The Warmth of Other Suns

A mixed bag. Wilkerson had me completely hooked on p. 12, talking about her parents, their migration story and the wonder it instilled in her. Her storytelling brings the book to life, following the paths of three real people who we come to deeply care about. These arcs, effectively presented in three parallel timelines, are moving and humbling and inspiring.

Unfortunately, like so many books these days, it suffers from poor editing. It's far too long, with unnecessary repetition: we don't need to have a full recap of material she introduced thirty pages ago, she doesn't have to spell out “Ray's wife, Della Bea” three times in two pages. And as captivating as she is in her storytelling, I found the writing tedious and opaque in the (blessedly infrequent) didactic portions. She seems hung up on finding a greater meaning in the Migration, trying to defend it through a sociological lens, but I never understood what she thinks needs defending: migration is as human as breathing. To me – a migrant from a disadvantaged country – the wonder isn't the migrants, it's those who remained. But that's a different book.

The migrants Wilkerson follows left hellish conditions worse than anything you or I have ever experienced, some with unrealistic dreams of finding utopias, others simply with a hope for better opportunities. All of them found the latter, with new problems and suffering, and it was a beautiful experience to read and learn how each of them made the best of those. Wilkerson shines when conveying the joys and disappointments and feelings of these three amazing lives. I think I'm going to carry these stories with me for a long time.