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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, Dementia, Grief, and Death of parent
_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: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Xenophobia, and Grief
biblio_jordyn's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
📚Book Review📚
Infinite Country follows a Colombian family torn apart and fractured by deportation. This story starts with Elena and Mauro when they meet and fall in love in Colombia, a country plagued with violence, their trip to the US with their daughter, their two US born children being delivered, their precarious position as they fall into undocumented status, Mauro’s deportation and Elena’s hard choice to send one of her children back to Colombia to be cared for by her mother to ease some of her burdens being without Mauro in the US, and everything after that. This story is told from the FIVE perspectives of the family.
This is a book, the more time I spend away from it, the more I appreciate how important it is.
This book gives a voice to these people, several in fact. You get to hear from the parents and the children, giving a unique perspective to the struggles and the culture of this community.
This book is less than 200 pages, but leaves a lasting impression. My heart hurt for this family and these people. The discrimination, prejudice, and hard choices they constantly have to make made me want hug them.
I will say, this book felt like a U. It packed a punch in the beginning, felt like it got a little egh in the middle and packed another punch the last third of the book, I wish it was more captivating the whole read but that may have been the perspective changes and me connecting to some characters more than others.
However, I’m so glad I read it. It felt very real. The fear, the sadness, the love, the constant conflicting emotions of these families felt real. What they experienced was real, I could see real families, the ones who have been torn apart by their loved ones in this book.
This book was a kaleidoscope, so many moving pieces and unclear at first but a perfect image created at the end.
Infinite Country follows a Colombian family torn apart and fractured by deportation. This story starts with Elena and Mauro when they meet and fall in love in Colombia, a country plagued with violence, their trip to the US with their daughter, their two US born children being delivered, their precarious position as they fall into undocumented status, Mauro’s deportation and Elena’s hard choice to send one of her children back to Colombia to be cared for by her mother to ease some of her burdens being without Mauro in the US, and everything after that. This story is told from the FIVE perspectives of the family.
This is a book, the more time I spend away from it, the more I appreciate how important it is.
This book gives a voice to these people, several in fact. You get to hear from the parents and the children, giving a unique perspective to the struggles and the culture of this community.
This book is less than 200 pages, but leaves a lasting impression. My heart hurt for this family and these people. The discrimination, prejudice, and hard choices they constantly have to make made me want hug them.
I will say, this book felt like a U. It packed a punch in the beginning, felt like it got a little egh in the middle and packed another punch the last third of the book, I wish it was more captivating the whole read but that may have been the perspective changes and me connecting to some characters more than others.
However, I’m so glad I read it. It felt very real. The fear, the sadness, the love, the constant conflicting emotions of these families felt real. What they experienced was real, I could see real families, the ones who have been torn apart by their loved ones in this book.
This book was a kaleidoscope, so many moving pieces and unclear at first but a perfect image created at the end.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Death, Racial slurs, Racism, and Rape
Moderate: Alcoholism and Violence
megabooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Rape