Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario

Non-Fiction. Immigration. 

Read as part of my Border Immersion trip. 

Pages: 187

Started: December 2023

Finished: 28 February 2023

Summary:

   When Enrique was five, his mother left Honduras and migrated to the US, crossing the border illegally and working to send money back to her mother, who was taking care of little Enrique. But growing up with that feeling of abandonment propelled Enrique into a childhood of drugs and desperation, eventually motivating him to embark on his own perilous journey to meet his mother in America.  Enrique's Journey is a non-fiction book that describes the immigration journey of one young boy while also offering insightful perspectives on immigration to the US on a national scale

Thoughts: 

    This book obviously had so much care and effort put into it. So many people were interviewed, so many places were explored, so many risks were taken, for Nazario to be able to create such an impressively complete picture of the horrors of migration. Many fascinating perspectives were given, and the horrors of the migration process were not shied away from. I admittedly have some moral qualms about the author's approach to actually trying experiences like riding the train La Bestia, but this book was inarguably an intelligent and compassionate look at the complications of migration.     

    The only problem? I hated the writing. It was so objective it was almost soulless, heartless. Descriptions were perfunctory at best, meaning this wasn't nearly the immersive and empathetic experience it could have been. 

    But regardless, this was an important book to read and I'm glad I finally made it all the way through.