Catch Hold Of The Book Of Unknown Americans Produced By Cristina Henríquez Delivered In Leaflet

felt the way I often felt in this country simultaneously conspicuous and invisible, like an oddity whom everyone noticed but chose to ignore”

I am somehow both fulfilled and empty after finishing the Book of Unknown Americans.
It wasn't the easiest of reads, but I also could not stop, A peculiarity, a paradox that will stay with me for a long time,

As an immigrant myself a word that is a stigma now more than it wasyears ago, when this book was written, because the world is going backwards I found an avalanche of things I related to.
And last year when I read sitelinkGirl in Translation I also found many things I could relate to.
Even though I don't have anything in common with either culture, And just now I realized that it doesn't matter where we come from, We're all the same. It only matters where we come to,

“Maybe its the instinct of every immigrant, born of necessity or of longing: Someplace else will be better than here.
And the condition: if only I can get to that place, ”

The way this reads, a step above young adult, but still abrasive enough, and thought provoking in the best of literary ways sucked me in completely.
The in between chapters were heartbreaking, some even more the others, and added a beautiful collectiveness to the overall story.


“I know some people here think were trying to take over, but we just want to be a part of it.
We want to have our stake, This is our home, too, ”

Sometimes you have to uproot your life and start over, Everybody's reason is different, but all of them valid, Sometimes you stay rooted in new place, weathering all the storms, and sometimes you can't, and the wind blows you away.
The Book of Unknown Americans is a beautiful mosaic of hard lives collected inpages, It's well worth the read,

My sitelinkWEBSITE
My sitelinkBOOKSTAGRAM More than anything, I appreciate the fresh perspective and the eyeopening nature of this story.
Immigration is a sensitive topic and a political platform in our country right now, theres no denying that, Dont worry, Im not going to try and tackle that issue in this review, What I will say I walked away from this story looking at things a little differently, It made me feel like the human aspect of the situation is too easily overlooked,

I think we forget that some of these immigrants are just people looking for a better life a way to take care of their families.
Thats the case for the Riveras, at least, They leave behind their extended family, their home, the husbands business all in an effort to get their daughter some help.
Theyre willing to sacrifice everything to give Maribel the opportunity to attend a special school, A school that could help her make progress after suffering a traumatic brain injury,

“Its amazing, isnt it, what parents will do for their children”

The family ends up in an apartment building in Delaware thats solely occupied by hispanic immigrants.
The author weaves in a few chapters from each of those immigrants, a backstory of sorts on how they ended up in America.
I thought it was an interesting touch, Theres a complexity to her characters that not every author manages to pull off and it did what I assume she set out to do, added more heart to the story.
I have to mention, I wasnt Mayors biggest fan, I didnt buy the love story aspect, A part of me felt like he was taking advantage of Maribel somehow, Did she truly understand what was happening

What really struck me was how this family had to essentially let go of a part of their culture.
Even simple things, like having to eat processed foods because they couldnt afford to buy the things needed for the recipes they've been eating for their entire lives.
This story also made me consider just how hard it would be to live somewhere where you couldnt understand the language, making it almost impossible to communicate.
Can you imagine How would you ask for help At one point, Alma gets lost and struggles to figure out how to get home.
I was panicking for her,

The ending left me completely heartbroken, I honestly saw things going differently and I really wish they had, Overall, I found this to be a heartfelt and thoughtprovoking story, I wouldnt hesitate to pick up another book from this author, Updated tostars. I didn't want this book to end, I wanted to follow the characters and see where the rest of their lives took them, I recommend this one. “A triumph of storytelling. Henríquez pulls us into the lives of her characters with such mastery that we hang on to them just as fiercely as they hang on to one another and their dreams.
This passionate, powerful novel will stay with you long after youve turned the final page, ” Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynns Long Halftime Walk
 
A boy and a girl who fall in love.
Two families whose hopes collide with destiny, An extraordinary novel that offers a resonant new definition of what it means to be American,

Arturo and Alma Rivera have lived their whole lives in Mexico, One day, their beautiful fifteenyearold daughter, Maribel, sustains a terrible injury, one that casts doubt on whether shell ever be the same.
And so, leaving all they have behind, the Riveras come to America with a single dream: that in this country of great opportunity and resources, Maribel can get better.


When Mayor Toro, whose family is from Panama, sees Maribel in a Dollar Tree store, it is love at first sight.
Its also the beginning of a friendship between the Rivera and Toro families, whose web of guilt and love and responsibility is at this novels core.


Woven into their stories are the testimonials of men and women who have come to the United States from all over Latin America.
Their journeys and their voices will inspire you, surprise you, and break your heart,

Suspenseful, wry and immediate, rich in spirit and humanity, The Book of Unknown Americans is a work of rare force and originality.


Read by Yareli Arizmendi, Christine Avila, Jesse Corti, Gustavo Res, Ozzie Rodriguez, and Gabriel Romero
One of the things that initially drew me to this book is that it takes place in my hometown of Newark, Delaware.
Throughout I enjoyed references to local landmarks such as Bings Bakery and Newark Newsstand, However, as Henriquez gently revealed the characters' struggles and hearts, I forgot about the setting and became absorbed with the narrative.


There were a couple things that set this book apart from most I've read about the immigrant experience.
Arturo, Alma and Maribel, one of the families at the center of the story, did not leave Mexico looking for a better life.
They had a comfortable life in Mexico which they left only because they wanted a specialized school for theiryear old daughter Maribel, who had suffered a brain injury when she fell off of a ladder.
Arturo did whatever he could to support his family but had a tough time fitting into a new culture where he did not know the 'rules'.
From pulling mushrooms in the dark for ten hours a day to

navigating grocery stores, life was a daily struggle.
It was this family that was by far the most engaging to me,

Also living in the apartment building "cinder block hive"were the Toros from Panama, Celia, the mother, befriends Alma and introduces her to CocaCola among other things, Mayor, her son, falls in love with Maribel which leads to both tender scenes and some hairraising ones which I won't spoil.


Other families share their stories briefly to broaden the reader's perspective, For me, less would have been more, Just let me enjoy getting to know the two main families and don't bother a bit trying to round out my perspective.
Other books can do that,

I also felt that Maribel learned very quickly how to process a joke, comprehend text, follow prompts, and focus for longer time periods.
I too have a mild traumatic brain injury and I find it unlikely, even with her youth on her side, that she could have relearned so much so quickly and with so little frustration.
In my experience, cognitively disordered brains struggle and stumble and hiccup, never again taking memory or previously learned knowledge for granted.
Perhaps, I'm trying to make my experience universal which is just as ridiculous as thinking that each immigrant's experience is similar.


All in all, I enjoyed the writing and storyline and was absorbed in the book, I spent time thinking about the people I encounter who might feel invisible, unknown, unappreciated, Sometimes it's just a smile that makes a difference in someone's day,

Arturo says toward the end of the book, "People do what they have to in this life.
We try to get from one end of it to the other with dignity and with honor, We do the best we can, "
That pretty much sums up the book and life for me, .