Infinite Country
Rich with Bogotá urban life, steeped in Andean myth, and tense with the daily reality of the undocumented in America, Infinite Country is the story of two countries and one mixed-status family—for whom every triumph is stitched with regret, and every dream pursued bears the weight of a dream deferred.
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Infinite Country by Patricia Engel
191 pages
What’s it about?
"It was her idea to tie up the nun". And so begins the novel, Infinite Country. Talia is 15 years-old and serving her time in an all girls correctional facility when she decides to break out and make a run for it. Time is of the essence if she is to make it back to Bogota in time for her flight to the United States. It is her chance to reunite with her mother and siblings in the land of her birth, but it will mean leaving behind her life in Columbia and her father.
What did it make me think about?
"He wanted to convey to his daughter the price of leaving, though he had difficulty finding the words. What he wanted to say was that something is always lost; even when we are the ones migrating, we end up being occupied."
Should I read it?
This was a beautiful book. It is a story of immigration, but it is also a story of family. I highly recommend this book. It would be a great book club selection.
Quote-
"He didn't want his daughter to see her grandmother's condition as a death sentence. He didn't want her to fear the body's natural process as it was shutting down, preparing for its exit from life. He wanted her to see that as long as Perla took breaths and had a heartbeat, even if her own home and family felt unfamiliar to her, she was loved and valued and still so alive, and though they could no longer reach or understand her, and her expression became a blank, secretive mask, she would know through their touch and voices that she was safe and belonged there."
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Infinite Country by Patricia Engel
191 pages
What’s it about?
"It was her idea to tie up the nun". And so begins the novel, Infinite Country. Talia is 15 years-old and serving her time in an all girls correctional facility when she decides to break out and make a run for it. Time is of the essence if she is to make it back to Bogota in time for her flight to the United States. It is her chance to reunite with her mother and siblings in the land of her birth, but it will mean leaving behind her life in Columbia and her father.
What did it make me think about?
"He wanted to convey to his daughter the price of leaving, though he had difficulty finding the words. What he wanted to say was that something is always lost; even when we are the ones migrating, we end up being occupied."
Should I read it?
This was a beautiful book. It is a story of immigration, but it is also a story of family. I highly recommend this book. It would be a great book club selection.
Quote-
"He didn't want his daughter to see her grandmother's condition as a death sentence. He didn't want her to fear the body's natural process as it was shutting down, preparing for its exit from life. He wanted her to see that as long as Perla took breaths and had a heartbeat, even if her own home and family felt unfamiliar to her, she was loved and valued and still so alive, and though they could no longer reach or understand her, and her expression became a blank, secretive mask, she would know through their touch and voices that she was safe and belonged there."
If you liked this try-
Dominicana by Angie Cruz
A Woman is No Man by Etaf Rum
Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue
The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen
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