American Dirt

Author: Jeanine Cummins

Who Picked the Book: Amberly

One-sentence summary: A woman and her son must run for their lives from Acapulco to the United States to escape the head of a cartel who killed their entire family. 

B.A.D. Girls Book Rating: 8

Our favorite thing about it: The writing was fantastic.

Our least favorite thing about it: The heartbreaking nature of the story and the fact that it's at least partially true for so many people. 

Main Topics of Discussion: Humanity, Violence, Survival, Moral Dilemmas, Retribution

Our favorite quote: "Lydia is dubious at first, but if you can’t trust a librarian, who can you trust?"

Notes: We all enjoyed this book so much and all rated it very high - and that despite the fact that this story is brutal. And that we know it's a similar and true story to so many migrants. Even so, this book was beautiful for it's stark, but incredible writing. Nothing was held back, but it was told so beautifully. It was not an easy story to read (especially in times like these), but it was an amazing book. 

Here are some of the things we discussed:

The whole journey was about how much of your humanity would remain vs. just simply surviving at all costs. Who would each migrant be when they reached the end of their journey?

We thought it interesting that the author made the deliberate choice to have Lydia have a friendship with Javier. It gave her an insight into his mind and also served to make her pain greater in a way. It also humanized Javier to the extent that's possible. 

We talked about the "missionary dilemma." Would we have sent migrants with innocent teens to cross a cartel-monitored check point? We also talked about the implications the author made about the teens attitudes toward the environment and the Mexican people. The push/pull between the husband and wife (especially considering where they were both from) was interesting - as was the subtle change in the relationship between Lydia and the wife after the wife objected to helping them. 

When paying for the girls' release with the very last of their money, we all acknowledged that Lydia was trying to be the person she believed herself to be. And that her son already thought she was. To not do so would have violated her sense of self. 

We found it so interesting and insightful the way the author showed how Javier - and types like him - are so bent on what they perceive as retribution for wrongs done to them, when it's really their own actions that led to the consequences they experience. They simply cannot face their complicity. Javier's daughter's death was a direct result of her revulsion of her father. But instead of facing that, he turned outward and blamed Sebastian for revealing his true nature to his daughter. 

We discussed why Javier might not have wanted to kill Lydia. And why that statement toward the end of the book when they're on the phone together ("if I'd wanted you dead, you would be.") was so true and interesting. What did he want from her? Why pursue her, then? 

Overall, we found a lot to discuss and a lot to appreciate about this heartbreaking story. 

Memorable Meeting Moments: Both Stephanie and Lindsay were able to attend this meeting! 

What We Ate: Amberly made us the most delicious chicken and beef tacos with guacamole, spicy jalapeno dip, Spanish rice, Mexican pastries, chocolate cake and ice cream PLUS sangria and margaritas.