedom they feel will be theirs finally. That's a bit naive considering the present administration but at any rate that's the premise. Along the way, they meet other migrants running from other circumstances. They all have the same goal.
The whole journey is amazingly fraught. From riding atop cargo trains (I still question how a mother hoists her eight year old aboard a train that's barreling down the tracks but once again, I'm assuming this came up in the research.), to meeting up with other migrants who become as close as family, to the rapes and assaults suffered by the women, to the fear that the cartel will track them down, to the trek through the Sonoran Desert where the need for shade and water makes the brutal journey deadly, I found the narrative to be incredibly gripping.
But beyond the compelling flight from danger, I thought Cummins made the people very real and human. I could feel their fear and their kindness. Their desires for a good life and their losses were palpable. Luca was such a real boy I wanted to put my arms around him and tell him it would be ok.
Errors? Non-facts? Maybe. I don't know. I didn't see them.
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LibraryThing member msf59
“In 2017, a migrant died every twenty-one hours along the United States-Mexico border. That number does not include the many migrants that simply disappear each year.”
“It's also true that in 2017, Mexico was the deadliest country in the world to be a journalist. The nationwide murder rate was
“As Rebecca reveals what scraps of story she does have to Luca, he starts to understand that this is the one thing all migrants have in common, this is the solidarity that exists among them, though they all come from different places and different circumstances..., each of them carries some story of suffering on top of that train and into el norte beyond. “
Lydia Quixano Perez and her eight year old son, are living a comfortable middle-class life in Acapulco.
Her husband is a crusading journalist and Lydia owns a bookstore. On one fateful afternoon, during a family celebration, Lydia's world upends in a horrific event and she finds herself fleeing, with her son, from a vengeful and ruthless drug lord. This is in the opening pages, and will leave the reader shaken. The rest of the story follows the mother and son, as they make their way north to the U.S. with danger on their heels at every waking moment. The suspense and terror never flag, but they also bond with many other migrants, on the same precarious mission.
I think this is a perfect novel. The writing is incredible, along with the pacing and character development. I believe it also succeeds, in putting a face on these desperate people. It is easy to sit here in the comfy north, and shake our heads at “walls” and “caravans” but the author reminds us here, that these are living, breathing human beings, trying to make a life for themselves, despite the harrowing odds.
“It's also true that in 2017, Mexico was the deadliest country in the world to be a journalist. The nationwide murder rate was
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the highest on record...”“As Rebecca reveals what scraps of story she does have to Luca, he starts to understand that this is the one thing all migrants have in common, this is the solidarity that exists among them, though they all come from different places and different circumstances..., each of them carries some story of suffering on top of that train and into el norte beyond. “
Lydia Quixano Perez and her eight year old son, are living a comfortable middle-class life in Acapulco.
Her husband is a crusading journalist and Lydia owns a bookstore. On one fateful afternoon, during a family celebration, Lydia's world upends in a horrific event and she finds herself fleeing, with her son, from a vengeful and ruthless drug lord. This is in the opening pages, and will leave the reader shaken. The rest of the story follows the mother and son, as they make their way north to the U.S. with danger on their heels at every waking moment. The suspense and terror never flag, but they also bond with many other migrants, on the same precarious mission.
I think this is a perfect novel. The writing is incredible, along with the pacing and character development. I believe it also succeeds, in putting a face on these desperate people. It is easy to sit here in the comfy north, and shake our heads at “walls” and “caravans” but the author reminds us here, that these are living, breathing human beings, trying to make a life for themselves, despite the harrowing odds.
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LibraryThing member nenasfilla
Heart wrenching, difficult to put down. The difficulties migrants encounter are only surpassed by the evil that awaits them in their own countries. This story reveals their humanity and the hope that sustains them as they head north. Required reading for any and all politicians, ICE employees, and
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anyone wanting to know what causes so many to come to the USA. Show Less
LibraryThing member juju2cat
Breathless. That's how I felt reading this heart wrenching novel. A simple friendship that turns to a curse from a drug cartel lord that sends a mother and her son on the run after being stripped of family, home and their own identity. We are all aware of the plights of migrants; this book details
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every horror they encounter on their way to el norte. I wept. Thank you to FlatIron Books for a copy for my review. Show Less
LibraryThing member villemezbrown
I put this book in my queue when I started seeing rave reviews before its publication. Then came the controversy and backlash. I decided to go ahead and read it anyway just to see what all the fuss was about. I mean, it's compared to Grapes of Wrath right on the front cover, and that's one of my
Well, Cummins is not Steinbeck.
It started out way more soap opera/B-movie thriller than I thought it would, with lots of pages about secret identities and unrequited love. But then it becomes a road trip novel as a mother and son slowly make their way north from Acapulco to the border with the United States.
Basically, it felt like one of those books written for the inevitable movie adaptation, from the middle-class mother and her precocious tyke filled with geography trivia to the beautiful young Honduran teens they travel with, the moody ex-gang member who stalks them, and the little kid with the outsize personality and a big secret in his pocket. We're repeatedly told how awful things are, but are given all-too-convenient plot developments, story twists, side characters, and an ending that will play well on screen.
The whole time I read I kept flashing on Sally Field in Not Without My Daughter. To me this is less a literary take on present conditions in Mexico and more a calculated product aimed at American moms and their book clubs. Not worth the praise or the controversy really.
p.s., Having posted my review I finally read some in-depth critiques of American Dirt and more fully explored the controversy. And while the book is not very good, the arguments against it are sound and the need to get pissed about it is quite legit.
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favorite books.Well, Cummins is not Steinbeck.
It started out way more soap opera/B-movie thriller than I thought it would, with lots of pages about secret identities and unrequited love. But then it becomes a road trip novel as a mother and son slowly make their way north from Acapulco to the border with the United States.
Basically, it felt like one of those books written for the inevitable movie adaptation, from the middle-class mother and her precocious tyke filled with geography trivia to the beautiful young Honduran teens they travel with, the moody ex-gang member who stalks them, and the little kid with the outsize personality and a big secret in his pocket. We're repeatedly told how awful things are, but are given all-too-convenient plot developments, story twists, side characters, and an ending that will play well on screen.
The whole time I read I kept flashing on Sally Field in Not Without My Daughter. To me this is less a literary take on present conditions in Mexico and more a calculated product aimed at American moms and their book clubs. Not worth the praise or the controversy really.
p.s., Having posted my review I finally read some in-depth critiques of American Dirt and more fully explored the controversy. And while the book is not very good, the arguments against it are sound and the need to get pissed about it is quite legit.
