A five star read for me, which I did not expect.
A friend encouraged me several times to read this (hey, Lauri!!). I resisted. I did not want to read a sad story about a Mexican woman, Lydia, running for her life from Mexico to the US illegally and under the radar at the drop of a hat (or gun as the case may be). I just didn't. I don't usually read "sad books."
But now, I am glad I did, not so much because of the subject matter itself, which was of course heartbreaking, but because this book is just plain old GOOD. It moves fast, it has sympathetic characters, it has a villain with a heart and a villain without one. It has liars and good people and terror and loss and desperation and risk. It is about a mother who will do anything for her son. It is about grief and survival. The emotions are all there without being patronizing or really even political. I could feel the heat of the desert and hear the clacking of the trains. This book just flat out tells a story, fact after fact (well, it is fiction but was apparently thoroughly researched, so all that happens could have actually happened).
I read it so fast that I did not stop to take notes (my new MO for reading and reviewing this year, oh well). I could not put it down. I don't think the cover does the book justice, it seems unrelated. Cummins took a LOT of flack for this book as a "privileged white woman" who could have no idea what the immigrant plight is really like. Well, I don't know but seems to me that all kinds of authors write all kinds of books and if she did her research and brought this topic to the national table then it really shouldn't matter what color she is, either. She addresses this a bit in the author's notes at the end. Anyway, no matter what your affiliation or policy, this is a great story, tense and realistic and richly described, from Lydia's emotions to her surroundings to her panic and ability to create family from tragedy. Highly recommend.
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