Review: American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
by The Borrowers Book Group Kesgrave Library
The Borrowers Book Group at Kesgrave Library share their thoughts on American Dirt, the Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller written by Jeanine Cummins.
About American Dirt
American Dirt explores the experience of attempting to illegally cross the US-Mexico border, a journey which thousands of migrants make each year. Yesterday, Lydia had a bookshop. Yesterday, Lydia was married to a journalist. Yesterday, she was with everyone she loved most in the world.
Today, her eight-year-old son Luca is all she has left. For him, she will carry a machete strapped to her leg. For him, she will leap onto the roof of a high speed train. For him, she will find the strength to keep running.
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Book group review
This unforgettable book hooks you from the very beginning with the first sentence. You are gripped as the suspense and drama build quickly. Pace and tension are maintained throughout with a slight slowing in Chilpancingo with the missionaries, but as the flight to El Norte takes off again, you are riveted until the last page.
The story of a mother’s determination to save herself and her son from being murdered, and their dangerous flight on the migration trail across Mexico, makes a dramatic, harrowing, and gripping read. Although it features some violence, it is not gratuitous, but part of the gritty reality of the story. The objectivity in the powerful writing makes some scenes even more shocking.
The characters are believable - it is remarkable the kindness and compassion shown by strangers who equally have little or nothing in their escaping to a better life. But there are touches of humour from the two boys. The third part of the story, with the flight through the desert across the border into the US, is almost another book with fresh characters, dramas and sadness.
Recommendation: A brilliant and unforgettable book. It shows the gritty reality of how, and why, many South Americans try to make it to the US.
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