User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
BECAUSE SOME OF YOU ATTACKING ME IN THE COMMENTS ARE INCAPABLE OF CLICKING ON MY NAME TO LEARN THIS ...
I am *not* white. I'm Mexican American.
I DON'T READ THE COMMENTS [ANYMORE...clearly I was reading them early on, as you can see on the first few PAGES of comments]. You're free to talk amongst yourselves, however!
[edit]For a deeper, nuanced conversation from a panel of Mexican American poets, professors, bloggers, librarians, poets laureate ... watch this video: https://youtu.be/O3UrtFJtAYQ
Also, as part of the #DignidadLiteraria team, I met with Flatiron / Macmillan. Here's the press conference announcing the commitment to Latinx equity the publisher made: https://youtu.be/2U8nEgaXzT4
And here's an article from LIBRARY JOURNAL about how our efforts have transformed Flatiron / Macmillan:https://www.libraryjournal.com/?detai... [/edit]
Jeanine Cummins' American Dirt is a novel about a Mexican bookseller who has to escape cartel-related violence with her son, fleeing to the US. Cummins received a seven-figure advance for this book. And it's harmful, appropriating, inaccurate, trauma-porn melodrama.
Problem 1: The Author. Let me start with the obvious: Cummins has never lived even within five hundred miles of Mexico or the border. In fact, until very recently, she didn't lay claim to the Latinx heritage that comes to her through a Puerto Rican grandmother. Just five years ago, she was calling herself white. Latina or no, Cummins certainly isn't Mexican or Chicana. That's a problem.
If you don't know this, Mexican writers are horribly underpaid. Women writers in Mexico, more so. And Chicanx authors suffer marginalization in the US market. As a Mexican American writer, I have seen my Chicana and Mexicana colleagues struggle to get their stories told, to get their manuscripts into the hands of agents and past the publishing industry's gatekeepers.
While I have nothing against Jeanine's (or anyone else's) writing a book about the plight of Mexican women and immigrants (especially if they do their homework and don't exoticize our culture), I am deeply bothered that this non-#OwnVoices novel has been anointed the book about the issue for 2020 (with a seven-figure advance, no less) with glowing reviews from major newspapers and the support of big names in US publishing.
Such reception is especially harmful because authentic stories by Mexicanas and Chicanas are either passed over or published to significantly less fanfare (and for much less money). There's been strong pushback, especially Myriam Gurba's masterful take-down of the book (that magazines refused to publish) and Parul Sehgal's examination of how the book "flounders and fails."
Author Daniel Peña characterizes the book in stark terms: "lab-created brown trauma built for the white gaze and white book clubs to give a textural experience to people who need to feel something to avoid doing anything and from the safety of their chair."
US readers would be MUCH better off diving into one of the many books on immigration by ACTUAL Chicanx and Mexican writers that already exist. I mean, Cummins sure did:
"My research started with reading everything Luis Alberto Urrea ever wrote. Then I read everything else I could find about contemporary Mexico and by contemporary Mexican writers. Then I read everything I could find about migration. Sonia Nazario's Enrique's Journey is magnificent. So is The Beast by the Salvadoran writer Óscar Martínez." (from her Shelf Awareness interview)
Yet even after reading EXISTING works, Jeanine Cummins STILL felt SHE needed to write about the plight of Mexican immigrants. Ostensibly, however, she was conflicted and nervous. On the one hand, she admits to Alexandra Alter of the New York Times: "I don't know if I'm the right person to tell this story." And in the afterword of her book, she worries that "privilege would make [her] blind to certain truths," wishing that someone "slightly browner than [her] would write it."
But on the other hand … she still wrote it. After talking to various Mexicans on the border, this was her response: "Every single person I met made me more and more determined to write this book." Cummins was concerned, she claims, that people at the border were being depicted as a "brown, faceless mass." She wanted to give them a face. To be their white savior.
Of course, she conveniently forgot about the very #OwnVoices books she had mined for ideas and cultural texture. In the midst of this literary amnesia, she decided to make millions off the pain and struggle of women from a completely different culture.
Why does her identity even matter? Because she gets nearly everything wrong as a result.
