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The Undocumented Americans
NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST - One of the first undocumented immigrants to graduate from Harvard reveals the hidden lives of her fellow undocumented Americans in this deeply personal and groundbreaking portrait of a nation.
"Karla's book sheds light on people's personal experiences and allows their stories to be told and their voices to be heard."--Selena Gomez FINALIST FOR THE NBCC JOHN LEONARD AWARD - NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, NPR, THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, BOOK RIOT, LIBRARY JOURNAL, AND TIME
Writer Karla Cornejo Villavicencio was on DACA when she decided to write about being undocumented for the first time using her own name. It was right after the election of 2016, the day she realized the story she'd tried to steer clear of was the only one she wanted to tell. So she wrote her immigration lawyer's phone number on her hand in Sharpie and embarked on a trip across the country to tell the stories of her fellow undocumented immigrants--and to find the hidden key to her own. Looking beyond the flashpoints of the border or the activism of the DREAMers, Cornejo Villavicencio explores the lives of the undocumented--and the mysteries of her own life. She finds the singular, effervescent characters across the nation often reduced in the media to political pawns or nameless laborers. The stories she tells are not deferential or naively inspirational but show the love, magic, heartbreak, insanity, and vulgarity that infuse the day-to-day lives of her subjects. In New York, we meet the undocumented workers who were recruited into the federally funded Ground Zero cleanup after 9/11. In Miami, we enter the ubiquitous botanicas, which offer medicinal herbs and potions to those whose status blocks them from any other healthcare options. In Flint, Michigan, we learn of demands for state ID in order to receive life-saving clean water. In Connecticut, Cornejo Villavicencio, childless by choice, finds family in two teenage girls whose father is in sanctuary. And through it all we see the author grappling with the biggest questions of love, duty, family, and survival. In her incandescent, relentlessly probing voice, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio combines sensitive reporting and powerful personal narratives to bring to light remarkable stories of resilience, madness, and death. Through these stories we come to understand what it truly means to be a stray. An expendable. A hero. An American.
"Karla's book sheds light on people's personal experiences and allows their stories to be told and their voices to be heard."--Selena Gomez FINALIST FOR THE NBCC JOHN LEONARD AWARD - NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, NPR, THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, BOOK RIOT, LIBRARY JOURNAL, AND TIME
Writer Karla Cornejo Villavicencio was on DACA when she decided to write about being undocumented for the first time using her own name. It was right after the election of 2016, the day she realized the story she'd tried to steer clear of was the only one she wanted to tell. So she wrote her immigration lawyer's phone number on her hand in Sharpie and embarked on a trip across the country to tell the stories of her fellow undocumented immigrants--and to find the hidden key to her own. Looking beyond the flashpoints of the border or the activism of the DREAMers, Cornejo Villavicencio explores the lives of the undocumented--and the mysteries of her own life. She finds the singular, effervescent characters across the nation often reduced in the media to political pawns or nameless laborers. The stories she tells are not deferential or naively inspirational but show the love, magic, heartbreak, insanity, and vulgarity that infuse the day-to-day lives of her subjects. In New York, we meet the undocumented workers who were recruited into the federally funded Ground Zero cleanup after 9/11. In Miami, we enter the ubiquitous botanicas, which offer medicinal herbs and potions to those whose status blocks them from any other healthcare options. In Flint, Michigan, we learn of demands for state ID in order to receive life-saving clean water. In Connecticut, Cornejo Villavicencio, childless by choice, finds family in two teenage girls whose father is in sanctuary. And through it all we see the author grappling with the biggest questions of love, duty, family, and survival. In her incandescent, relentlessly probing voice, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio combines sensitive reporting and powerful personal narratives to bring to light remarkable stories of resilience, madness, and death. Through these stories we come to understand what it truly means to be a stray. An expendable. A hero. An American.
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Community Reviews
"The twisted inversion that many children of immigrants know is that, at some point, your parents become your children, and your own personal American dream becomes making sure they age and die with dignity in a country that never wanted them (p. 123)"
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I don't really know what to say other than wow. As a child of immigrants, I think it is hard to share with others how daunting the pressure to achieve the American dream and meet your immigrant parents' expectations can be. This is well written and shines a light on all those expectations and the physical/emotional effects they have through the eyes of the author. All the while it leaves you broken and feeling helpless, reminding you that despite the efforts to contribute to America society, you will never truly fit in. You are only as good as your work is. Once you get old, your are disposable and a burden to those who you tried to provide a better life for. It accurately describes the loneliness an immigrant feels and the constant fear undocumented immigrants live under.
My only hope is that this book can help someone know that we are all in the same boat. We face many of the same fears and are under the same pressure. Despite this, just like Karla, we can find little ways to help others and to give back to those who are also struggling. Only by helping each other can we escape the loneliness and depression that comes with being unwanted in a strange new land.
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I don't really know what to say other than wow. As a child of immigrants, I think it is hard to share with others how daunting the pressure to achieve the American dream and meet your immigrant parents' expectations can be. This is well written and shines a light on all those expectations and the physical/emotional effects they have through the eyes of the author. All the while it leaves you broken and feeling helpless, reminding you that despite the efforts to contribute to America society, you will never truly fit in. You are only as good as your work is. Once you get old, your are disposable and a burden to those who you tried to provide a better life for. It accurately describes the loneliness an immigrant feels and the constant fear undocumented immigrants live under.
My only hope is that this book can help someone know that we are all in the same boat. We face many of the same fears and are under the same pressure. Despite this, just like Karla, we can find little ways to help others and to give back to those who are also struggling. Only by helping each other can we escape the loneliness and depression that comes with being unwanted in a strange new land.
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