American Dirt (Oprah's Book Club)
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4.4 • 1.1K Ratings
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- $24.99
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- $24.99
Publisher Description
#1 New York Times Bestseller
OPRAH’S BOOK CLUB PICK
“Extraordinary.”—Stephen King
“This book is not simply the great American novel; it’s the great novel of las Americas. It’s the great world novel! This is the international story of our times. Masterful.”—Sandra Cisneros
También de este lado hay sueños. On this side too, there are dreams.
Lydia Quixano Pérez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable.
Even though she knows they’ll never sell, Lydia stocks some of her all-time favorite books in her store. And then one day a man enters the shop to browse and comes up to the register with a few books he would like to buy—two of them her favorites. Javier is erudite. He is charming. And, unbeknownst to Lydia, he is the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city. When Lydia’s husband’s tell-all profile of Javier is published, none of their lives will ever be the same.
Forced to flee, Lydia and eight-year-old Luca soon find themselves miles and worlds away from their comfortable middle-class existence. Instantly transformed into migrants, Lydia and Luca ride la bestia—trains that make their way north toward the United States, which is the only place Javier’s reach doesn’t extend. As they join the countless people trying to reach el norte, Lydia soon sees that everyone is running from something. But what exactly are they running to?
American Dirt will leave listeners utterly changed. It is a literary achievement filled with poignancy, drama, and humanity. It is one of the most important books for our times.
Already being hailed as "a Grapes of Wrath for our times" and "a new American classic," Jeanine Cummins's American Dirt is a rare exploration into the inner hearts of people willing to sacrifice everything for a glimmer of hope.
"Narrator Yareli Arizmendi illuminates the humanity and individuality of Latin American migrants as they flee toward refuge in the North..The account of Lydia and Luca's travails, including terrifying rides atop Mexico's freight trains, is utterly compelling. But it is Arizmendi's voicing of Lydia, so full of fierce tenderness, that will stay with listeners after the story's close."—AudioFile Magazine
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Oprah calls her new book club pick “a novel not just for our times, but for this moment in our times.” American Dirt is an emotional and unrelenting look at the terrors of modern life and the ways in which family and love can save us. After Lydia Pérez’s life is flipped upside down, she and her young son, Luca, flee cartel-terrorized Acapulco for the presumably safer climes of the United States—beyond the long reach of their enemies. Actress Yareli Arizmendi (Like Water for Chocolate) brings gravity and vigor to Lydia’s harrowing journey, evoking the moments of dread and wonder that mark mother and son’s new life on the run. She channels her characters’ pain, loss, and dreams, making us fully invested in their 2,000-mile journey into the unknown. American Dirt is a timely, gut-wrenching tale that evokes the struggles and hopes behind the headlines about migrants and border crossings.
Customer Reviews
American Dirt
This is a heartbreaking story of what the lives of migrants, seeking a better life in the US, must go through, and what they are subjected to, in their plight to flee violence and find freedom. So many have reached this country only to be sought out, captured, and sent back to face certain death. This is a wonderful story of unimaginable hope and physical endurance. Though this is a tale of fiction, these people are very real and need to be honored, rather than despised, by many in this country.
It’s just bad.
Truama porn for white women.
Exhausting
All the hubbub of cultural appropriation aside, the story is clunky, and the author leaves no room for interpretation, nothing subtle. Most things are obvious, and then the meaning clarified, so you’re told exactly how to feel.
It’s a great and interesting story ruined by an awful writing style and lack of freedom to interpret meaning.