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kdahlo's review against another edition
5.0
Really brilliant and unusual work. It's journalism, but with a very honest revealing of the way the author's life becomes intermingled with her subjects. It's also a memoir of a remarkable person surviving in an unjust society. It's both of those things shuffled together and hidden inside eachother. It contained several stories that I'm really glad I learned about - like the stories undocumented workers in New York who helped respond to 9/11 and Hurricane Sandy. It's sometimes emotionally difficult, but the writing is fast-paced and conversational. It's got great flow, great imagery, great juxtapositions and gut-punches. Overall a great work.
annas26's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.75
jasminesworld's review against another edition
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
fast-paced
4.5
there is a lot i appreciate about this book. its rating is mostly a reflection of the brutal honesty in how the stories of the author and people they interviewed. i could say more but i do find the lower rated reviews interesting i just feel the need to comment. i hate using these terms but people don’t seem culturally competent and/or lack nuance to understand why certain statements get written. its especially interesting how some white people let their fragility impact how they receive this book.
i definitely dont expect this book to be perfect for everyone or absent of criticism – but i do question the source doing the critique.
i think it maybe easier to have a better experience if you listen to the audiobook, and there are some comments or statements that the author does mean/believe but at the same time i can tell they know isnt true. its hard to phrase, i am not the same background of the author but it definitely is a racialize immigrant child understanding.
i definitely dont expect this book to be perfect for everyone or absent of criticism – but i do question the source doing the critique.
i think it maybe easier to have a better experience if you listen to the audiobook, and there are some comments or statements that the author does mean/believe but at the same time i can tell they know isnt true. its hard to phrase, i am not the same background of the author but it definitely is a racialize immigrant child understanding.
susieheartzu's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
4.5
teddytr19's review against another edition
5.0
Honest and raw account of those who are most often forgotten, neglected, mistreated, and misrepresented in our society. Will be adding this to my personal library.
rebecanunez's review against another edition
5.0
Es una historia que conozco. Tal vez no soy de un país caribeño, pero como latinoamericana es la historia de muchas personas, de muchas familias que conozco. Si será relevante leer libros como este, informarnos de estas realidades. Me sorprende que no haya más impulso para este libro.
literarycrushes's review against another edition
4.0
Karla Cornejo Villavicencio’s striking collection of vignettes follows the lives of undocumented immigrants who make up the backbone of a country that does not care for them. Karla herself is an undocumented American – one of the first to graduate from Harvard – and the book is a work of very personal, creative non-fiction. She weaves a beautiful narrative of her own turbulent experience growing up in Queens, the child of two Ecuadorian immigrants, with many heart wrenching stories of immigrant lives in Staten Island, Flint, Miami and more.
The most striking segment of the book was her interviews with immigrants who worked as part of the 9/11 clean-up crew. Many of them did so without pay or benefits and have been denied health care for the illnesses they suffered as a direct result, ten and twenty years later. Or the undocumented delivery boys (Karla’s father becomes a delivery boy as a result of losing his job as a taxi driver post-9/11 when the country put a ban on giving drivers licenses to undocumented people) who perished without a trace in the towers because restaurant owners would not claim them as employees for fear of being fined by the government. My only minor issue with the book was the author’s insertion of self at odd times that felt disjointed and detracted from the stories she was telling.
This book gave power to the stories of a group who has been continually dehumanized by the government, especially in the last four years. I recommend this book to everyone as well as looking further into supporting the non-profits she mentions that work to help undocumented immigrants get legal and medical aide.
The most striking segment of the book was her interviews with immigrants who worked as part of the 9/11 clean-up crew. Many of them did so without pay or benefits and have been denied health care for the illnesses they suffered as a direct result, ten and twenty years later. Or the undocumented delivery boys (Karla’s father becomes a delivery boy as a result of losing his job as a taxi driver post-9/11 when the country put a ban on giving drivers licenses to undocumented people) who perished without a trace in the towers because restaurant owners would not claim them as employees for fear of being fined by the government. My only minor issue with the book was the author’s insertion of self at odd times that felt disjointed and detracted from the stories she was telling.
This book gave power to the stories of a group who has been continually dehumanized by the government, especially in the last four years. I recommend this book to everyone as well as looking further into supporting the non-profits she mentions that work to help undocumented immigrants get legal and medical aide.