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brittishliterature's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Dementia, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, and Sexual assault
Moderate: Bullying and Suicidal thoughts
happiestwhenreading's review against another edition
emotional
informative
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
This book moved me to tears! Literally, I was sobbing (not just slow tears running down my face!). Something about the way Engel writes is so impactful that it emotionally destroyed me. I’ve read books that make me sad and that I reflect on for a long time, but few books have made me feel so deeply that it felt like it was truly happening to me and my family.
Infinite Country is about a family split between two countries: the United States and Columbia. Mauro and Elena decide to travel to America in seach of a better life, but when Mauro is deported, Elena is left to figure out how to care for her three children. She makes the heartwrenching decision to send the baby back to Columbia to be raised by her mother and Mauro because it’s impossible to find childcare for a baby while she works to make money to keep her family afloat.
When the baby, now fifteen years old, decides she wants to go back to her mother and siblings in America, Mauro is left behind. He doesn’t begrudge his daughter’s desires to go, but where does it leave him? Sadly, this is a situation many families are way too familiar with, and the way Engel writes about it ripped my heart out. It’s important to read stories like this because it’s quite simple for us “documented” Americans to take this life and country for granted. When we have no fear of being deported or torn away from our families, it’s easy to turn a blind eye to the intricacies of immigration policy in this country.
If you’d like other book suggestions about trying to make a life in America as an “undocumented” person, I’d also recommend The Affairs of the Falcóns (read my thoughts here) and The Undocumented Americans (read my thoughts here).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racism and Sexual assault
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death of parent, Dementia, and Grief
bafine's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
I'm writing my review of <i>Infinite Country</i> with tears wet on my cheeks.
This is a feat of descriptive and lyrical prose, intricate multiple viewpoint story-telling, trauma, and love. I am both heartbroken and heart-warmed. In a mere 191 pages I experienced culture, love, loss, desperation, shame, strength, and triumph.
<blockquote>p.32 In Houston, Mauro worked with many men who'd investigated the southern borderlands by foot, some four or five times. ...Still, they returned, even as the journey became harder, the hazards more vicious, <b>convinced this land offered more than theirs had already taken from them.</b></blockquote>
I don't wish to belabor on the subject, but please, <u>if you have not yet read a now famous book of migrant stories written by a white woman, remove it from your list and replace it with this one.</u> I have now read both and I can tell you that not only does this book tell the story of immigration from an actual Latinx dual-citizen daughter of immigrants, but it is much better written.
<i>Infinite Country</i> is rich with Andean folklore and wildlife. In my mind I could envision the streets of Bogotá and flew with the condors high above treetops. I got lost in Engel's beautiful myths of how humans came to be.
<blockquote>p.95 Traditional Knowledge maintained that the first race of humans was extinguished by the gods because of their cannibalism. A second generation of humans transformed into the animals that inhabit the earth. The third race of humans was created anew by the gods, formed from clay. We are only soil and water baked in the sun to dry, ...Is it any wonder we are so fragile and destined to break?</blockquote>
When I read about the way we treat immigrants and their families in America, I always feel so broken. We call ourselves a melting pot, <i>"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore"</i> but we turn away anyone who doesn't look or speak like us. <i>Infinite Country</i> is a love letter to immigrants and to the earth. Animals and fault lines do not create borders--humans do.
I hope to see this book popping up in book clubs around the country and world. I am so grateful that this was my Book of the Month pick on early release. I recommend this book to everyone, but especially fellow white Americans. We have so much work to do.
This is a feat of descriptive and lyrical prose, intricate multiple viewpoint story-telling, trauma, and love. I am both heartbroken and heart-warmed. In a mere 191 pages I experienced culture, love, loss, desperation, shame, strength, and triumph.
<blockquote>p.32 In Houston, Mauro worked with many men who'd investigated the southern borderlands by foot, some four or five times. ...Still, they returned, even as the journey became harder, the hazards more vicious, <b>convinced this land offered more than theirs had already taken from them.</b></blockquote>
I don't wish to belabor on the subject, but please, <u>if you have not yet read a now famous book of migrant stories written by a white woman, remove it from your list and replace it with this one.</u> I have now read both and I can tell you that not only does this book tell the story of immigration from an actual Latinx dual-citizen daughter of immigrants, but it is much better written.
<i>Infinite Country</i> is rich with Andean folklore and wildlife. In my mind I could envision the streets of Bogotá and flew with the condors high above treetops. I got lost in Engel's beautiful myths of how humans came to be.
<blockquote>p.95 Traditional Knowledge maintained that the first race of humans was extinguished by the gods because of their cannibalism. A second generation of humans transformed into the animals that inhabit the earth. The third race of humans was created anew by the gods, formed from clay. We are only soil and water baked in the sun to dry, ...Is it any wonder we are so fragile and destined to break?</blockquote>
When I read about the way we treat immigrants and their families in America, I always feel so broken. We call ourselves a melting pot, <i>"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore"</i> but we turn away anyone who doesn't look or speak like us. <i>Infinite Country</i> is a love letter to immigrants and to the earth. Animals and fault lines do not create borders--humans do.
I hope to see this book popping up in book clubs around the country and world. I am so grateful that this was my Book of the Month pick on early release. I recommend this book to everyone, but especially fellow white Americans. We have so much work to do.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape, Sexual assault, Alcoholism, Death, Terminal illness, and Grief
Minor: Suicidal thoughts
_lia_reads_'s review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Xenophobia, Sexual assault, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Terminal illness, Grief, Bullying, and Alcoholism
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