#Nl audio book club full#

It is contrived and improbable ,but it is fiction. I think it’s lack of excellence is what becomes so offensive as you proceed through it. When my daughter expressed shock at my purchasing it I was dismayed because i thought it was too mundane to be controversial. I bought this title before the negative criticisms arose.

While I understand the desire to better understand the struggles and tragedies of those living on the border and those struggling to migrate across the Americas, I strongly recommend you use your money to buy Luis Alberto Urrea’s books instead: The House of Broken Angels for living on the northern side of the border, The Devils Highway for the brutality of crossing the border, and By the Lake of Sleeping Children (where Cummins hijacked Urrea's real life experiences in the Tijuana dump) for life on the southern side of the border. When the worst our protagonists suffer in a cross thru the brutal desert is sweat and a single blister remedied by a bandaid, I rolled my eyes.

When cell phones don’t work in the desert (as is expected) for tension and drama, but not only work but allow FaceTime when the plot requires it, I rolled my eyes. When an 8 year old is accepted as a Mexican national, not because he provides paperwork, but because he can spout out all the geographical detail of his home state, I rolled my eyes. When the good Mexicans and migrants constantly crossed themselves, said a rosary or said gracias a Dios, and the bad Mexicans constantly raped and murdered, I rolled my eyes. When a middle class business woman is forced by plot ploys to follow the migrant trail of those at the lowest economic levels, I rolled my eyes. Trying to imagine a cartel kingpin in studious glasses waxing and waning poetry and philosophy, I rolled my eyes. So every time Cummins mentions it or a spatula or lists out the names of ALL that attended, I rolled my eyes. Just Google quinceañera images and tell me how in the world THAT would work for a backyard barbecue. From beginning to end, the content, dialog and references were way off for Mexican culture and history as I experienced it. If I could give it negative stars or a bomb, I would.

#Nl audio book club full#

But it is Arizmendi's voicing of Lydia, so full of fierce tenderness, that will stay with listeners after the story's close.' ( AudioFile Magazine)īoston Globe Best Books of the Year - 2020Īs a Mexican-American, I found this book ridiculous and insulting.

The account of Lydia and Luca's travails, including terrifying rides atop Mexico's freight trains, is utterly compelling. 'Narrator Yareli Arizmendi illuminates the humanity and individuality of Latin American migrants as they flee toward refuge in the North. It is one of the most important books for our times.Īlready being hailed as 'a Grapes of Wrath for our times' and 'a new American classic', Jeanine Cummins' American Dirt is a rare exploration into the inner hearts of people willing to sacrifice everything for a glimmer of hope. It is a literary achievement filled with poignancy, drama, and humanity. But what exactly are they running to?Īmerican Dirt will leave listeners utterly changed. As they join the countless people trying to reach el norte, Lydia soon sees that everyone is running from something. Instantly transformed into migrants, Lydia and Luca ride la bestia - trains that make their way north toward the United States, which is the only place Javier’s reach doesn’t extend. When Lydia’s husband’s tell-all profile of Javier is published, none of their lives will ever be the same.įorced to flee, Lydia and eight-year-old Luca soon find themselves miles and worlds away from their comfortable middle-class existence. And, unbeknownst to Lydia, he is the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city. And then one day, a man enters the shop to browse and comes up to the register with a few books he would like to buy - two of them her favorites. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable.Įven though she knows they’ll never sell, Lydia stocks some of her all-time favorite books in her store. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. Lydia Quixano Pérez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. It’s the great world novel! This is the international story of our times. 'This book is not simply the great American novel it’s the great novel of las Americas.