Problem 2: The Content
For example, Cummins screws up Spanish egregiously (especially nuances in Mexican Spanish). First, when depicting Spanish-language dialogue as English, she sprinkles it with Spanish words, which is ridiculous ("Hola, abuela" is just "Hello, Grandma," in English, not "Hello, Abuela," as Cummins prefers). Even if we accept this as poetic licence to add cultural texture, she does it poorly, never using Mexican Spanish terms, just sterile, standard ones. If you're going to add spice, make it chile, Jeanine.
Actual examples of Spanish are wooden and odd, as if generated by Google Translate and then smoothed slightly by a line editor. The Spanish is … not idiomatic at all.
Cultural references are often missed, and Lydia Quixano Pérez (what a name, huh) is ignorant of things that any Mexican knows. For example, learning a cartel leader is called "La Lechuza" (which Cummins incorrectly glosses as "the Owl") Lydia laughs. Owls aren't scary, she insists.
Now, a "lechuza" is a screech owl. They have been feared throughout Mexico for literally THOUSANDS OF YEARS, considered harbingers of death, witches in disguise. Lydia's reaction is that of the White readers, not actual Mexicans. And this is just one of literally dozens of examples.
People are stereotypes in this novel, participating in stereotypical activities (quinceañeras, for example). They live in a flattened pastiche version of Mexico, a dark hellhole of the sort Trump rails against, geographically and culturally indistinct. Lydia and Luca - despite having money - escape to the precious freedom of the US aboard La Bestia (that dangerous, crime-infested train) because of COURSE they do. But they don't suffer the maiming, abuse, theft, and rape so common on that gang-controlled artery to the border. It's all very Hollywood, very best-selling thriller.
And the characters. Gah. I am close friends with people from all social classes in Mexico, including light-skinned, middle-class, book-loving women like the protagonist ostensibly is. But none of the peculiarities of those lives and experiences make their way into this novel. Instead, Lydia and Luca feel like a White US mother and her son, with nominally Mexican names slapped on, sprinkled with a bit of lime and salt. They could easily appear in a Gillian Flynn novel with little adjustment at all. Furthermore, Cummins clearly wants us to be startled at how "erudite" and "elegant" some of the males are. "OMG! Really?" I imagine some US reader gasping. "In Mexico? Aren't all men uncouth swarthy beasts?"
And frankly, I've barely scratched the surface here. Setting aside the melodramatic plot and mediocre writing, there is so much more to say, especially about how this book (which the editor characterizes as "a portrait of a nation and a people under siege") does little to explore the complicity of the US in the violence wracking Mexico. In avoiding politics, Cummins ends up implicitly blaming the victim.
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 (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.
At a time when Mexico and the Mexican American community are reviled in this country as they haven't been in decades, to elevate this inauthentic book written by someone outside our community is to slap our collective face.
Books I suggest reading instead of (or in conversation with) American Dirt:
-Reyna Grande: Dream Called Home & Distance Between Us
-Luis Urrea: Devil's Highway, Into the Beautiful North
-Cristina Henríquez: Book of Unknown Americans
-Ana Raquel Minian: Undocumented Lives
-Anabel Hernández: Massacre in Mexico
-Guadalupe García McCall: All the Stars Denied
-Yuri Herrera: Signs Preceding the End of the World
-Valeria Luiselli: Tell Me How It Ends
-Oscar Cásares: Where We Come From
-Alfredo Corchado: Homelands
-Javier Zamora: Unaccompanied
-Daniel Peña: Bang
-Sylvia Zéleny: The Everything I Have Lost
-Sara Uribe: Antígona González
-Silvia Moreno García: Untamed Shore
Read the full version of this review here: https://medium.com/@davidbowles/non-m...
Here's my follow up discussion of Cummins' enablers: https://medium.com/@davidbowles/ameri...
Here's my article in the NEW YORK TIMES diving even deeper into the source and repercussions of the controversy: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/27/op...
Here's my fourth piece, "American Dirt: Dignity & Equity" -- https://medium.com/@davidbowles/ameri...