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LibraryThing member whitreidtan
I read this on the recommendation of a friend long before any of the controversy erupted. Although I was a little conflicted about reading it (because of my interest in the topic rather than because of the soon to be conflagration of controversy about authorial heritage, suggested stereotypes, lack
Lydia lives in Acapulco with her investigative journalist husband and their son Luca. She owns a bookstore and the family is pretty firmly middle class but her story doesn't open with these mundane facts of her life. It opens with her huddling in a bathroom with Luca as a drug cartel guns down the rest of her family during a backyard cookout celebration of her niece's quinceanara. Lydia knows that once the head of the cartel knows she and her son have survived, they will not be safe. She knows this because she knows this man. Javier was her customer at the bookstore and he was her friend, at least until her husband published an article about him, an article Javier cannot forgive. So although Lydia's numb from losing her entire family in one horrific afternoon, she knows that she and Luca have to flee. The drug cartel's tentacles are long though and although she ostensibly has far more resources than many people making their way to the US, she cannot draw attention to herself and her son, fumbling and haltingly making their way through the country along the migrant path, encountering the breadth of humanity, both good and understanding people as well as exploitative and awful people. She is driven to protect her son at all costs, to get him to safety, and to help him process everything he's witnessed, both the loss of family and the terrible and terrifying things he sees along the way as they join the steady stream of migrants making their way north.
Lydia and Luca have lost everything, including their heretofore unexamined sense of safety and this revelation makes the unexpected (or even pre-warned about) hardships that much harder emotionally as they move forward toward a life that they never wanted but have no option to seek. Lydia is perhaps a little naive as a character but then, who isn't when living a life of unconcern and relative ease? This naivete comes up hard against the need to keep Luca safe as they travel and as she is forced to see clearly both the humanity and the inhumanity in those around her on the journey. The trip is arduous and dangerous and the reasons people from all over Central and South America attempt the journey are myriad with Cummins offering small snippets of only a few reasons in the characters of Lydia and Luca, the Honduran sisters, the former student whose visa expired, the mother trying to get back to her American children, the brothers and their sons from Veracruz. Until almost the end of the novel, most of the characters stay fairly anonymous as Lydia guards her story and her identity, fearful to trust. This makes the novel that much more insular and paranoid feeling, as akin to Lydia's own feelings as possible. She and Luca are the main focus and the novel is narrated around their perceptions and worries. It is fast paced and action oriented and although there are two very dramatic happenings close to the end that push the story a bit over the top, it never minimizes the actual danger involved in crossing into the US or on the long journey to get there. The obstacles to making it all the way, in some cases thousands of miles, are numerous and in presenting this, the novel felt revelatory, especially to an audience privileged enough, like Lydia once was, never to have had to consider it. The news may talk about the danger of the border crossing but it doesn't do a particularly good job at acknowledging that this crossing is only one in a series of dangers, not the first, nor even the last. I found this a very worthwhile read. It made me think and consider in ways that I hadn't before and I think that aspect might be getting lost in all the outrage and discussions and I think that's a shame.
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of diversity in publishing, and advance money to summarize most of the complaints), I had previously read and enjoyed Cummins' novel The Outside Boy so I decided to take the advice of my friend and another author who both read it and praised it highly. I have since read and listened to much of the criticism as well. There are layers upon layers to excavate here but I'm not going to do that. I don't have the background to address certain of the accusations so I'm only going to address this as a work of fiction. And let me say, it was eye-opening, it was personal, and it was a book that made this reader want to keep turning pages to see if this fierce, protective, and desperate mother and her young son escaped with their lives. If Jeanine Cummins intended to write a completely propulsive novel that opened a dialogue, she did that.Lydia lives in Acapulco with her investigative journalist husband and their son Luca. She owns a bookstore and the family is pretty firmly middle class but her story doesn't open with these mundane facts of her life. It opens with her huddling in a bathroom with Luca as a drug cartel guns down the rest of her family during a backyard cookout celebration of her niece's quinceanara. Lydia knows that once the head of the cartel knows she and her son have survived, they will not be safe. She knows this because she knows this man. Javier was her customer at the bookstore and he was her friend, at least until her husband published an article about him, an article Javier cannot forgive. So although Lydia's numb from losing her entire family in one horrific afternoon, she knows that she and Luca have to flee. The drug cartel's tentacles are long though and although she ostensibly has far more resources than many people making their way to the US, she cannot draw attention to herself and her son, fumbling and haltingly making their way through the country along the migrant path, encountering the breadth of humanity, both good and understanding people as well as exploitative and awful people. She is driven to protect her son at all costs, to get him to safety, and to help him process everything he's witnessed, both the loss of family and the terrible and terrifying things he sees along the way as they join the steady stream of migrants making their way north.
Lydia and Luca have lost everything, including their heretofore unexamined sense of safety and this revelation makes the unexpected (or even pre-warned about) hardships that much harder emotionally as they move forward toward a life that they never wanted but have no option to seek. Lydia is perhaps a little naive as a character but then, who isn't when living a life of unconcern and relative ease? This naivete comes up hard against the need to keep Luca safe as they travel and as she is forced to see clearly both the humanity and the inhumanity in those around her on the journey. The trip is arduous and dangerous and the reasons people from all over Central and South America attempt the journey are myriad with Cummins offering small snippets of only a few reasons in the characters of Lydia and Luca, the Honduran sisters, the former student whose visa expired, the mother trying to get back to her American children, the brothers and their sons from Veracruz. Until almost the end of the novel, most of the characters stay fairly anonymous as Lydia guards her story and her identity, fearful to trust. This makes the novel that much more insular and paranoid feeling, as akin to Lydia's own feelings as possible. She and Luca are the main focus and the novel is narrated around their perceptions and worries. It is fast paced and action oriented and although there are two very dramatic happenings close to the end that push the story a bit over the top, it never minimizes the actual danger involved in crossing into the US or on the long journey to get there. The obstacles to making it all the way, in some cases thousands of miles, are numerous and in presenting this, the novel felt revelatory, especially to an audience privileged enough, like Lydia once was, never to have had to consider it. The news may talk about the danger of the border crossing but it doesn't do a particularly good job at acknowledging that this crossing is only one in a series of dangers, not the first, nor even the last. I found this a very worthwhile read. It made me think and consider in ways that I hadn't before and I think that aspect might be getting lost in all the outrage and discussions and I think that's a shame.
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LibraryThing member Lynsey2
This is a thriller and has it's entertainment value but it is not Literary Fiction and certainly is not the next great American Classic. The mishandling of the marketing and publishing of this novel is a shame. I feel bad for the author who genuinely strove to write a book on a topic that she cares
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greatly about. Show Less
LibraryThing member GrandmaCootie
Amazing isn’t a big enough word for American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. It’s the kind of book you can’t book down, can’t stop reading, but also the kind of book you have to put down every once in a while and take a break, because it is so intense, so overwhelming, so affecting.
