The Book of Unknown Americans – 4/5 stars I liked this book a lot and I really thought I was going to….well not not like it, but find it mediocre or something like that. I am not sure why I thought this, and well, I should probably explore that and really don’t want to at the same time. The book is told from many voices; almost all recent, first, or second generation immigrants from Mexico and Latin America. The voices range in scope and circumstance, […]
Read it because it will make you sad and angry
This is a short novel that reads very quickly, but at a certain point, when you realize a tragedy is in the offing, it might slow you down. I dreaded finding out what was going to happen to characters whom I liked so much. The Book of Unknown Americans focuses on immigrant families living in the same apartment complex in Wilmington, Delaware. Henriquez allows each family or individual to speak for themselves in each chapter, and so the reader learns about the diversity within. They […]
An insightful take on the American Dream
(This post originally appeared on Persephone Magazine.) Cristina Henríquez’s newly published The Book of Unknown Americans, is not about immigrants’ relationship to white people. Ideally, this would not be unusual in a novel, but in a literary landscape that is still struggling with diversity, it’s refreshing to read her insightful take on the American Dream. And what is the “American Dream,” anyway? Different economic classes might answer in specific ways, but at the root of every response is the wish, “Can life be a little […]