Rating: really liked it
I doubt there is a single person here on Goodreads that has not heard at least a hint of the controversy surrounding this book. I’m also confident that nearly every reader has at least a basic idea of the synopsis of
American Dirt. So, I’m not really touching either of those elements in my review. I am a white woman, living in upstate New York, thousands of miles from Mexico. I have no real personal experience regarding the Mexican migrant issue, and therefore cannot speak to whether or not author Jeanine Cummins writes a genuine representation of the crisis or not. I don’t even dare to attempt to do so. What I can write about, however, is my own reading experience of this novel.
First of all, I was super excited to pick up this book. I lovingly cataloged it at my library when it first arrived. I put my name first on the list to get it on publication day. After all, it was hailed as “a new American classic” and was compared to the masterpiece
The Grapes of Wrath. Naturally, this did give me pause, because both are tall orders to fill. Could this proclamation be true?! And it’s such a relevant topic! I need to read this book.
I like to learn something when I read. Even if a book is labeled as fiction, I hope to garner some useful information regarding the topic surrounding a group of fictional characters. I want to feel as if I am in the shoes of a character or two, understanding what they are enduring for this short period of time we are together. To my disappointment, I was completely underwhelmed by
American Dirt. It was far too melodramatic for my taste.
It starts with a big bang right from page one. But for me it was too much. It seemed to be forced in order to provide the catalyst for the rest of the novel, an extravagant attempt to try to gain my sympathy. I felt an instant disconnection from the characters. I tried to remain hopeful about accompanying Lydia and Luca on their harrowing journey through Mexico towards their one glimmer of hope, the United States. And there were scenes that were charged with danger. Naturally, I hoped this pair and their fellow migrants would survive the risks. One additional thing that bothered me throughout – some characters were just not believable. I couldn’t help but think repeatedly “would so-and-so really act or speak this way in this situation?” One example would be too-wise beyond his years, eight-year-old Luca. I was further bothered by what seemed like an abundance of clichés. For example, the beautiful teenaged girl from Honduras – the threat of rape menaced her at every turn. Why not the arguably less stunning but perhaps still attractive mother of a little boy? Would not any migrant woman be at risk from such danger? I guess what I’m trying to say is that the characters were more like cut-outs, in my opinion. I missed the depth of characterization that I find so appealing in my favorite kind of novel. It doesn’t help that while reading this one, I also had the pure pleasure of another book that really did tick off all the boxes – including nuanced characters, equally relevant social and political issues, and perilous situations.
I wouldn’t tell anyone they should not read this book. If it at all interests you, by all means, pick it up and make your own judgments. For me, the writing was mediocre and I was disappointed to remain a far-removed observer. None of the thousands of miles separating my home from the Mexican border were diminished after finishing the last page. But I truly hope it does get people talking about an extremely important issue. The best way to read this would be with a buddy, so you can bounce ideas off one another. I may not have made it to the end otherwise - muito obrigada, Pedro! I will continue my quest to become more educated on the topic.
For an engaging write-up of this book, please visit my buddy's review here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Rating: really liked it
What a mind blowing beginning of a book! A mother, Lydia and her little boy, Luca hid themselves in the bathtub for not being other victims of family massacre. The contract killers/ most dangerous drug-lord’s dirtbags kept looking for them, firing their guns, calling their names. And finally they thought they were not at the house so they left the place and 16 innocent victims behind.
Now mother and her son have to leave the country for staying alive because one of the powerful men is chasing them and he is determined to finish his massacre that he already started. The man, Javier Crespo Fuentes, once upon a time he was her friend. They talked about books, shared their secrets, formed a close relationship till one day Lydia’s reporter husband Sebastian wrote an article about Javier…The day the article had published their life’s direction had also traumatically changed.
So now, Lydia’s husband, mother, sister and her children are dead! Only she and her son stayed alive from vengeful attack of the cartel. And now their thrilling, heartbreaking, dangerous journey begins. They race against the time, authorities and killers at the same time. So keep still at the edge of your seats and take deep breathes to calm your nerves! This book will increase your heart rates and blow your mind by making you agitated, anxious but stop squirming nervously, just keep on reading, don’t you want to know what will happen to those innocent mother and her brilliant, smart son?