Lydia and her
And the journey begins. No matter your politics or past experiences, you cannot but find what Lydia, Luca and the other migrants they encounter on the way heartbreaking. I couldn’t relate to any of the events, but I could feel the fear and hopelessness and anxiety and the staggering bravery and determination needed to try to escape this life for a better one.
I was lucky enough to receive an advance audiobook copy of American Dirt from Macmillan Audio. It is read by Yareli Arizmendi, and she is the perfect narrator for this story. Her pace is slow and calm and measured and completely conveys the terror and poignancy and drama. Thanks to Macmillan Audio for giving me the opportunity to experience this wonderful story. All opinions in this review are my own.
Lydia and her
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family have a good life in Acapulco. She’s a bookseller, and one of her customers, Javier, becomes a friend she can discuss books with. But Acapulco is becoming more dangerous each day because of the cartels. And then Lydia and her journalist husband, Sebastián, discover that Javier is the jefe of Los Jardineros, one of the worst Mexican drug cartels. And when Sebastián writes an exposé on Javier, he and the rest Lydia's family except for she and her eight-year old son, Luca are brutally murdered. Lydia has two choices: stay and be murdered, too or try to escape Acapulco before Javier finds them or travel to el norte, the United States and make a new life for herself and Luca.And the journey begins. No matter your politics or past experiences, you cannot but find what Lydia, Luca and the other migrants they encounter on the way heartbreaking. I couldn’t relate to any of the events, but I could feel the fear and hopelessness and anxiety and the staggering bravery and determination needed to try to escape this life for a better one.
I was lucky enough to receive an advance audiobook copy of American Dirt from Macmillan Audio. It is read by Yareli Arizmendi, and she is the perfect narrator for this story. Her pace is slow and calm and measured and completely conveys the terror and poignancy and drama. Thanks to Macmillan Audio for giving me the opportunity to experience this wonderful story. All opinions in this review are my own.
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LibraryThing member grumpydan
This novel deals with migrants trying to escape to the United States. The main character is Lydia, who with her son Luca leave Acapulco to fell from the cartel who slaughtered her family. They travel and hide across Mexico to try and find a new, safer life in the US. But there is more to their
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plight then just running away. She meets other migrants, thieves, gang members, crooked police and a few helpful souls. One feels for these people as they struggle and deal with so much that we in the US take for granted. This is a heartwarming and genuine story of love, struggle and hope. Show Less
LibraryThing member lauralkeet
After an unspeakable act of violence, Lydia and her 8-year-old son Luca suddenly find themselves on the run from Mexico’s drug cartel, their comfortable world turned upside-down. Leaving most of their personal possessions behind, they set out for el norte. Lydia must suppress her profound grief
Each day brings new challenges and sometimes setbacks. Lydia and Luca meet two Honduran sisters, Soledad and Rebeca, and benefit from their experience. Together they travel on La Bestia, the northbound train, riding with other migrants on the rail car roofs. “Boarding” the train is extremely dangerous and can be fatal, but there is no other alternative. Throughout their journey, Lydia is constantly watching for the cartel, never certain whether someone they just met is trustworthy. But their close-knit group of four are able to help and support one another in ways neither pair could have managed on their own.
Although American Dirt is fiction, it reads like a realistic account of the hardship and danger facing migrants. For me, it was an education, making this human struggle less abstract. In that sense, it’s an important book worthy of attention.
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and remain on high alert for cartel operatives who may be looking for them. She also needs to develop an entirely new body of knowledge -- that of the Latin American migrant -- to identify the best routes and means of travel, the safe houses, and other essential tactics. Each day brings new challenges and sometimes setbacks. Lydia and Luca meet two Honduran sisters, Soledad and Rebeca, and benefit from their experience. Together they travel on La Bestia, the northbound train, riding with other migrants on the rail car roofs. “Boarding” the train is extremely dangerous and can be fatal, but there is no other alternative. Throughout their journey, Lydia is constantly watching for the cartel, never certain whether someone they just met is trustworthy. But their close-knit group of four are able to help and support one another in ways neither pair could have managed on their own.
Although American Dirt is fiction, it reads like a realistic account of the hardship and danger facing migrants. For me, it was an education, making this human struggle less abstract. In that sense, it’s an important book worthy of attention.
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LibraryThing member CarrieWuj
I put this out there with a little trepidation due to the controversy swirling around the book. I can't comment on the "right" of someone to tell a story, but I feel that if a work of fiction can open someone's eyes to a wider world and engender a sense of empathy, there is some merit there. Some
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of the story elements were over the top - I think Lydia's husband was in enough danger as a journalist without her "friendship" with Javier, the cartel kingpin. But the underlying point there is her sense of culpability in what happened to her family and also the smarmy charismatic disguise of evil. One of the things missed in all the criticism is the corruption of power - the subtle shifts in a person's life, and daily environment when those in charge seek their own gain above all else and reign with an iron fist, and then with terror. The drug cartel had insinuated its presence into Lydia's world over time - was she naive? Yes, but we all want to turn a blind eye to danger - constant vigilance is a difficult way to live. Is she in over her head once she is on the lam - yes - who wouldn't be? But she was savvy enough to know the police were not her ally or aid. Once the foundations give way, capriciousness reigns. How do you know where to go? How do you know who to trust? The same is true over and over in novels of the Holocaust, of war, of apocalyptic events. That is the message that came through loud and clear to me through Lydia's odyssey toward safety - and she didn't even know if the destination would prove safe, but she had to move toward something or be caught dead in her tracks. The same is true for her fellow migrants and putting a human face on them through their characterization and their relationships gave this global issue some grounding, rather than a nightly news segment. If others want to tell their stories, let them. That's on the publishing industry to honor. Some of the specific criticisms about events in the book were misguided - the ice rink, the money Lydia has from her mother - the critics' reading of those things were not the same as mine. Was Lydia's story dramatic? Yes, which is why it is fiction. My takeaway was the common denominators of humanity: a mother's frantic love for her son, grief that threatens to immobilize, the destabilizing power of fear, kindness that cracks a person open, the need to retain a self that is good at the core. It's a worthwhile read that gives you a seat at the table of debate. Show Less
LibraryThing member Carmenere
What we have here, literally from the very first pages, is a novel about a mother, Lydia, and her young son, Luca, running for their lives.
Through a fortuitous need to have his mother close by when using a bathroom at a relative's house, Luca and Lydia only hear what is transpiring on Abuela's
Their journey is frightening, arduous and eye opening. Rape, robbery, kidnapping and murder are very real. Their fellow migrants share dreadful stories of their own. Through story telling and character development the author brings images seen on CNN to life.
