“It seemed to Mauro that in choosing to emigrate, we are the ones trafficking ourselves.”
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When I saw that Patricia Engle had a new book coming out, I knew I had to scoop it up right away. I really loved her last book The Veins of the Ocean because it was raw and intense.
Infinite Country is similar, it tells the story of a family between Colombia and the United States. The stories which is perspectives back-and-forth between two generations, telling the impact of life choices on a pair of parents and their three children.
A young couple with their daughter travels to the US on a 6 month authorization to escape the violence and poverty of their lives in Colombia. They live in poverty in the US sending money home and their intention to return begins to change. The worst situation in America still seems better than the alternative. They go on to have two more children before the husband is caught and deported. Since their youngest is an American citizen, the choice is made for her to go back to Colombia. We see the impact of these choices and being a family stuck apart in two different worlds.
The narrative illustrates the way immigrants are taken advantage of financially, physically and ethically. I was amazed at the countless ways Elena and her children suffered at the hands of white Americans. This includes horrible questions and comments that are made when those who claim to be helping make when they have no idea the truth.
It’s a story that’s equally complicated, devastating, hopeful and altogether plausible. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
What’s the best immigration story you’ve ever read? Help me add to my TBR!
~ Dana
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This was an incredible depiction of one family’s situation, I loved the way it moved from Mauro to Elena and Talia, sharing parts of their journey and story and how their circumstance came about. I was so fearful of their continued separation throughout and was so relieved that the author spared us that endless pain, given the experience of so many in similar situations. And the tug of home, those stories, myths, roots, we are left not really knowing which is the better way, just observing and feeling deeply their situation, the struggle inherent in all of it.
The best immigration story I’ve read? So many good ones, but Every Light in the House Burning by Andrea Levy was excellent.
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