Let me tell you something, they say: “destination not important but the journey” but this time it works quite opposite at this book because throughout this long journey, the mother and son walked, hid, slept in different places, ran from dangerous people, jumped into the trains, put their lives in danger, met with different people who had amazing experiences and life stories.
This journey makes you up all night to read more, learn more, ache more, fists clenched, eyes filled in tears. You whisper prayers slowly to wish the characters can escape from the real monsters are living in our modern world. Not only mother and son but the people they’ve met especially the sisters helped them will always stay in my heart and soul forever because they’re so realistically developed, well-build characters who have heart-wrenching stories.
I think instead of the beginning of this story, author’s note part is also impressive. It summarizes all those people including me who came to this land to chase their dreams, deal with our disappointments and learn from our mistakes to try again. On the border wall of Tijuana, there is wonderful piece of graffiti. When the author feel faltered or discouraged, she clicks to her desktop and look at those words: “On this side, too, there are dreams”
Everyone has different dreams but sometimes making too many sacrifices and leaving your old lives and old selves behind might be too tough and compelling for you so sometimes you just procrastinate or give up on them. This book could be dedicated to the dreamers who are brave enough to leave, who have nothing to lose, make so much sacrifices and pay so many dues to fight with everything they have and finally reach their destinations!
Maybe it is too early to say that but I think this will be one of the most stunning, impressive and fascinating readings of 2020.
Special thanks to Netgalley and Flatiron Book for sharing this amazing ARC COPY with me in exchange my honest review!
Rating: really liked it
Ok seems like a bunch of privileged 'let me show you how woke I am' white people have decided they can speak for the Latin community.
This is a work of FICTION. Google it if you don't understand. The author owes you nada. Move on. Get over yourself. Fuck off.
To say that a non Latina has no right to write about Latin issues is absurd. Tell that to all of the writers of WWII fiction. Again with that word fiction.
Any book that shines light on a dark subject is a good thing. Any book that gets people talking about the plight of others is a good thing.
You caucasians leaving comments purporting to speak for people of color is fucking hilarious. Hypocrite much?
As for your comments about Crawdads. No I haven't read it (which I stated in my review) but that doesn't make me ignorant of the fact that it was top of the bestsellers list since it's debut. Jfc go read a book.
I've given my last fuck.
____________________________
Original Review:
No doubt this will be THE book of 2020.
The Where The Crawdads Sing book of 2020.
I've never read Crawdads and I wouldn't have read American Dirt if not so kindly offered the opportunity by the publisher.
This is so far from my usual genre.
Give me a thriller any day.
I want to feel compelled to flip the pages while balancing on the edge of my seat.
I want to lose sleep because I can't put a book down, a heart racing, just one more chapter type of story.
AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I GOT WITH THIS BOOK.
This book was nothing like what I was expecting and everything I could ever hope for.
Cummins has written a gripping and compelling narrative that every American should read. Unfortunately, those that need this message the most will refuse this book out of spite and/or the inability to read.
☝️
If that statement offends you, then you are exactly who it is directed towards.
** Thank you Hachette Australia for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. **
Rating: really liked it
horribly racist book abt mexico written by a white lady. sooooooooooooooooo tired of yts pretending like they understand. stop telling our stories through your horribly racist oppressive lenses. please read a real review:
https://tropicsofmeta.com/2019/12/12/...
Rating: really liked it
I wish I could give this book negative stars because it is, as its title attests, dirt.
It is also profoundly racist.
Here is my essay about the dissent surrounding this book, dissent that is being erased, disappeared and silenced:
https://tropicsofmeta.com/2019/12/12/...
Rating: really liked it
Nope.
https://gay.medium.com/white-fever-dr...
Rating: really liked it
YES...YES...YES!!! READ IT!
That beginning is gripping!!!
The most anticipated novel for 2020 - has the word controversy around it.
I wasn’t even aware of the controversial issues until yesterday.
As pure FICTION - it’s sooooo engaging!!
“In a different life, he could have been someone good”.
“This isn’t a different life”.
Much to engage your thinking...
How in the world does one debate the degrees of violence?
This novel GRABS OUR ATTENTION.
It changes something inside us!
Plus... It’s not easy to stop thinking about the characters and all they were dealing with.