I highly recommend this fast paced and exciting read.
Through a fortuitous need to have his mother close by when using a bathroom at a relative's house, Luca and Lydia only hear what is transpiring on Abuela's
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patio. Unfamiliar voices! Gunfire! In Acapulco, Mexico, at the start of the 21st century, it can only mean one thing. Lydia knows a cartel which her journalist husband had just written an expose on is purely sending a message but this message killed 16 members of her family. She also knows the cartel is far reaching and she and her son must leave immediately and head north to safety, to the United States.Their journey is frightening, arduous and eye opening. Rape, robbery, kidnapping and murder are very real. Their fellow migrants share dreadful stories of their own. Through story telling and character development the author brings images seen on CNN to life.
I highly recommend this fast paced and exciting read.
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LibraryThing member Beth.Clarke
I'll start by saying I believe an author, of any age, race or sexual orientation, can write about anything as long as they do their research. Next, I liked American Dirt. I didn't love it, but it's good. It is not as powerful as I would have liked, it doesn't tell the immigrant story I'd like to
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read, and it certainly should not be compared to the writing of John Steinbeck, but I enjoyed it in the same way I enjoyed other fictional thrillers. So, if you liked The Girl on the Train, Behind Closed Doors, The Silent Patent, etc. I would guess you'd like American Dirt. Show Less
LibraryThing member gypsysmom
One would have to be living off the grid to have no knowledge of the migrants moving from Central America to the United States. The rest of us have heard the heartbreaking stories of people dying while trying to get to the border or being raped, robbed, taken advantage of by unscrupulous coyotes.
The central character is Lydia. She had a comfortable middle-class existence in Acupulco. Her husband was a journalist and she operated a book store. They had one child, a son called Luca. Lydia grew up in Acupulco and her sister, mother, niece, nephew, cousins all lived there. Until the day when three gunmen opened fire on Lydia's family gathered to celebrate her niece's fifteenth birthday. Then there was just Lydia and Luca left because Luca had to go to the bathroom and he asked his mother to stand guard outside the bathroom because his cousin had once walked in on him. They hid in the shower stall while the rest of their family was murdered. The action was ordered by the head of the local criminal cartel as payback for an article that Lydia's husband had written about him. From that moment Lydia and Luca are on the run. Their story of heading north is dramatic and gut-wrenching but there were also instances of friendship and help and generosity. Still Lydia knows that the cartel leader is out to get her and Luca and she can never rest. They have to resort to taking La Bestia, a freight train (actually a series of trains) on which migrants can catch a ride if they are lucky, to get to the northern border. Each day is a miracle of survival.
This book has generated controversy because the author and publisher were seen as profiting from the current interest in Central American migrants. In addition, some Latinas felt that a white United States resident should not attempt to tell the story of brown illegal immigrants. Cummins addressed some of this in her afterword and I believe she just genuinely was moved by the plight of the people similar to the ones she depicts. Her portrayals seem realistic to me but then I'm a white middle-class Canadian who doesn't even speak Spanish.
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We've heard Trump's rhetoric about "bad hombres" and his plans to build a wall. We've seen pictures of migrants on top of freight trains or cavalcades of people walking north. Yet, until I read this book, I didn't think about the migrants as individuals with their own reasons for leaving their homes and trying to get to the US. This book makes them real.The central character is Lydia. She had a comfortable middle-class existence in Acupulco. Her husband was a journalist and she operated a book store. They had one child, a son called Luca. Lydia grew up in Acupulco and her sister, mother, niece, nephew, cousins all lived there. Until the day when three gunmen opened fire on Lydia's family gathered to celebrate her niece's fifteenth birthday. Then there was just Lydia and Luca left because Luca had to go to the bathroom and he asked his mother to stand guard outside the bathroom because his cousin had once walked in on him. They hid in the shower stall while the rest of their family was murdered. The action was ordered by the head of the local criminal cartel as payback for an article that Lydia's husband had written about him. From that moment Lydia and Luca are on the run. Their story of heading north is dramatic and gut-wrenching but there were also instances of friendship and help and generosity. Still Lydia knows that the cartel leader is out to get her and Luca and she can never rest. They have to resort to taking La Bestia, a freight train (actually a series of trains) on which migrants can catch a ride if they are lucky, to get to the northern border. Each day is a miracle of survival.
This book has generated controversy because the author and publisher were seen as profiting from the current interest in Central American migrants. In addition, some Latinas felt that a white United States resident should not attempt to tell the story of brown illegal immigrants. Cummins addressed some of this in her afterword and I believe she just genuinely was moved by the plight of the people similar to the ones she depicts. Her portrayals seem realistic to me but then I'm a white middle-class Canadian who doesn't even speak Spanish.
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LibraryThing member vintage-series-Lisa
** spoiler alert ** Wow! This was one of the best books that I have read in a long time!
Lydia reminds me so much of myself. She tries to see the good in everyone, even in those who are pure evil. Her naivete contributed to her family getting killed at a family gathering. She and her son, Luca, went
They embark on the long journey from Guerrero to the US border, with plans to continue on to Colorado. This book goes in-depth telling the story of the dangers the migrants deal with making their way across Mexico and, if they make it, across the border. Rape, abuse, hunger, rain, cold, excessive heat, thieves, wild animals, and much more.
It also tells of the dangers riding the cargo train, La Bestia, in which several meet their final destiny on their last ride.
When close to the border, they meet up with a well known coyote who helps them cross.
This story had my attention from page 1 to the end. It had lots of action throughout.
The author composed such a wonderful character development that it felt like I personally knew the characters.
I really related to this book because I used to live in Mexico and I drove from NE USA to deep down in Mexico near Guerrero.
I highly recommend this book.
I received this book from the publisher to give my honest review.
Thank you (less)
Lydia reminds me so much of myself. She tries to see the good in everyone, even in those who are pure evil. Her naivete contributed to her family getting killed at a family gathering. She and her son, Luca, went
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on the run from the narcos, mainly Javier and his gang Los Jardineros. They embark on the long journey from Guerrero to the US border, with plans to continue on to Colorado. This book goes in-depth telling the story of the dangers the migrants deal with making their way across Mexico and, if they make it, across the border. Rape, abuse, hunger, rain, cold, excessive heat, thieves, wild animals, and much more.
It also tells of the dangers riding the cargo train, La Bestia, in which several meet their final destiny on their last ride.
When close to the border, they meet up with a well known coyote who helps them cross.
This story had my attention from page 1 to the end. It had lots of action throughout.
The author composed such a wonderful character development that it felt like I personally knew the characters.
