American Dirt

American Dirt is a social issues thriller. I felt that combination worked for me. Lydia is removed from the migrants that she sees on the news, but really she isn’t. That made me consider the perspective we have of our own lives and how it could change in a moment. Cummins puts a different face on the Mexican immigration with Lydia and that worked for me as I started somewhere different than in the middle of a refugee Story, we start at the beginning. I liked the interesting mix of characters and how they met. The leap of faith or desperation onto the trains to try to escape and how they helped each other. The courage and desperation of the children and how they connected with each other in such a stoic way that showed their optimism and fragile self. Particularly when the little boy BeBe died from an Asthmatic attack. He did so much that enabled the others to escape. This book highlights how impossible it is to have a happy life living amongst such organised evil. At some point you will be effected. After reading the book I looked at an interesting article, how so many people felt the book should have been written by a non white person and Cummins missed the Mark or the point of the book. I cannot work that out. Obviously she wrote the book and set the goals she wanted. Apparently the book had a lot of negative press because of that. Lydia loves her family deeply and is devasted by their murder at the hands of the cartel. She is particularly heartbroken by the loss of Sebastián, when she retrieves the car keys from his corpse: “She claps a hand over her mouth because she has a feeling the essential part of herself might fall out”. Sebastian, was instrumental in what happened. He wrote the article and Lydia read it before publication. They both believed Javier would handle the article and he did till his daughter was sent the article and killed herself. That was a clever twist and catapulted Lydia into her journey challenging topic in a very human way. Thank you for putting this forward Cynthia. There was a clever twist and catapulted Lydia into her journey. Excellent book.

I’ve never read anything quite like this. It helps anyone who reads it come away with a better appreciation of what those beleaguered people in Mexico and Central America, also dwelling on American Dirt’, are having to endure as they make their way to a better life. I’ve read there are some who believe this story shouldn’t have been written by a non-Latino. And that, in and of itself, renders it stereotypical in the view of our country’s attitudes to illegal aliens. The indictment of the drug cartels cannot be stereotyped enough. We need to come up with a better system for the hard-working migrants to enter legally. What a journey endured by the main characters, Lydia and Luca. Sure made me sympathize-and think.

Oh my word what a book! My heart was pounding with the characters and I could feel the experiences they had come to life… gripping, heartbreaking, wholesome story that I couldn’t put down. Fantastic read!

Devastating and compelling. A reminder of the need for community and kindness and of the fragility and resilience of life.

It was a long one but worth the read.