I can’t think of any relationship more primal than a mother/child one.
I thought about....
“How does fear, grief, love, irrational love...justify our actions?
How do we deal with the complexity of good and evil mixed with love?”
The controversy over “American Dirt”, is becoming as interesting as this novel itself. Has me pondering both sides.
However,
a book that stirs our emotions and thoughts, as much as this book does.....
is definitely BUZZ WORTHY...
and
...for lack of a better word: ‘entertaining’....
in-a-gripping-reading-way.
I’ve experienced being on both sides of ‘positive/negative’ - books....
heated- debates a couple of times.
In “Baby Teeth”, by Zoje Stage, I was on the negative side.
A New York newspaper quoted me as calling it “fiction nonsense”.
Many readers praised it with high ratings.
What was garbage to me was fascinating for others.
In “American Dirt”.... I’m on the positive side. The storytelling is addicting.....thought-provoking....compassionately well written....and timely.
The *hype* started out gradually...
and gradually continued to grow.
Negative reviews started gradually...
but then.....
the ’controversy-wheel’, kicked in fast...
faster
than all the tea made in China.
There are several ‘Dunkin-Slam’ -nasty comments about this book. Things I hadn’t thought about.
Even being a new Oprah pick is controversial. But maybe that happens often with Oprah picks?
Comparison to “The Grapes of Wrath”....
as the new modern American novel.....
is also creating debatable conversations.
I definitely see the comparison - understand it anyway.
I just think ( and agree), that people who loved this novel as I did - and for many reasons- are TRYING to express how powerful and real this book feels.
So.....
“Why the extreme divisions on this book? Why all the attention?” Perhaps ‘all sides’ are coming from the same place?
People ‘care’!!!
Our tender sensitive sides don’t want to see others suffer, be abused, treated unfairly, or killed.
In my opinion...
“Any ‘die-hard-reader’, would be a fool not to investigate all the hullabaloo....
surrounding “American Dirt”.
One needs to read it first.
...Two thumbs up from me!
...I lost two nights of sleep.
...Daytime plans were canceled.
...Read with urgency.
A little question for those who have read it??
What book do you think inspired Luca to talk?
Guesses?
And... to everyone else....
What book would you like to read over and change the ending to be happier?
5+++++
riveting and extraordinary!!!!!
Rating: really liked it
I wanted to read this novel because of the praise and high ratings by a number of my trusted Goodreads friends. Then just before I started to read it, I became aware of the criticisms in both the literary and press at large and I made the decision not to read any more of those articles until I finished the book. You’ll have to read the criticisms for yourself and decide whether you think the book is worth reading.
In spite of everything said about the novel, I found it to be riveting, informative, suspenseful, heartbreaking and hard to put down . It’s 400 pages and I read it in two days. It’s the harrowing journey of migrants from Mexico, running for their lives, not to find a better life with more opportunity, but running to save their lives. There’s so much out there on this, you can easily find enough on the plot and characters, so I’m not going to talk about those here. I will say that the grief, the fear, the uncertainty, what people will do to save their loved ones and themselves was impactful. I found the last third of the book especially gripping.
There are very few perfect books and few that meet up to the hype. While this isn’t one of them, I think this novel has a lot to offer. Some of the criticisms may certainly be valid, but they didn’t diminish the importance or relevance of the story, at least not for me. If nothing else, hopefully productive conversations and awareness will be generated about the issues that the critics raise, as well as the timely issue of immigration.
I read this with Diane and Esil and I so much appreciated having them to discuss this with.
Rating: really liked it
Good god.
I know there's an angry wasp nest of controversy surrounding this book (about cultural appropriation, about misappropriation, about racism in the publishing industry, about Oprah and her sticker-of-doom, about a book launch decorated with barbed wire, about a white person writing a story for other white people so they can feel better about themselves and more enlightened in regards to the Mexican migrant's plight, and so on, and so forth).
But I'm not going to go there. I'm a Canuck in snowy Montreal, it's probably not my place to go there.