I really related to this book because I used to live in Mexico and I drove from NE USA to deep down in Mexico near Guerrero.
I highly recommend this book.
I received this book from the publisher to give my honest review.
Thank you (less)
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LibraryThing member DrFuriosa
Honestly, this is the Single Story Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie warned us about. This book is full of cartels, drugs, rapists, and gruesome murders, the perfect fodder for fragile white women's entertainment.
The story of escape is suspenseful and compelling, but it's manipulative and deeply
The writing itself is not very good. Tropes and stereotypes abound. I don't know what Oprah sees in it. There are much better books out there.
The worst of it is, Jeanine Cummins admits that someone "browner than" her should have written this book. OMG FIND THAT PERSON THEN. It's shitty enough to write an ignorant book when you don't know any better, and doubly bad when you do and power on, anyway.
As a white woman, I am ashamed to see white women peddling this shit for the masses in the Year of Our Lord 2020. This is why we can't have nice things or elect an awesome lady to be the US President.
The story of escape is suspenseful and compelling, but it's manipulative and deeply
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inappropriate for Jeanine Cummins to tell. Her own life story, of marrying an undocumented man, would have provided a lens of empathy for white readers. But this is trauma porn for middle-brow white readers, AND IT'S NOT HER STORY TO TELL. The writing itself is not very good. Tropes and stereotypes abound. I don't know what Oprah sees in it. There are much better books out there.
The worst of it is, Jeanine Cummins admits that someone "browner than" her should have written this book. OMG FIND THAT PERSON THEN. It's shitty enough to write an ignorant book when you don't know any better, and doubly bad when you do and power on, anyway.
As a white woman, I am ashamed to see white women peddling this shit for the masses in the Year of Our Lord 2020. This is why we can't have nice things or elect an awesome lady to be the US President.
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LibraryThing member reader1009
suspense/drama - Mexican woman terrorized by Acapulco drug cartel (author is not from Latinx culture).
I listened to this for over an hour and a half (about 9% of the book); there is a lot of sensationalized violence and it felt like Lydia and her family were victims in a thriller movie, rather than
I listened to this for over an hour and a half (about 9% of the book); there is a lot of sensationalized violence and it felt like Lydia and her family were victims in a thriller movie, rather than
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actual people. Even apart from the author not sharing the cultural background, I had hoped for at least a well-researched, humanizing story that provides some perspective, and this is just not that kind of serious fiction. Moving on to something else now. Show Less
LibraryThing member write-review
The Novel and the Controversy
Here’s a novel that provides you with two experiences for the price of one book. First, the novel itself is a suspense/thriller about escaping certain murder at the hands of a narco gang, with the escape elucidating the plight of migrants fleeing terror; in this
On the first, most readers will find the trek of Lydia, her son Luca, the Honduran girls Soledad and Rebeca, and child of the Tijuana garbage dumps Beto, harrowing. In addition to fleeing the terrors of their homes and the psychological weight they bear, they must deal with all manner of potentially deadly forces, including criminals, terrain, weather, hunger, injury, and illness. Readers should prepare themselves for exposure, though none too graphic, to death by gunfire, accidents, and rape, including rape of children. As the author has her protagonist voice, why would anyone uproot their life, forfeit their language and culture, flee to a culture they know little of, put themselves in all manner of deadly danger, unless absolute desperation left them few or no other options? On the run, bad choices abound, irrational decisions become the order of the day, and physical and psychological trauma become a perpetual burden, even for the successful. This is the greater scope of American Dirt and viewed in this light, Jeanine Cummins has told a compelling story in a way that will attract a large audience. If the idea here is to reach out to people, touch them, and help them understand the plight of those trying to reach the U.S., then she has accomplished her goal.
As for the second, Mexican and Mexican-American authors have taken Cummins, her publisher, and the publishing industry as a whole to task on the question of authenticity. Could not this story have been better told by authors with deep cultural roots in Mexico or Central American countries? Allied with this are the criticisms of compensation and promotional muscle. On the first point, these authors certainly have a legitimate grievance, and they cite many ways Cummins misrepresents aspects of Mexican culture. You can read these yourself online, including among the Amazon reviews of the novel, and they are worth reading. They will help you see where Cummins has gone awry. Perhaps an enterprising author will write a fuller critic of the novel to put things right by his or her lights. On the question of compensation, here most every single author will probably agree, and gripe, about either no advances or advances barely sufficient to cover a few New York cab rides. The truth of the matter is only a handful of authors receive these big advances. Publishers are always looking for the few titles that will sell big and support the rest, that is the vast bulk, of their line. Too, only a small group of authors earn healthy livings from their published works. The idea that authors, and actors, and others in creative fields, are rolling in the dough is a myth. These fields are like others: some do very well, and then there is everybody else.
So, for what the novel is, a suspense/thriller, that might raise the awareness of Americans to what’s happening on the border, most readers will find it a satisfying, and perhaps enlightening, read.
Here’s a novel that provides you with two experiences for the price of one book. First, the novel itself is a suspense/thriller about escaping certain murder at the hands of a narco gang, with the escape elucidating the plight of migrants fleeing terror; in this
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regard, you might also consider it an existential novel, incorporating elements such as dread and angst in the face of an absurd world, as well as heaps of irrationality amid both inner and outer turmoil. Second, you have the by now well known controversy revolving around the author that questions her authenticity as the best author for this particular story, as well as the American publishing industry’s seeming failure to seek out authors better suited to novels like this based on their nationality, cultural history, and like criteria.On the first, most readers will find the trek of Lydia, her son Luca, the Honduran girls Soledad and Rebeca, and child of the Tijuana garbage dumps Beto, harrowing. In addition to fleeing the terrors of their homes and the psychological weight they bear, they must deal with all manner of potentially deadly forces, including criminals, terrain, weather, hunger, injury, and illness. Readers should prepare themselves for exposure, though none too graphic, to death by gunfire, accidents, and rape, including rape of children. As the author has her protagonist voice, why would anyone uproot their life, forfeit their language and culture, flee to a culture they know little of, put themselves in all manner of deadly danger, unless absolute desperation left them few or no other options? On the run, bad choices abound, irrational decisions become the order of the day, and physical and psychological trauma become a perpetual burden, even for the successful. This is the greater scope of American Dirt and viewed in this light, Jeanine Cummins has told a compelling story in a way that will attract a large audience. If the idea here is to reach out to people, touch them, and help them understand the plight of those trying to reach the U.S., then she has accomplished her goal.
