A really good read - American Dirt
Sometimes a book opens its jaws, clamps them down on you and doesn’t let go. American Dirt does that on the first page and only releases you, wrung out and emotionally exhausted (in the best possible way) on the final one.
The story
The story concerns Lydia, a middle-class bookstore owner in Acapulco, Mexico, married to a journalist, and her young son Luca. There’s no spoiler in telling you that Lydia and 8 year old Luca end up on the run from the murderous intent of a vicious Mexican cartel following a devastating, brutal massacre that leaves all of their extended family dead, because that happens in the opening pages (see jaws above).
Lydia and Luca’s journey towards what she believes is the safety of the US border is riddled with nail-biting tension and terrifying experiences. The betrayal, kindness, terror and hope that the pair experience is viscerally and vividly portrayed, as the narration of their journey switches between the two characters.
Lydia’s intense maternal love for her son and her desperate desire to keep him safe whilst having to expose him to unimaginable danger, is heart-stopping and heart-breaking in its intensity.
The writing and the writer
This exquisitely written, emotionally super-charged book gives an important insight into the lives and experiences of migrants, but it hasn’t been without its controversies. Writer Jeanine Cummins is neither Mexican nor a migrant and there have been those who have questioned her right and ability to truthfully represent characters who are both.
I can’t say I agree. There would be a lot fewer books in the world if authors only wrote about the experiences they’d had themselves or only about the cultures they come from, or the people they knew or had met.
The power
As someone who’s also neither Mexican or a migrant, I found this an intensely moving, terrifyingly tense, beautifully written story that has made me examine my preconceptions about migrants and consider their backgrounds and experiences in a very different way.
Whether you value this book for the power of its message, the power of its writing or the power of its story (or all of the above), it is one that will lodge itself in your heart and your consciousness, and that will almost certainly influence your view of an issue that is currently affecting thousands of people around the world.
Would love your recommendations for what to read next please!
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