My Name Is Iris
A Novel
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3.0 • 2 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
“Brilliant.” —The Washington Post * “Nuanced and compelling.” —The New York Times
From the PEN/Hemingway Award–winning author of The Madonnas of Echo Park, an engrossing dystopian novel set in a near-future America where mandatory identification wristbands turn second-generation immigrants into second-class citizens—“a well-imagined allegory of divisive racial politics” (Kirkus Reviews).
Iris Prince is starting over. After years of drifting apart, she and her husband are going through a surprisingly drama-free divorce. She’s moved to a new house in a new neighborhood, and has plans for gardening, coffee clubs, and spending more time with her nine-year-old daughter Melanie. It feels like her life is finally exactly what she wants it to be.
Then, one beautiful morning, she looks outside her kitchen window—and sees that a wall has appeared in her front yard overnight. Where did it come from? What does it mean? And why does it seem to keep growing?
Meanwhile, a Silicon Valley startup has launched a high-tech wrist wearable called “the Band.” Pitched as a convenient, eco-friendly tool to help track local utilities and replace driver’s licenses and IDs, the Band is available only to those who can prove parental citizenship.
Suddenly, Iris, a proud second-generation Mexican American, is now of “unverifiable origin,” unable to prove who she is, or where she, and her undocumented loved ones, belong. Amid a climate of fear and hate-fueled violence, Iris must confront how far she'll go to protect what matters to her most.
“Part social commentary and part thoughtful consideration of themes that include family, identity, transitions, perspectives, and hope” (Shelf Awareness), My Name Is Iris is an all-too-possible story that offers a brilliant and timely look at one woman’s journey to discover who she can’t—and can—be.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This astutely observed if uneven speculative outing from Skyhorse (The Madonnas of Echo Park) follows a second-generation Mexican American woman's search for belonging. Recently divorced Iris Prince, the daughter of Mexican immigrants who prize hard work above all else, finds a seemingly perfect suburban home for herself and her nine-year-old daughter, Melanie, somewhere in the Southwest. One morning, they notice a wall has appeared in their front yard overnight. No one else seems to notice, despite its changing size and appearance, except for the ghost of a childhood friend who was killed in a mass shooting at a McDonald's. Iris covets a new bracelet that is used for shopping and identification, but is ineligible because her parents were born in Mexico. When the devices become mandatory for drivers and in the workplace, her desperation pushes her to take unimaginable steps. Though the denouement is a bit implausible, Skyhorse is often witty in his portrayal of modern American excess and surveillance. A scene in a high-end grocery store echoes Don DeLillo's White Noise, as Iris revels in the "hypnotizing experience" of promise offered by the expensive goods. Despite an overwrought plot, this satire has plenty of bite.
Customer Reviews
Hard to say
The author says that he wrote the Spanish sections so non-Spanish speaking people could understand. Not true. Long passages without enough context. Frustrating. And the ending? Well, see for yourself.