As for the second, Mexican and Mexican-American authors have taken Cummins, her publisher, and the publishing industry as a whole to task on the question of authenticity. Could not this story have been better told by authors with deep cultural roots in Mexico or Central American countries? Allied with this are the criticisms of compensation and promotional muscle. On the first point, these authors certainly have a legitimate grievance, and they cite many ways Cummins misrepresents aspects of Mexican culture. You can read these yourself online, including among the Amazon reviews of the novel, and they are worth reading. They will help you see where Cummins has gone awry. Perhaps an enterprising author will write a fuller critic of the novel to put things right by his or her lights. On the question of compensation, here most every single author will probably agree, and gripe, about either no advances or advances barely sufficient to cover a few New York cab rides. The truth of the matter is only a handful of authors receive these big advances. Publishers are always looking for the few titles that will sell big and support the rest, that is the vast bulk, of their line. Too, only a small group of authors earn healthy livings from their published works. The idea that authors, and actors, and others in creative fields, are rolling in the dough is a myth. These fields are like others: some do very well, and then there is everybody else.
So, for what the novel is, a suspense/thriller, that might raise the awareness of Americans to what’s happening on the border, most readers will find it a satisfying, and perhaps enlightening, read.
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LibraryThing member novelcommentary
American Dirt is a fairly riveting narrative about a mother, Lydia and her son Luca who are the only survivors of a birthday massacre in Acapulco, Mexico. Lydia's entire family of 16 are gunned down because of an article her journalist husband published about the cartel leader know as La Lechuza.
" But now that she’s sitting in this quiet library with her son and their stuffed backpacks, like a thunderclap, Lydia understands that it’s not a disguise at all. She and Luca
are actual migrants. That is what they are. And that simple fact, among all the other
severe new realities of her life, knocks the breath clean out of her lungs. All her
life she’s pitied those poor people. She’s donated money. She’s wondered with the
sort of detached fascination of the comfortable elite how dire the conditions of their
lives must be wherever they come from, that this is the better option. That these
people would leave their homes, their cultures, their families, even their languages,
and venture into tremendous peril, risking their very lives, all for the chance to
get to the dream of some faraway country that doesn’t even want them."
The action is compelling and the relationships formed by a few of the migrants, especially a pair of beautiful sisters whose looks are a liability, show the compassion possible even in dire situations. Though the book received some criticism as perpetuating stereotypes and though the writing itself wasn't especially notable, I found the novel worthwhile, giving the reader a glimpse of what is involved in this desperate quest for a better life. To understand the circumstances that necessitate these treks, helps the reader to empathize with the desperation of these migration stories.
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After the initial brutal opening, an interesting sidebar narrative reveals that Lydia and Javier,(the cartel leader,)were actually involved in a friendship that consisted of literature discussions, poetry readings and some flirtatious musings. Javier had come into Lydia's bookstore and they shared a great similarity of favorites among the books on display. But in the present action of the narrative, all that is over and Lydia must get away and try to escape to the United States. She becomes one of the migrants and shares their experiences as they hop trains and suffer tragedies on the road to el Norte. " But now that she’s sitting in this quiet library with her son and their stuffed backpacks, like a thunderclap, Lydia understands that it’s not a disguise at all. She and Luca
are actual migrants. That is what they are. And that simple fact, among all the other
severe new realities of her life, knocks the breath clean out of her lungs. All her
life she’s pitied those poor people. She’s donated money. She’s wondered with the
sort of detached fascination of the comfortable elite how dire the conditions of their
lives must be wherever they come from, that this is the better option. That these
people would leave their homes, their cultures, their families, even their languages,
and venture into tremendous peril, risking their very lives, all for the chance to
get to the dream of some faraway country that doesn’t even want them."
The action is compelling and the relationships formed by a few of the migrants, especially a pair of beautiful sisters whose looks are a liability, show the compassion possible even in dire situations. Though the book received some criticism as perpetuating stereotypes and though the writing itself wasn't especially notable, I found the novel worthwhile, giving the reader a glimpse of what is involved in this desperate quest for a better life. To understand the circumstances that necessitate these treks, helps the reader to empathize with the desperation of these migration stories.
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LibraryThing member thewanderingjew
American Dirt, Jeanine Cummins, author; Yareli Arizmendi, narrator
Lydia Perez operates her own bookstore in Acapulco, Mexico. Her husband is an investigative journalist. The family has a good life. Lydia becomes friendly with a book store customer, who unbeknownst to her, at first, is the head of a
The book goes into great detail about the trials and tribulations of her escape. She wants to get to an uncle in Colorado. As they run, they encounter several others escaping for one reason or another, but mostly from a terrible lifestyle. The reader meets two teenage girls from Honduras, Soledad and Rebeca. Soledad has been repeatedly raped by human traffickers. These young men and other cartel members, everywhere, are powerful and take advantage of their innocent victims. They extract bribes, sex and force those they control to do as they say on penalty of torture and death. Soledad wants to save her younger sister from the same fate, thus, when she realizes the boy who is abusing her, has also discovered her sister, she packs up and leaves with her, for El Norte, the USA, the American Dirt! This leads to disastrous consequences for her family. She has no idea what awaits them on their route to ultimate safety, but she is willing to risk all to escape. They try not to trust any strangers they meet on their journey, since they might have connections to the heads of cartels or they might be thieves, but still they are robbed and abused. There is danger everywhere. In the end, after riding on the tops of trains, marching for miles in all kinds of heat and wet, they enlist the aid of a rare, reputable Coyote.
There are many interesting characters developed in the book. Beto, a ten year old asthmatic, Lorenzo, a cartel member, the Coyote who cares about those he is leading to the USA, but who is also cold-hearted about it and others. There is constant danger everywhere. As the reader learns more and more about them, the plight of the migrant becomes palpable. Along the way they are all betrayed by police and others they encounter. Greed drives many of the people they meet. Everyone is either looking to take advantage of the migrants, or is running from, or toward, something in America, and those very same migrants are willing to risk their very lives to get there.
I found the book to be very engaging. It is very well organized and easy to read, plus it is obvious that a great deal of research went into its planning. The audio narrator read it well, if perhaps a bit too slowly. Still, the interpretation of events and her portrayal of the various characters seemed spot-on so the characters were not often confused with one another. The story flowed smoothly as it showed examples of the horrific migrant experience, some running from danger, some running toward financial independence. Each has hope for a better life.
The author has painted a picture that feels very authentic. There were some flaws in the book like cell service in the desert when I have trouble getting it in my community! Also, the idea of undocumented vs illegal aliens is whitewashed in favor of the immigrant. The Lorenzos of the world are trying just as hard to get into America as the Lydias. The Lorenzos are cartel members, gang members, violent members of their own societies who are threats to Americans. The Lydias are running from extreme danger, running for their very lives and only want a better life. They don’t have the liberty to go through the process; they will be killed waiting. They deserve the asylum the USA offers.
