American Dirt

 

Jeanine Cummins' American Dirt is one of the most controversial, hyped books of our time. People seemed to either love it or hate it. I had it on my list but felt that I'd need a good reason to actually pick it up to read it. I'm not sure if I wrote about being invited to participate in my old book club. Since they're meeting via zoom, being in Florida is no reason why I can't participate in their NJ book club meeting!

I requested the book from the library. The wait was pretty long. So long that there was a good chance that I wouldn't get it in time. I decided that if I got it before the book club meeting, I'd read it. If I got it after, I probably wouldn't. Book came with plenty of time to read it. I finished it the day before the meeting. And then I had a scheduling conflict. For the past year, I've been sitting here doing practically nothing - and on the afternoon of this particular book club meeting, I had a scheduling conflict???? Quite disappointing.

In case you are unfamiliar with the book, it's the story of Lydia and her nearly 9-year old son, Luca. One day they were part of a happy family living in Acapulco. Lydia was the owner of a small bookstore, her husband, Sebastian, was a journalist, and Luca was just an awkward kid. Then everything changed. Sebastian was killed, as were 15 other members of Lydia's family, and Lydia and Luca were on the run from the local cartel. The story follows their trek to el Norte, the United States. 

Much of the controversy about this book is that while Cummins is Latina, she's not Mexican and she was never a migrant. Is it possible to right a good, fair story about someone that you're not? Even if you do lots of research? Even if you have people who might be more culturally attuned as pre-publication readers? I'm really not sure where I sit on this controversy.

I can only assume that much of what Cummins wrote about the migrants is close to being accurate. Perhaps that's naïve of me. I now have a better idea of what the migrant houses along the way might be like. How the migrants traveled. What the last part of the journey might be like. For me, for right now, it's close enough. To me, the power of the story was in the strength that a mother can find within herself to save her child.

What was especially eye-opening, too, was thinking about a middle class mother and her son fleeing. They were heading toward the unknown because they knew how frightening not fleeing would be. As an "American" (hmm, aren't Mexicans and Hondurans and and and... Americans, too?) I often wondered what would make a person risk making the journey. These aren't people seeking a better life. They are people running for their lives. (Which then made me wonder about my relatives leaving the Ukraine in the times of the pogroms. Is this how they felt?)

The novel left me with more questions than answers which is why I'm really sorry that I missed yesterday's book club meeting. I will have to find someone with whom I can discuss this book.