American Dirt is a brutal, violent, and necessary novel. Author Jeanine Cummins holds nothing back as she pulls the reader into the suffering and anguish that propels countless migrants to make the dangerous journey. A padre’s convocation to a group of them at one point encapsulate these dangers:
“If there’s any other place for you to go...go there now...If it’s only a better life you seek, seek it elsewhere...this path is only for people who have no choice, no other option, only violence and misery behind you...everything is working against you, to thwart you. Some of you will fall from the trains. Many will be maimed or injured. Many will die. Many, many of you will be kidnapped, tortured, trafficked, or ransomed. Some will be lucky enough to survive all of that and make it as far as Estados Unidos only to experience the privilege of dying alone in the desert beneath the sun, abandoned by a corrupt coyote, or shot by a narco who doesn’t like the look of you. Every single of you will be robbed. Every one. If you make it El Norte, you will arrive penniless, that’s a guarantee.”
Cummins wisely avoids the political and instead lets her narrative urge (force?) the reader to consider the migrant as an actual person instead of a statistic or political talking point. Depending on your political leanings this may make this story either a very challenging or vindicating read. Either way it’s one that you won’t forget.
See our 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 Reading Lists.
Key Quotes and Takeaways:
53 She tugs on the ribbon, which gives way and falls to the floor at her bare feet. Her body feels like an arrow that’s been launched from its bow but hasn’t yet found its target. She’s suspended, arcing, accountable to the laws of gravity. Lydia opens a package from Javier, her once friend and now murderer of her family
74 Instead, his consciousness, like a helium balloon fastened to his person by some taut and fragile string, momentarily floats away. Luca mentally removes himself from the trauma as his mother talks to a family friend as they try to escape Javier.
90 “Now that the thing had been spoken between them and confirmed to be true, all that was left for Lydia was autopsy. What love had been there was already slipping away.” Javier reveals who he is to Lydia.
111 “defined not so much by what she’s made of, but more by the shapes of what she’s missing.” Lydia contemplates her identity in the wake of losing nearly everything.
183 “because of the way beauty begets empathy…” the advantages of beauty.
199 The shared solidarity of the migrants is their mutual suffering, their anguish. Some share it openly, others keep it bottled up like a bomb waiting to detonate.
202 “If there’s any other place for you to go...go there now...If it’s only a better life you seek, seek it elsewhere...this path is only for people who have no choice, no other option, only violence and misery behind you...everything is working against you, to thwart you. Some of you will fall from the trains. Many will be maimed or injured. Many will die. Many, many of you will be kidnapped, tortured, trafficked, or ransomed. Some will be lucky enough to survive all of that and make it as far as Estados Unidos only to experience the privilege of dying alone in the desert beneath the sun, abandoned by a corrupt coyote, or shot by a narco who doesn’t like the look of you. Every single of you will be robbed. Every one. If you make it el norte, you will arrive penniless, that’s a guarantee.
307 Some migrants do the trip every trip multiple times a year because that’s where the work is.
See our 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015 and 2014 Reading Lists.
Key Quotes and Takeaways:
53 She tugs on the ribbon, which gives way and falls to the floor at her bare feet. Her body feels like an arrow that’s been launched from its bow but hasn’t yet found its target. She’s suspended, arcing, accountable to the laws of gravity. Lydia opens a package from Javier, her once friend and now murderer of her family
74 Instead, his consciousness, like a helium balloon fastened to his person by some taut and fragile string, momentarily floats away. Luca mentally removes himself from the trauma as his mother talks to a family friend as they try to escape Javier.
90 “Now that the thing had been spoken between them and confirmed to be true, all that was left for Lydia was autopsy. What love had been there was already slipping away.” Javier reveals who he is to Lydia.
111 “defined not so much by what she’s made of, but more by the shapes of what she’s missing.” Lydia contemplates her identity in the wake of losing nearly everything.
183 “because of the way beauty begets empathy…” the advantages of beauty.
199 The shared solidarity of the migrants is their mutual suffering, their anguish. Some share it openly, others keep it bottled up like a bomb waiting to detonate.
202 “If there’s any other place for you to go...go there now...If it’s only a better life you seek, seek it elsewhere...this path is only for people who have no choice, no other option, only violence and misery behind you...everything is working against you, to thwart you. Some of you will fall from the trains. Many will be maimed or injured. Many will die. Many, many of you will be kidnapped, tortured, trafficked, or ransomed. Some will be lucky enough to survive all of that and make it as far as Estados Unidos only to experience the privilege of dying alone in the desert beneath the sun, abandoned by a corrupt coyote, or shot by a narco who doesn’t like the look of you. Every single of you will be robbed. Every one. If you make it el norte, you will arrive penniless, that’s a guarantee.
307 Some migrants do the trip every trip multiple times a year because that’s where the work is.