The book is filled with the terror of the migrant experience as they attempt to cross countries and landscapes to illegally enter the United States. The sad thing is that the ones in real danger are mixed in with the ones who are just coming for work, who need to get in line. If they would do it legally, the ones who are in real danger would not have the issues they do. Their entrance into America would be easier.
The book has its flaws, however, objecting to its publication because the author is not Latino, seems ludicrous. In America, one would hope that authors would be free to write about anything they wish. One would hope that readers and protesters understand these are novels they are objecting to…, they are fiction, not fact.
Authors write for diverse audiences and come from diverse backgrounds. The cancellation of the book tours because of death threats is probably going to spur the sale of her book, anyway, but it is ill advised to allow the protestors to cause such havoc. The author comes from a multiracial family, she researched the book for four years before she published it, she married someone who came to the country undocumented, and so she seems very credible in her depiction of life for the migrants. Even though it is fiction, it is based on some actual events, as well. To criticize her for cultural appropriation or mischaracterization of the situation is ludicrous and unworthy of comment. It is a novel, and is not meant to be a memoir!
Lydia Perez operates her own bookstore in Acapulco, Mexico. Her husband is an investigative journalist. The family has a good life. Lydia becomes friendly with a book store customer, who unbeknownst to her, at first, is the head of a
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violent and vicious cartel. He turns out to be the very same person her husband is now investigating. Lydia seems naïve, believing that Javier, who treasures her friendship, wouldn’t harm her family even if her husband exposed his criminal behavior. After all, with her, he is nothing but a soft spoken, educated gentleman with whom she shares tea and conversation. Of course, this is ridiculous and most readers will recognize this weakness in the plot. A man who is so evil would not allow anyone to betray him without retaliating. It would show weakness. Thus, when Sebastian’s expose is published, it leads to catastrophic events; Lydia finds herself on the run with her son Luca.The book goes into great detail about the trials and tribulations of her escape. She wants to get to an uncle in Colorado. As they run, they encounter several others escaping for one reason or another, but mostly from a terrible lifestyle. The reader meets two teenage girls from Honduras, Soledad and Rebeca. Soledad has been repeatedly raped by human traffickers. These young men and other cartel members, everywhere, are powerful and take advantage of their innocent victims. They extract bribes, sex and force those they control to do as they say on penalty of torture and death. Soledad wants to save her younger sister from the same fate, thus, when she realizes the boy who is abusing her, has also discovered her sister, she packs up and leaves with her, for El Norte, the USA, the American Dirt! This leads to disastrous consequences for her family. She has no idea what awaits them on their route to ultimate safety, but she is willing to risk all to escape. They try not to trust any strangers they meet on their journey, since they might have connections to the heads of cartels or they might be thieves, but still they are robbed and abused. There is danger everywhere. In the end, after riding on the tops of trains, marching for miles in all kinds of heat and wet, they enlist the aid of a rare, reputable Coyote.
There are many interesting characters developed in the book. Beto, a ten year old asthmatic, Lorenzo, a cartel member, the Coyote who cares about those he is leading to the USA, but who is also cold-hearted about it and others. There is constant danger everywhere. As the reader learns more and more about them, the plight of the migrant becomes palpable. Along the way they are all betrayed by police and others they encounter. Greed drives many of the people they meet. Everyone is either looking to take advantage of the migrants, or is running from, or toward, something in America, and those very same migrants are willing to risk their very lives to get there.
I found the book to be very engaging. It is very well organized and easy to read, plus it is obvious that a great deal of research went into its planning. The audio narrator read it well, if perhaps a bit too slowly. Still, the interpretation of events and her portrayal of the various characters seemed spot-on so the characters were not often confused with one another. The story flowed smoothly as it showed examples of the horrific migrant experience, some running from danger, some running toward financial independence. Each has hope for a better life.
The author has painted a picture that feels very authentic. There were some flaws in the book like cell service in the desert when I have trouble getting it in my community! Also, the idea of undocumented vs illegal aliens is whitewashed in favor of the immigrant. The Lorenzos of the world are trying just as hard to get into America as the Lydias. The Lorenzos are cartel members, gang members, violent members of their own societies who are threats to Americans. The Lydias are running from extreme danger, running for their very lives and only want a better life. They don’t have the liberty to go through the process; they will be killed waiting. They deserve the asylum the USA offers.
The book is filled with the terror of the migrant experience as they attempt to cross countries and landscapes to illegally enter the United States. The sad thing is that the ones in real danger are mixed in with the ones who are just coming for work, who need to get in line. If they would do it legally, the ones who are in real danger would not have the issues they do. Their entrance into America would be easier.
The book has its flaws, however, objecting to its publication because the author is not Latino, seems ludicrous. In America, one would hope that authors would be free to write about anything they wish. One would hope that readers and protesters understand these are novels they are objecting to…, they are fiction, not fact.
Authors write for diverse audiences and come from diverse backgrounds. The cancellation of the book tours because of death threats is probably going to spur the sale of her book, anyway, but it is ill advised to allow the protestors to cause such havoc. The author comes from a multiracial family, she researched the book for four years before she published it, she married someone who came to the country undocumented, and so she seems very credible in her depiction of life for the migrants. Even though it is fiction, it is based on some actual events, as well. To criticize her for cultural appropriation or mischaracterization of the situation is ludicrous and unworthy of comment. It is a novel, and is not meant to be a memoir!
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LibraryThing member ecataldi
I legitimately could not put this book down. I was hesitant to pick up this book because of all the controversy around it, but I'm so glad I did. It's a powerful, important, and timely book. As a penance for reading this book (because I know a lot of people will judge me for it) I plan on reading a
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book writing by a Hispanic American writer (The Book of Rosy: A Mother's Story of Separation at the Border by Julie Schwietert Collazo and Rosayra Pablo Cruz - so go ahead and hold me accountable!). American Dirt delivered on the hype it received. The action/violence started on page one and it never slowed down. It was a non-stop ride of terror, hope, and overwhelmingly bad odds. Filled with murder, rape, torture, and child endangerment; this book highlights the brutality of the cartels in Central America. People are willing to do anything to escape the violence, even if means becoming a migrant and trying to go North. Train hopping, rape, theft, and murder plague migrants at every turn; yet many are still willing to risk everything on the long trek north just to escape the horrors of their home. Lydia had a pretty comfortable life but that all changed when sixteen of her family members were killed at a cookout. She and her son escaped by hiding, but the cartel leader knows they are alive and will stop at nothing to find them. She's desperate to survive so she and her son join other migrants and hope to get as far away from the cartel as she can. Her journey is anything but easy. This book..... just goes to show the kind of hell that people have to go through just to try and make it to the US. It's horrific. This book is eye opening and I hope it sparks discussion and people reading more Latino authors. Show Less
LibraryThing member norinrad10
American Dirt received a lot of bad press because it was written by a woman who was not of Hispanic descent. It wasn't enough that her grandmother arrived as an immigrant from Puerto Rico and her husband was also an undocumented immigrant. Nor did it matter to critics that she never presented her
The tale tells of a mother and her 9-year-old son who survive the massacre of her family by cartel members, only to find themselves forced to flee to the United States to escape the clutches of the cartel leader. A journey in which they face many of the unimaginable challenges that real-life migrants face every day.
