Finished reading Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario over my lunch break today. I found the book to be a very insightful read. The general premise of the book is pretty simple - it details the decisions of members of one family to leave their native Honduras for the United States. Specifically, it tells the story of one mother who leaves when her youngest son is 5, and that son's subsequent decision to leave for the United States as a teenager to find his mom. While the mother sent money back home, and talked on the phone, the boy, Enrique, wished to see his mother and so he left.
The book details the harrowing journey Enrique must face to reach his mom. The violence he encounters once into Mexico, dealing both with gangs and the police. The inherent danger that is faced by riding on tops of trains to travel the entire length of Mexico. The multiple failed attempts, the multiple injuries incurred, and the eventual success of his journey. Along the way the author, Nazario, provides many other stories from other children traveling on tops of trains to reach their parents in the United States, as well as stories of various groups that seek to assist these children in their journeys. Nazario also provides stories about what happens to the families left back home, the children, babies, wives, husbands, mothers, aunts, etc. She paints a vivid picture of the situations these people face, and how it underlies their decisions to pursue such a dangerous, and emotionally painful, journey.
The book is consistently powerful regarding everything that surrounds these events because nothing is sugar coated. The difficulty of the journey, the physical injuries that occur, the raw emotion that the journeys invoke on every side, the struggles by family left behind and by those who felt they had to leave, and the struggle for reconciliation to occur among all those involved. A great book, deeply insightful, and while it may not change anyone's politics regarding immigration, I definitely think its an eye opening read on the subject, dispelling a lot of myths, and will lead to great empathy and understanding among those involved in the immigration debate.
The book details the harrowing journey Enrique must face to reach his mom. The violence he encounters once into Mexico, dealing both with gangs and the police. The inherent danger that is faced by riding on tops of trains to travel the entire length of Mexico. The multiple failed attempts, the multiple injuries incurred, and the eventual success of his journey. Along the way the author, Nazario, provides many other stories from other children traveling on tops of trains to reach their parents in the United States, as well as stories of various groups that seek to assist these children in their journeys. Nazario also provides stories about what happens to the families left back home, the children, babies, wives, husbands, mothers, aunts, etc. She paints a vivid picture of the situations these people face, and how it underlies their decisions to pursue such a dangerous, and emotionally painful, journey.
The book is consistently powerful regarding everything that surrounds these events because nothing is sugar coated. The difficulty of the journey, the physical injuries that occur, the raw emotion that the journeys invoke on every side, the struggles by family left behind and by those who felt they had to leave, and the struggle for reconciliation to occur among all those involved. A great book, deeply insightful, and while it may not change anyone's politics regarding immigration, I definitely think its an eye opening read on the subject, dispelling a lot of myths, and will lead to great empathy and understanding among those involved in the immigration debate.
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