Ratings142
Average rating4
First, let me just start off by stating that I don't fall completely in line with the camp that a white woman simply cannot write on this topic. Ethnicity is not the issue. Not completely. However, that said, I do understand why some people believe a white woman SHOULDN'T write about the experiences of Latino migrants.
The author said she did 5yrs worth of research and yet there were way too many blatant stereotypes and inaccuracies sprinkled throughout the book that left me feeling as if this book was just slapped together carelessly filled with ignorance and stereotypes and slapped together simply because a major dollar deal was offered. I did a hard eye-roll and guttural gag with the character's incredulous reaction to the fact that there were some nice people in Mexico amongst all of the drug lords. Did her five-year research show her nothing good about Mexico and its people? Oh no, of course not, let's just keep feeding those ideas and messages that Mexico=Bad and America=Good and all Mexico has to offer are drug dealers and rapists. Disgusting and done already and, if you haven't noticed, quite damaging.
Though the author doesn't fall too far from reprimand as I just stated above, who I'm really coming for are the publishing companies and their practices that have been an obstacle for years. The fact that there are whole movements #WeNeedDiverseBooks and #DiversifytheCannon and #DignidadLiteraria is quite telling and a loud plea to publishers to DIVERSIFY both the writing and the authors that write the books!
I am definitely with those fighting the publishing companies pushing back on their promos saying this book is definitively THE immigrant story, “a novel that defined the migrant experience.” As well as pushing back the great O giving it her stamp of approval the day it came out saying, “I feel like everyone who reads this book is actually going to be immersed in the experience of what it means to be a migrant on the run for freedom.”
Sandra Cisneros was recently interviewed and asked but what about authenticity in the story and the author. And she very simply responded with, “well then write those stories.” Wow. So all those authors out there that are immigrants themselves or have family that have actually lived the immigrant story to tell and haven't gotten that illustrious seven figure deal because they just haven't written it or have written it but just said, “Nah, I'm good. No big monetary deal or Oprah book club pick necessary.”???
That's my point of contention! True, authentic stories HAVE been written by authentic immigrant authors! For years! There've just NOT BEEN INVITED TO HAVE A SEAT AT THE BIG PUBLISHERS TABLE! How lucky we are that the great white hope author and her publisher have finally “given a face to the faceless brown mass” that are the immigrants of the south by publishing a book like this.
Esmeralda Bermúdez wrote perfectly and succinctly for the LATimes about who this book was written for and published for, “...this book was not written for people like me, for immigrants. It was written for everyone else — to enchant them, take them on a wild border-crossing ride, make them feel all fuzzy inside about the immigrant plight.”
In short, what this book is not... factual, authentic, helpful, well-written. What this book is...a two bit suspenseful thriller, cheap telenovela.
I won't tell you what to read or not read. Some of you will read it even if I say SAVE YOUR TIME AND MONEY AND PLEASE DON'T. But if you do decide to read it let me BEG of you to please read others as well. Please read authors that have been living these stories, writing about these stories, and fighting to be heard for many, too many, years.
How many of you have HEARD of or READ works of the following authors?
Tomás Rivera
Gloria Anzaldúa
Oscar Zeta Acosta
Americo Paredes
Rodolfo “Corky” Gonzales
Ernesto Galarza
Elena Poniatowska
Cherríe Moraga
Luis Alberto Urrea
Ana Castillo
How many of you have STUDIED the following authors? How many of you have read at least just one single piece of their work or at the very least an EXCERPT of these authors' work? These are just some authors that have been writing about border life, the immigrant experience, and the rich and complex Mexican American life. They have been around and writing for a while now so why haven't they been offered the big money deal from the big publishing houses?! Because, as the deal makers have always used as an excuse, “those authors don't sell” or “those stories don't sell.” Have you tried? Hmmm, let me guess why this story is selling now?
Readers have a part to play in this too. Read and demand from publishers authentic stories and authors. Don't read, or read, this piece of crap if you want but now that you KNOW BETTER, DO BETTER, and read some, or ALL, of true, authentic authors writing true, authentic immigrant stories too!