Book Review:The Book of the Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquez/Novel-Fiction

Hello dear Readers,

I had an awesome long Labor Day weekend Camping at the Yellowstone National Park. I did not read as much as I wanted neither write. However, while camping and going places we could see many people looking at all the beautiful things this place offers. This weekend in particular, we saw a lot, a lot Oriental and Indian people which made me think of all the diversity of people living in the United States. You can literally see all kinds of people in one place because there were also German people, Mexican people, I was there, a costarican girl. We also met this girl from Bulgaria, she is working in one of the restaurants we had lunch one day. She is going back to Bulgaria next month. Don't you think is amazing to be able to be around all this massive cultural experience.  I was very happy. I wish I could speak their language and talk to them.

After the first time we saw all this people from Indian and which we think was Japan or Korea, I remembered of my recent reading, The Book of the Unknown Americans.

Title: The Book of the Unknown Americans
Author: Cristina Henríquez
Genre: Novel/Fiction
Publisher: Knopf, First Edition June 3, 2014)
Language: English
Hardcover: 304 Pages

Book Description

When fifteen-year-old Maribel Rivera sustains a terrible injury, the Riveras leave behind a comfortable life in Mexico and risk everything to come to the United States so that Maribel can have the care she needs. Once they arrive, it’s not long before Maribel attracts the attention of Mayor Toro, the son of one of their new neighbors, who sees a kindred spirit in this beautiful, damaged outsider. Their love story sets in motion events that will have profound repercussions for everyone involved. Here Henríquez seamlessly interweaves the story of these star-crossed lovers, and of the Rivera and Toro families, with the testimonials of men and women who have come to the United States from all over Latin America. The Book of Unknown Americans is a stunning novel of hopes and dreams, guilt and love—a book that offers a resonant new definition of what it means to be Americans.

My thoughts
*I gave 5/5 stars on Goodreads

The reason why I read the book was because it was on the list of book recommendations I use to check to pick books when I do not know what to read next and again, I am glad I read it.

I enjoyed and liked this book a lot. I related to the characters in a way that I know how does it feel to come to America and have a life here. The reasons and the circumstances why people come to this country can be different but one thing I think is the same for everybody is the fact that you are coming to the greatest country in the world. You want to see everything, experience all the things you used to watch on TV back home. Go to Disneyland, have a Starbucks drink, go to New York, see how a dishwasher works. Can be anything you can imagine.

For some people, like it happened to a few characters in the book, coming to America was a way to escape from their lives in their countries. They wanted a better life, they wanted to see their dreams in life coming true and they knew if they stayed in their countries that was not going to happen. For some of them, their dreams came true, for others, their lives turned out to be completely different of what they expected, however, just the fact to try to come to America, in the conditions they did, for me, it makes them human. Pursue what you love, what you want in life. This may be a fiction book but the situations described on it are not. They are things that happen everyday, everyday millions of people try to come to the United States, like I said before, for different reasons. This book reminded me of how lucky I am to be here. My country will be always my home, like the book says, I will always love it but I am lucky that people do not ignore me or do not pretend that I do not exist here. This book reminded me of how we need to remember everyday to treat others good, to be nice, to love each other, no matter where you are from, to help other people whenever you can. Like this book says, the characters were not unknown because they were illegal or didn't have the documents but because people didn't want to know them.



Wen

Book Review:The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian by Sherman Alexie/Young Adult

Hello dear Readers,

I am so behind on my blog. I apologize for that. But have to say, I have read some amazing books lately and want to share my review of one in particular. It was one of those books that I did not want it to end.

Have to confess, I got the book a couple of months ago but it was not until one week ago that I finally read it.

Title: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian

Author: Sherman Alexie
Genre: YA

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; Reprint Edition (April 1, 2009)

Language: English

Paperback: 229 Pages

Book Description

Bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.

Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by Ellen Forney that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live

My thoughts
*I gave 5/5 stars on Goodreads

One day I was watching the local News Channel and they were talking about this book and why the School District needed to check and consider if the book was going to be included in the Reading List. Parents and people at school were concerned because of the explicit vocabulary used by the Author in some of the chapters, which I completely understand because you as a parent are always concerned about what your children are learning in school, what they are doing, etc. If I had a child I would be too. However, after I read the book, I can say that the vocabulary and the situations described are not as bad as what other really bad stuff our kids see on TV nowadays or the Internet. The author talks about situations (and I do not mention those here so I do not spoil the ones who have not read the book) that are completely normal and that happen in really life. Personally, I think the author talks about the reality of these situations in a funny way and is not offensive.

They also mentioned on the news that day that our local library was going to give free copies of the book. I decided to go and get one. That is how I ended up going. I was happy to go to the local bookstore which I love to get some other books and that one. At the end, I am glad I did because The Absolutely True Diary of a Part Time Indian is one of the best book I have read in my entire life (that is how awesome it was for me). I actually read the book in one day. Once I started, I could not stop. Made me laugh, made me happy because the main character, Junior, goes through really difficult times, its like his life is destined to be one way, the way everybody else expects it to be but he is determined to have a better life, a different life. He knows people do not like him but he does not let that to ruin his life. He has a tremendous sense of humor and that is the main reason why I love the book. He faces all these terrible situations but I never felt sorry for him or sad, he made me laugh.

I definitely recommend this book. It teaches about friendship, about not giving up on our dreams, it teaches about life and how we can either let the bad things break us or use those in order to be better people. The rest on this book, is real life things, can we learn from a character on a book? Yes, we can. I did.

Wen