American Dirt (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel Hardcover – January 21, 2020

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins is an incredibly moving and powerful novel. With that said, it’s a strange time to be reading a novel about migrants coming to the US in today’s time. The story about Lydia and her son running from a Mexican drug cartel after they killed her entire family is very moving and you feel heartbreak for them. Throughout the book the telling of how they made it from Acapulco to the US is very moving and terrifying. I don’t know how anyone would be able to do that. The story is so emotional and heartbreaking and brings you up and down in feelings with everything they go through. I know I couldn’t do it and I know it’s a book but I also believe there are people going through this to try to get to the US. All that aside, the writing was very good with very good written characters.

Jeanine Cummins' American Dirt is a haunting, heart-racing journey that follows Lydia and her son, Luca, as they flee cartel violence in Mexico. Forced from a comfortable life in Acapulco, they face unimaginable dangers on a desperate trek to the U.S., bringing readers face-to-face with the harrowing realities of migration. Cummins’ storytelling is unflinching, blending suspense and compassion in every page. Her characters feel achingly real, their resilience both inspiring and heartbreaking. With vivid prose, Cummins captures the chaos of La Bestia, the unforgiving desert, and the constant fear that looms over Lydia and Luca’s journey.While sparking conversations on representation, American Dirt undeniably sheds light on the plight of those forced to migrate, offering a lens into the courage it takes to seek a better life. This novel is essential reading—gripping, eye-opening, and ultimately a testament to the strength of a mother’s love.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Jeanine Cummins is greatly disturbed over the controversy surrounding her new novel, “American Dirt.” The main point of contention is, I believe, that a white woman could write such an invasive opinion piece about Latino immigrants when she has no actual experience in their actual hardships. For the most part, from what I read, is that Latin American critics are the most vociferous. They seem to feel underrepresented in the literary publishing field. Having a white woman with no background in their plight gather so much positive attention seems to be galling and, as a result, they are speaking out against Cummins’ honest attempt at bringing the current situation to light. Cummins, of course, doesn’t agree with all this BS, and continues to cash her checksHer story goes that Lydia Quixano Perez owns a bookstore in in the Mexican City of Acapulco (even the author’s choice of a name for her lead character gets scoffs). Her life is mostly successful and profitable. A new customer, Javier, a highly educated young man, immediately charms Lydia, with his love for books, especially those that are also favorites of hers. His visits are more and more frequent, their talks about the books over coffee become more intimate, and it soon become apparent there is a romantic spark developing. Eventually Lydia discovers that Javier is the chief of a vicious local drug cartel that has taken over the entire city. Lydia’s husband, a prominent investigative journalist also learns of the cartel involvement and writes a tell-all news piece that greatly upsets the drug lord, who promptly initiates a kill order to be performed at an outdoor party on Lydia’s family and 21 of her closest relatives, including her mother and father, husband some siblings and grandparents, aunts and uncles. Lydia and 8-year-old son Luca are the only survivors and, knowing that Javier intends to kill them also, the paire are transformed into migrants heading for “el norte” and safety. Their hasty departure and desperate flight forces them to join thousands of others also running from something, that journey forming the main content of Cummins’ story.I believed it is an honest attempt at trying to acquaint the reader with today’s news accounts of the immigration rush to America’s borders. I thought it was well-written, well-researched and accurately depicted and that’s where I found myself at odds with more famous critics. That’s where you, as a reader, come into the picture. You will have to be the final word in this controversy. As it’s going now, the readers seem to be in favor of Cummins’ version of her story. That’s probably the correct view. Writers can write about anything they want. The final work is the most significant indicator as to how well they did or didn’t do. Personally, I feel that the author was very successful at producing what she intended. Her research filled in the blanks where her intimate knowledge faltered and for those of us who know no differently, it was an entertaining and riveting read. The lapses being criticized are too esoteric for most of us.So, my recommendation is to buy and read this book, enjoy it for the story it tells, and don’t try to read too much into the “unqualified writer” brouhaha. The story is riveting.Schuyler T WallaceAuthor of TIN LIZARD TALES

This book was engaging from start to finish. It begins with the horrific setting of a family massacre; committed during a birthday celebration at the home of Lydia and Sebastian. Lydia and her eight-year-old son, Luca, were the sole survivors. They hid themselves in a bathtub while listening in terror as gunshots rang out in the front yard, where family were barbequing chicken. Fifteen people were killed, including Lydia’s mother and her husband, Sebastian.There wasn’t time to grieve, or to make funeral arrangements for the victims. Lydia’s focus was on her and her son Luca’s safety. They left their home in Acapulco with utmost haste and urgency. Their destination was El Norte. Early in their journey, Lydia recollects the events which led to her family being targeted for annihilation. Her husband, Sebastian, was a journalist. He wrote an article profiling Acapulco’s new drug cartel potentate, a man she knew as Javier. She had met Javier when he entered her bookstore. They became friends, sharing an interest in poetry. She could not have imagined, in her wildest dreams, that this seemingly kind and cultured man, was head of a drug cartel. She could not have foreseen that the article Sebastian wrote would be read by Javier’s beloved daughter, Marta, who was away at college. Devastated by the news of her father’s nefarious deeds, Marta hung herself in her dorm room, provoking the vengeful wrath of Javier. So, along their perilous journey, Lydia had to watch her back, and keep a vigilant eye for potential sicarios employed by Javier.Cummins provides a searing description of Lydia and Luca’s trek to El Norte; a journey entailing fifty-three days and 2,645 miles from the site of the massacre. She gives the reader a poignant depiction of the people Lydia and Luca encounter along the way, beautifully illuminating their shared humanity. Cummins skillfully encapsulates the varied circumstances which led ‘El migra’ to leave their homes and family members. Some were escaping the tyranny of cartels. Some were avoiding becoming sex slaves. Some had been deported, and are now seeking a return to El Norte, and to a life offering an opportunity to earn a living, as modest and unassuming as that may be. A Ph.D. candidate was a deportee who joined Lydia’s group late in their journey.American Dirt is a must read. The gritty, intricate plot will keep you engrossed. The breadth and depth of the characters will enlighten and broaden an empathetic sensibility. It’s ending, culminating on American soil, will pull at the heartstrings.