Besides, I just can't seem to get myself jazzed up about all that. (Though, for the record, I
do believe in the fiction writer's right to write about whatever floats their boat.) I just CAN'T. How can I get myself stirred and feeling strongly about a book like this? A book so full of cliches, overdosed with melodrama, stuffed to the gills with unbelievable characters including an 8 year old Mexican boy with an Italian name who sounds like a perimenopausal woman... essentially, a book written
so badly that the feeling I had the whole time reading was "I can't believe I am reading this." And seething because of the time stolen from reading other worthy novels.
What I CAN get worked up about is the sacrilege of the blurb on the book's cover, likening it to John Steinbeck's
The Grapes of Wrath. Don Winslow should be
ashamed.
The silver lining, of course, is that a) I've already reached the low point of my reading year, yay! and b) because of this book, I will emerge with a new awareness of worthwhile Latinx writers to add to my TBR.
Rating: really liked it
4.5 stars
Is this the definitive immigrant experience? I’m not naïve enough to think so. This is fiction.
Were there clichés or negative stereotypes? Not that I could see. Instead, this book destroyed the stereotypes. As the author notes in her epilogue the people are not “faceless brown masses”, an often quoted phrase by the naysayers taken totally out of context – it’s an image the author says she tried (quite successfully) to dispel. The people crossing into our borders are individuals with backstories and unique reasons for coming here. The humanitarian concerns of our fellow human beings touched my heart while delivering a page-turning thriller.
As Lydia and her young son, Luca, fled for their lives, I felt I was in her shoes and quite literally held my breath more than once. This book puts a face to the plight of immigrants and the often harrowing journey they take to get here. It sent me to the internet to research for myself the conditions in Acapulco and what the drug cartels have done to make it one of the most dangerous places in Mexico. I read about “The Beast”, the train many migrants hop on, risking kidnapping, violence, and death in their long, hazardous journey to the U.S.
I’m shocked and disheartened that the author is being vilified and subjected to threats of violence. Ugly, vile things have been said about her. Over fiction, people! This is nothing short of bullying and censorship. It’s a slippery slope when we have readers leave one star “reviews” of a book they haven’t read or change a 4 or 5 star rating to a one star after being “enlightened”. Readers are entitled to their opinions.
The author, as stated, is a bridge. She spent four years researching the book and the epilogue left me with even more respect for her. Don’t we need as many voices as possible telling the story? Let the book open hearts and minds and start a civil discussion of the issues. I bought a hardback copy to support the author in the midst of this nonsense, and have no regrets. If you want to support the movement, read this book, followed by an #ownvoices book(s).
* this was a buddy read with Marialyce and a book we both enjoyed. For our duo review please visit https://yayareadslotsofbooks.wordpres...-
* please note if you want to have an honest discourse and a civil discussion, all comments are welcome. However, all rude comments from trolls will be deleted.
Rating: really liked it
UPDATE 4/21/22: I am laughing so hard now in April 2022 at my fury over this (written back in January 2020) because HA, old self, you HAD NO FUCKING CLUE what reality had in store in the coming months and years and it’s so damn cute that you had so much energy to be this furious over a middling to poor BOOK 🤣 But if anyone still wants to know what naive little righteous me thought back in ye olde before-times, read on if you must.
DNF the audiobook (free review copy from Libro.fm) at 15% for various reasons including overly dramatic writing that doesn’t fit my reading preferences, major representation issues and perpetuation of racist stereotypes.
ETA: I encourage readers to find books about this issue that more accurately depict Mexico and the immigrant experience. One excellent option would be this one:
The Devil's Highway: A True Story
ETA 2: WHY DID OPRAH AND BARNES AND NOBLE CHOOSE THIS FOR THEIR BOOK CLUBS????
ETA 3: Check out articles on NYT and The Guardian for more formal reviews about the controversy.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/17/bo...
https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...
This one on the LA Times about it being Oprah’s pick is SIGH. Hypety-hype-hype. NO PRESS IS BAD PRESS when it comes to hype and book sales.
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment...
ETA 4: if you want Cliffs Notes on the issues surrounding this book
https://www.vulture.com/2020/01/ameri...
