American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

By Special Guest Reviewer Adele Powell (R.M.) (R.N.)

This story pulls you in from the very first dramatic scene. We meet Lydia and her 8 year old son Luca as they are hiding from the Mexican Cartel ‘Los Jardineros’. We quickly find out the cartel has murdered 16 of their family members and Lydia is wise to the fact that the cartel will not stop until they kill her and her son too.

However, the reason for this is kept hidden from the reader, ensuring a page-turner story! The story documents Lydia and Luca’s treacherous journey running from the cartel, from Acapulco to the US border. I have never heard or read very much about a refugee’s journey to the US border, so this was a complete eye opener! 

We learn about the perils that can easily befall a refugee on this journey such as, drug trafficking, sexual assault, and murder. We also learn how easily accidental death can occurby falling off ‘La Bestia’, the infamous freight train network that refugees and immigrants travel on by literally jumping on the moving train and hauling themselves to the roof. This risk being preferable to dying of thirst whilst walking miles through the desert. 

There are a couple of key elements I personally took away after reading this story. 

Firstly, it highlighted that any person could find themselves in the position of desperation, seeking a better life. Lydia begins the story as a middle-class bookshop owner, but tragic circumstances change her life immediately and she finds herself a refugee.

It’s interesting to read Lydia’s thoughts about this dramatic transition as, like most people, she’d heard about immigrants and refugees in a transient way, on the news in the background or an attention-grabbing headline. She never fully imagined herself in that position, believing herself impervious to this fate.

Secondly it also brought to life the very real terrifying journey of survival that millions of people are part of every day. One particular quote completely sums up the desperation of a refugee at the US border ‘She spits through the fence. Only to leave a piece of herself there on the American dirt’.

Written during the Trump presidency this story also highlights how utterly heartless it is to dismiss a refugee’s traumatic experience or indeed exacerbate it by detention and family separation at the US border. 

There is some controversy surrounding this book, as many readers have felt that the story is cultural appropriation as Cummins is not a refugee or immigrant and is also not Mexican. Personally, I feel that this book is written appropriately as Cummins had completed 5 years of research prior to writing and it is also a fiction book, it does not proclaim to be documentation ofa real-life journey or person. It gives the reader a small insight into the perilous journey of a refugee, and hopefully increases empathy and understating in the reader. 

Overall, I highly recommend this book. The story is equal parts tragic and gripping. Cummins’ excellent description ensures you feel like you are journeying through the unforgiving landscape with Lydia and Luca. The reader also finds themselves trying to decide which people to trust and which to treat with suspicion, a testament to Cummins cleverly written characters. 

Although full of heartbreak and edge of your seat moments, Cummins also subtly weaves in acts of kindness, emotion catching the reader off guard. It is a story so beautifully written you will be moved.