Personally, I'm not concerned f every story she relates is rooted in authenticity. Even if 50% of it is true, it's too much. The reality is that the majority of the tale is probably true and only begins to scratch the surface of what many of our neighbors to the south face in a search to meet the basic needs of their families and loved ones.
As the author states in her notes at the end of the book, we need more people telling these stories not less.
The writing itself is fine. I appreciate the frequent literacy mentions. If one reader goes in search of those original sources than the book is worth more than the paper it is printed upon.
I recommend this one for a multitude of reasons.
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work as anything more than fiction. As a predominately white woman, there were some that felt she should not be permitted to tell this tale The tale tells of a mother and her 9-year-old son who survive the massacre of her family by cartel members, only to find themselves forced to flee to the United States to escape the clutches of the cartel leader. A journey in which they face many of the unimaginable challenges that real-life migrants face every day.
Personally, I'm not concerned f every story she relates is rooted in authenticity. Even if 50% of it is true, it's too much. The reality is that the majority of the tale is probably true and only begins to scratch the surface of what many of our neighbors to the south face in a search to meet the basic needs of their families and loved ones.
As the author states in her notes at the end of the book, we need more people telling these stories not less.
The writing itself is fine. I appreciate the frequent literacy mentions. If one reader goes in search of those original sources than the book is worth more than the paper it is printed upon.
I recommend this one for a multitude of reasons.
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LibraryThing member Whisper1
This is a harrowing story of a woman who led a comfortable middle class life in Acapulco, Mexico. She owns a lovely bookstore; her husband is a journalist who vows to shine a light on the Mexican cartels. Focusing on the primary culprit, he writes a piece in the local newspaper regarding Javier,
When a family outing becomes the perfect place for Javier's maggots to strike, killing Lydia's beloved journalist husband and all her family except she and her beloved eight- year- old boy, she immediately flees the city with her son, hoping they will be able to escape.
The mother and child are able to find someone who, with others, sets on a journey to get past the border and enter America. There are thrilling depictions of events that occur in the deadly trek to flee a crime-ridden county in the hope of a better, safer life.
A strong statement regarding those who need to leave their country and the perils that they face both in their homeland and in the process of hoping for a new life.
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This happens to be the exact same man who visits her bookstore and talks for many hours to Lydia. He is charming, well read and unknown to Lydia, he is head of the latest drug cartel who runs a gruesome group who have taken over Acapulco.When a family outing becomes the perfect place for Javier's maggots to strike, killing Lydia's beloved journalist husband and all her family except she and her beloved eight- year- old boy, she immediately flees the city with her son, hoping they will be able to escape.
The mother and child are able to find someone who, with others, sets on a journey to get past the border and enter America. There are thrilling depictions of events that occur in the deadly trek to flee a crime-ridden county in the hope of a better, safer life.
A strong statement regarding those who need to leave their country and the perils that they face both in their homeland and in the process of hoping for a new life.
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LibraryThing member Beamis12
3.5 Due to the controversy surrounding this book, Angela, Esil and I decided to make this our monthly read. Nice to bounce thoughts off of my trusted reading buddies. I was concerned I wouldn't be able to give this a fair band unbiased reading, so I tried not to look into this further, not read any
I found it to be surprisingly well done and on an important subject. I truly liked these characters and felt for what they had gone through and the effort it took for them to make the decisions they made. It definitely bought home the suffering of those arbour borders and what they had already gone through to make it this far. Eight year old Luca was my favorite, a young boy already wiser than his years who will see and experience things no child should. If there were cliches within, they passed me by. The authors note explains why she wrote this book and the research that went into the writing. Once again, I found her reasons more than credible.
Who owns a story, an idea? This is after all fiction, not non fiction. Doesn't this book and it's promotion get the plight of the migrants out there and in the public eye? Doesn't that have value in and of itself? How many, who have not even read the book just jumped on the bandwagon to be part of something? Isn't trying to condemn, squash the popularity of this book, another form of the relinquishing of our rights to freedom of the press? Just a few things to think about and then go and read the book yourself and form your own opinions.
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other reviews, until finishing.I found it to be surprisingly well done and on an important subject. I truly liked these characters and felt for what they had gone through and the effort it took for them to make the decisions they made. It definitely bought home the suffering of those arbour borders and what they had already gone through to make it this far. Eight year old Luca was my favorite, a young boy already wiser than his years who will see and experience things no child should. If there were cliches within, they passed me by. The authors note explains why she wrote this book and the research that went into the writing. Once again, I found her reasons more than credible.
Who owns a story, an idea? This is after all fiction, not non fiction. Doesn't this book and it's promotion get the plight of the migrants out there and in the public eye? Doesn't that have value in and of itself? How many, who have not even read the book just jumped on the bandwagon to be part of something? Isn't trying to condemn, squash the popularity of this book, another form of the relinquishing of our rights to freedom of the press? Just a few things to think about and then go and read the book yourself and form your own opinions.
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LibraryThing member JRlibrary
This is a book that will stay with me for a long while. I was exhausted when I finished reading this because I felt every second of Lydia’s terror as she tried to get her son somewhere safe.
Afterwards I chanced across the Twitter uproar over the fact that a white woman author wrote poorly about
Afterwards I chanced across the Twitter uproar over the fact that a white woman author wrote poorly about
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the Mexican migrant experience but since I read the book with the lens of a mom, I was mostly noticing how far a mom would go to protect her son. In spite of the Latino community being very upset about the stereotypes that they claim Cummins perpetuates, and in spite of accusing her of “brownface” (I didn’t know authors were also susceptible to those accusations) I enjoyed this fictional thriller about a mom fleeing with her son. I wasn’t reading it for a factual history into cartels in Mexico. I know there are Latinos suggesting people not read it, but I enjoyed it as a fictional thriller. Show Less
Awards
BookTube Prize (Octofinalist — Fiction — 2021)
Oprah's Book Club 2.0 (2020-01 — 2020)
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2020-01-21
Physical description
9.55 inches
ISBN
1250209765 / 9781250209764