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cantfindmybookmark's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
4.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Deportation
knkoch's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
I read this for a local book club focused on race and own-voices writing on various BIPOC experiences in the US. This is such a well-made book and I’m glad it was selected.
Javier Zamora writes here of his journey from El Salvador to the US, and as a white American whose citizenship has never been front of mind, I really needed to read this account. Zamora was born the same year I was and made this trek at age 9, so it was uncomfortably easy to think back on myself at the same age, during the same era, and attempt to place my child-self in his shoes.
I liked that Zamora wrote from the perspective of his childhood mindset during the journey, as it fully embedded me in his experience. It must have been challenging, both in terms of the trauma he had to relive and the difficulty in recounting so much detail. He travels unaccompanied by relatives, but his relationships with the people in his group are moving and provide a sense of the adult experience, too.
This was dramatic without exaggeration, painful, visceral, unforgettable, and yet something untold thousands of people have gone through and are still going through. Truly a book everyone (especially US citizens) should bear witness to, and the kind of account that should foster deep, human empathy for an experience too often flattened into an impersonal political conflict.
Javier Zamora writes here of his journey from El Salvador to the US, and as a white American whose citizenship has never been front of mind, I really needed to read this account. Zamora was born the same year I was and made this trek at age 9, so it was uncomfortably easy to think back on myself at the same age, during the same era, and attempt to place my child-self in his shoes.
I liked that Zamora wrote from the perspective of his childhood mindset during the journey, as it fully embedded me in his experience. It must have been challenging, both in terms of the trauma he had to relive and the difficulty in recounting so much detail. He travels unaccompanied by relatives, but his relationships with the people in his group are moving and provide a sense of the adult experience, too.
This was dramatic without exaggeration, painful, visceral, unforgettable, and yet something untold thousands of people have gone through and are still going through. Truly a book everyone (especially US citizens) should bear witness to, and the kind of account that should foster deep, human empathy for an experience too often flattened into an impersonal political conflict.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Forced institutionalization, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
Moderate: Xenophobia, Excrement, and Sexual harassment
This is a migrant story, with brutal travels through the desert. Medical trauma/children suffering:caseythereader's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Racism, Xenophobia, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Grief, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
simplythegirl's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
4.5
If you'd like an authentic story about an immigrant's journey crossing the border than this book is it! There are similar books out there that are all just trauma p*rn but Javier Zamora really encompasses the beauty along with the hardship that he endured on his journey. His perspective of a kid also makes the whole thing very heartwrenching cute heartwarming and scary at the same time. There was a sense of community and a sense of loss but also victory when he reaches the USA. It's such a touching and sweet story but also very nerve-wracking and scary because of the stakes. I absolutely loved this book. This is super relatable in terms of culture for me even though I never went through what the author did the culture is what we share so that was really fun. There's also some sweet and light humor that flows pretty nicely. The book definitely explores the importance of family and what it means to be a family. If you are not a spanish speaker I would definitely keep a piece of paper and make a key for the spanish words because they come up a lot. I'm a Spanish speaker so it wasn't something I dealt with but others may. It definitely is worth a read.
there is some cursing, violence, guns, blood, vomit, other bodily fluids, and abuse so read with caution.
there is some cursing, violence, guns, blood, vomit, other bodily fluids, and abuse so read with caution.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Racism, Vomit, War, and Deportation
Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Gun violence, Blood, and Alcohol
Minor: Body shaming, Child abuse, and Death
librabby's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Abandonment, Colonisation, and Deportation
leweylibrary's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
tense
slow-paced
5.0
THIS is the book that someone wanting to understand what it's like to migrate from South or Central America should read rather than American Dirt.
While I do wish I would've gotten a bit more from Javier's adult perspective--that last chapter had me SOBBING--this was still such a powerful and important book. Javier, a poet, has such an incredible voice and apparently an incredible memory because holy cow remembering things with this level of detail so many years later. I also wish we would've gotten to experience more of his reunion with his parents!! That's the part that you're waiting for the whole time and then all you get are two shadows and a small reflection from 2021 on what it was like to see them. I also think I might have enjoyed the physical book more because I do not know enough Spanish for the Spanish and Spanglish parts to be very clear to me audibly 😅
While I do wish I would've gotten a bit more from Javier's adult perspective--that last chapter had me SOBBING--this was still such a powerful and important book. Javier, a poet, has such an incredible voice and apparently an incredible memory because holy cow remembering things with this level of detail so many years later. I also wish we would've gotten to experience more of his reunion with his parents!! That's the part that you're waiting for the whole time and then all you get are two shadows and a small reflection from 2021 on what it was like to see them. I also think I might have enjoyed the physical book more because I do not know enough Spanish for the Spanish and Spanglish parts to be very clear to me audibly 😅
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Excrement, and Deportation
savvylit's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
4.75
This entire memoir is told through Zamora's perspective as a nine-year-old child. The covert border crossings that he must make become even more harrowing when viewed through his young eyes. Javier is so often powerless due to his age - he has to trust that the coyotes will do as they say and take him across borders safely. He has to trust the other folks in his group of migrantes to advocate for him. Javier wavers between feeling pure joy at the thought of reuniting with his parents and total exhaustion and fear due to the journey's length and extreme conditions. His youth is evident on every page - his fear of using the toilet alone, his watching a lizard he calls Paula, his naming of dangerous cacti as "fuzzies" or "spikies." It's incredibly devastating to experience Javier's sweet naivete in juxtaposition with the constant danger.
However, Solito is so much more than a harrowing tale of a dangerous journey. It's also a testament to found families and the kindness of others. As the journey progresses, Javier becomes close with a mother and daughter, Patricia & Carla, and their friend Chino. Chino and Patricia end up helping Javier every step of the way as surrogate parents. They make sure that Javier has food and water, they keep him warm, they tie his shoes, they escort him when it's time to bathe so he won't be alone... The love that the four of them develop for one another and the ways that they support each other throughout Solito is spectacular and deeply moving.
Ultimately, Solito is perhaps one of the most gut-wrenching and difficult memoirs that I have ever read. Again, any retelling of a journey even slightly similar to Javier's would be an emotional read. But seeing the world through his nine-year-old eyes is what really makes this story unforgettable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Deportation
100_pages_hr's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Cursing, Excrement, Abandonment, and Deportation
kshertz's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
I can’t say enough good things about this book. This story is so raw and true. The journey is so brutal for such a small child. The trauma and the pain is felt on the page. This author puts it all out there and I am grateful. It allows me to share with my students what kids their age are going through and continue to go through. For some of them, they can also feel less alone reading this book. I want every teen to know this authors name and story so they can be a generation that doesn’t allow for false rhetoric to persist around those coming across fake borders. Amazing book. Have everyone you know read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Death, Racism, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Cultural appropriation, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation
lettuce_read's review against another edition
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Excrement, Vomit, and Deportation
Moderate: Body shaming