A fictional story of a mother and her son running for their life across the Mexican – U.S. border.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lydia Quixano Perez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable.<\/span><\/p>
Even though she knows they’ll never sell, Lydia stocks some of her all-time favorite books in her store. And then one day a man enters the shop to browse and comes up to the register with four books he would like to buy\u2015two of them her favorites. Javier is erudite. He is charming. And, unbeknownst to Lydia, he is the\u00a0jefe<\/em>\u00a0of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city. When Lydia’s husband’s tell-all profile of Javier is published, none of their lives will ever be the same.<\/span><\/p>
Forced to flee, Lydia and eight-year-old Luca soon find themselves miles and worlds away from their comfortable middle-class existence. Instantly transformed into migrants, Lydia and Luca ride\u00a0la bestia<\/em>\u2015trains that make their way north toward the United States, which is the only place Javier’s reach doesn’t extend. As they join the countless people trying to reach\u00a0el norte<\/em>, Lydia soon sees that everyone is running from something. But what exactly are they running to?<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
My Review: Controversial page-turner<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Ok, I read this book without knowing any of the controversy behind it. Oprah’s book club recommendations are usually pretty good and this is the second one I enjoyed that’s accompanied by controversy (the first one is A Million Little Pieces by James Frey which is still one of my favourite books ever).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
B.C (before controversy): The book hooked me from the very beginning and I fell down the rabbit hole of googling cartels. I was also curious as to how they were faring during this pandemic (not well, but apparently they are feeding the poor). The plot, pace and characters were very engaging and I did enjoy it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bookstores, invariably, are a refuge. There’s one in the town where they live, and the first time Lydia ventures in, it takes her breath away. She has to steady herself against a shelf. The smell of coffee and paper and ink. It’s nothing like her little shop back home. It’s stocked mostly with religious books, and instead of calendars and toys, they carry rosaries, Buddha figurines, yarmulkes. Still, the upright spines of the books are bedrock. Steady. There’s an international poetry section. Hafiz. Heaney. Neruda. Lydia flips past the twenty love poems and reads “The Song of Despair.” She reads it desperately, hungrily, bent over the books in the aisle of the quiet shop. Her fingers ready the next page while she devours the words. The book is water in the desert.<\/span><\/p>Jeanine Cummins<\/span><\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
A.C (after controversy): ERRRM, OK, I TOO THOUGHT THAT THIS WAS WRITTEN BY A MEMBER OF SAID COMMUNITY, NOT A WHITE LADY. I am in agreement that this is problematic – I’m not sure if she’s the right person to write this story. I also think that there must be other books that deserve more recognition: Eva Longoria has endorsed these books by Latinx authors \u2014\u00a0Enrique\u2019s Journey\u00a0<\/em>by Sonia Nazario, and\u00a0The Beast\u00a0<\/em>by \u00d3scar Mart\u00ednez.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why You Should Read It<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
I think that if you want to read it, you should borrow a copy from your National Library rather than purchasing the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n