Genre: Contemporary
Book Type: Physical
Author: Jeanine Cummins
Pages: 400
Publisher: Flatiron Books (January 21, 2020)
Book Description:
También de este lado hay sueños. On this side, too, there are dreams.
Lydia Quixano Pérez 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 there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly 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 a few 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. Instantly transformed into migrants, Lydia and Luca ride la bestia―trains that make their way north toward the United States, which is the only place Javier’s reach doesn’t extend. As they join the countless people trying to reach el norte, Lydia soon sees that everyone is running from something. But what exactly are they running to?
American Dirt will leave readers utterly changed. It is a literary achievement filled with poignancy, drama, and humanity on every page. It is one of the most important books for our times.
Already being hailed as “a Grapes of Wrath for our times” and “a new American classic,” Jeanine Cummins’s American Dirt is a rare exploration into the inner hearts of people willing to sacrifice everything for a glimmer of hope.
Thoughts:
I’ve said it in past posts, but my favorite thing about reading, is the feeling I am left with once the book closes… I had to see why everyone was talking about this book, and holy moly, if you haven’t read this one, I highly recommend it.
Let me start out by saying, I went into this knowing it was a fictional book, but the feeling and emotion I was left with left me in pieces. Jeanine Cummins wrote a true masterpiece in my opinion. I was moved beyond what I was expecting, and opened my eyes to so many things I thought I understood, and realize I have no idea about. Let me remind you, I KNOW this was a work of fiction, but the book is so well written, it felt like it was a true story. The horrors and sacrifices 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,” (pg 94), was a kick to the gut. Talk about mind opening?! I never looked at the sacrifices made to try to come to America. Yes, that makes me naive, but again, I read to feel things, to have my eyes opened and that it did with this book. In my little bubble, I thought coming to America was sought after, not that it could also be a sacrifice. Talk about something I needed to read and see? I continue to learn and grow, and this book helped open my eyes on a very blind area I didn’t know I had.
In a story full of fear, loss, heartache, pain, suffering, tragedy and love, this is a book that I will remember for a long time. To quote the author one last time, “Now and again when a book moved her, when a book opened a previously undiscovered window in her mind and forever altered her perception of the world, she would add it to those secret ranks,” (pg. 25). Yes… I was moved, and this book will proudly be displayed on my bookshelf for years to come.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
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