ETA 5:
YOU GUYS. THERE ARE PHOTOS OF AN AUTHOR EVENT FOR THIS BOOK IN WHICH THERE ARE FLORAL DECORATIONS FEATURING "BARBED WIRE / BORDER WALL CHIC". And in one of these links somewhere in here, OW says that Cummins "humanizes" the issue at the border. UMMMMMMMM. Don't the actual humans at the border humanize it? Like, there are HUMANS. AT THE BORDER. I forgive Oprah for making a mistake in picking this book. I don't forgive her for doubling down on her support.
Also, a good piece by Seattle Review of Books
https://seattlereviewofbooks.com/note...
And the best piece of all about it:
https://tropicsofmeta.com/2019/12/12/...
If you want a stellar #ownvoices publishing insider's take on the issue, check out a story highlight on Instagram by @nastymuchachitareads titled "AD + Publishing"
ETA 6:
Here's the original pic of the centerpieces, from a May 2019 event - a post via the author herself (I'm a librarian - I believe in verifying sources):
https://twitter.com/jeaninecummins/st...
ETA 7:
NPR coverage from 1.24.20
https://www.npr.org/2020/01/24/798894...
LA Times article referenced in the NPR piece
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment...
ETA 8:
Oprah has now posted on IGTV and I’m sure elsewhere that she hears all the concerns and is going to have a conversation about the issue on AppleTV. Which I won’t see bc I don’t have that but at least she acknowledged it 🤷🏼♀️
ETA 9:
This episode on the 1A podcast from 1.28.20 is excellent regarding not just AD but why the publishing industry did what they did and do what they do
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast...
ETA 10:
Please listen to the Latino USA podcast episode from 1.29.20 about this issue
AND, Flatiron canceled the book tour. They issued a statement too. You can read it here:
https://lunch.publishersmarketplace.c... and click on "Full Statement" at the bottom to actually read it. There is massive controversy about the letter itself, my friends.
ETA 11:
I think I might be done updating this now. Bottom line? The more hype there is about a forthcoming book the more skeptical I’m going to be 🙄 ESPECIALLY if there’s any question about it being #ownvoices
Rating: really liked it
UPDATE: I read this book in early fall 2019, before important critiques and interviews were published. Some commenters have helpfully linked those in comments so you can see some of what I'm referencing. I've cleared my star rating. I'm listening, I'm learning, I'm asking questions. I considered deleting my original review; for now I'm leaving it below.
I thought this was absolutely fantastic and I can't wait for everyone I know to read it so we can talk about it together. If you follow me, you know I have a sweet spot for what I like to call "compulsively readable literary fiction." This is it.
Rating: really liked it
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 and unbiased reading, so I tried not to look into this further, not read any 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.
Rating: really liked it
I've been dreading this review because I don't love writing reviews in the first place and - as everyone else on the planet undoubtedly knows - this book is steeped in controversy. I've read all kinds of viewpoints but I was unwilling to let any of them prejudge the book for me. My rating system is incredibly simple and completely subjective. If a story or the writing moves me, that book is going to get a high rating.
I've read that many people found the story over the top, or melodramatic or implausible. I cannot say that I felt the same to the extent that the story is fiction. The storytelling and the plight of the protagonists moved me to tears. The only thing that kept me from giving this book a five is because I have been unable to completely disregard the complaints about this not being written by a Mexican heritage person but.... I'm sorry but great writing (and as far as I'm concerned this qualifies as my experience of great writing) should not be disregarded because the person does not fit the descriptor of the protagonist. I support and read Own Voices books and I think there should be plenty more where that comes from. But I can't support the idea that this author's book is an obstacle to Own Voices or that there is no place for this book. I do think that the publishers handled this roll out poorly and that is probably an understatement on my part.
BTW, not that I suppose it really matters but I am half Peruvian; my dad immigrated to the US in 1956 on a scholarship to Purdue University and he arrived here at a time when it was relatively easy to immigrate - and as far as I'm concerned that is the way it should continue to be.
So while I'm not Mexican American, this story means a great deal to me. This book tells a story I desperately want people to hear, to be moved by and to understand - and to find their compassion and moral compass when discussing, thinking about and forming opinions on the plight of "illegal" immigrants. Any and every voice that can get the message across is welcome in my estimation, especially when that message is told in such a moving and compelling way.
