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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
This is a strong story about a woman facing hardships in her small Mexican village. She immigrates to the United States in search of the truth of what happened to her family. Unfortunately, the author has made this the story of two women and the marketing material is about how these women's lives intersect in surprising ways. It doesn't work. The "surprise" is obvious a million miles away and is completely unnecessary and distracting. The story itself stands on its own and doesn't need a gimmick.
A very sad story about two girls wanting their fathers. Really good so far just can't seem to put it down.
Across a hundred mountains is an emotional and compelling story about two young women trying to survive through life. Juana Garcia and Adelina Vasquez are two women trapped by their circumstances in life. I love the way that Reyna Grande brings together the two stories of these women throughout the book jumping back and forth between each of the women. This book was incredibly powerful and very emotional – from the very first chapter it pulls you into the story and fully makes you fall for the characters that Reyna Grande has created. The imagery she includes throughout the novel makes it easy to visualize the lives of each of these women and to start to piece together how their stories may be interconnected. The other character in this book that stood out to me was Juana’s mother – Dona Lupe. In this book we see the transition of her life and how each event changes the woman she is until she is almost unrecognizable. It is her story that stayed with me the most as I was going through this book and reminded me of the saying my great-grandmother used to say, “There is no such thing as bad people, there are only people and moments and you better pray to God that he does not place you in bad moments.” Dona Lupe reminds us that there is a breaking point – and that when we see those we find easy to judge we must remember that we do not know the full story and had we lived through it ourselves we may have ended up in a worse position. I appreciate Reyna Grande for writing this incredibly moving story that covers so many aspects of the stories of immigrant women that often go ignored. (Im)migration is not only the journey north but all of the injustices that lead people to make the decision to leave everything they know and try for a better life en el Norte.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
My favourite part of this book was the language. Grande has deft control over telling a story with simple, effective, unobtrusive language. It's an easy read, despite very heavy content. Juana is an emotionally compelling character, as is her mother, albeit in a different way. You can't help but wish that the world would let up on her, and indeed, at times it feels like the book is laying on the misery a little thick.
You can't really talk about the ultimate impression of this book without talking about its "twist" so SPOILERS:
My experience with the Fight Club-esque twist is that it took me... maybe about 2-3 Adelina chapters to figure out that there was something screwy going on with her identity. I had two competing theories: either a) Adelina was Juana, or b) at some point, Juana died with Adelina in her debt, so Adelina takes up her quest to find her father. It was too convenient, otherwise, why two characters would be searching for the same thing with such a lopsided share of attention given to Juana over Adelina. An odd turning point was when Adelina meets not-Miguel, the TBI sufferer, which honestly still doesn't really make sense to me. Yes, it's possible that a man with the same name and similar memories would exist, but the first time I read it, I assumed that Adelina was lying and choosing to let her father move on. Alternatively, both of my running feelings were wrong and Adelina had run into Juana's dad without knowing who he was. If I had been Grande's editor, I would have removed this encounter, as I think it's the weakest element any way you slice it.
You can't really talk about the ultimate impression of this book without talking about its "twist" so SPOILERS:
I honestly really loved this book. I thought it was so gripping. I couldn’t put it down. It reminded me of a telenovela (mexican soap opera) but in book form. I loved the drama and the way the story was told. I zoomed through this book, I honestly wanted more. I was always on the edge of my seat and loved every aspect of it. I really loved it. I have no words.
challenging
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes