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chazmo1431's review against another edition
2.0
Reads like a textbook or like someone describing a math equation. Clinical!
I found The Devils Highway nearly impossible to slog through. Not to make light of the level of human suffering the author was attempting to expose but I found it repetitive and exasperating. The author felt it necessary to wallow in the details and belabor the point by taking each individual involved and describe their role in the account or suffering separately and in meticulous detail. I wanted to shout at the author “I got it already” now get on with the story or as my daughter in law is fond of saying “WTMI” (Way too much information)
I found The Devils Highway nearly impossible to slog through. Not to make light of the level of human suffering the author was attempting to expose but I found it repetitive and exasperating. The author felt it necessary to wallow in the details and belabor the point by taking each individual involved and describe their role in the account or suffering separately and in meticulous detail. I wanted to shout at the author “I got it already” now get on with the story or as my daughter in law is fond of saying “WTMI” (Way too much information)
tracithomas's review against another edition
5.0
Wow! A devastating story written with so much compassion and depth. Poetic. Smart. Haunting. This book is great.
lesleynr's review against another edition
3.0
This was a good book, an important book, but I think Jon Krakauer would have written a better book. For a story meant to humanize the tragedy of our border policies, the victims and survivors remained somehow anonymous. The narrative of their desert journey was hard to follow. Who went where, with whom? When? How many were there? How long did it take?
The point is well made, however, that this senseless death happens every single day in the desert of our border lands. Maybe not to 26 (or 14) people all at once. One at a time is bad enough.
The point is well made, however, that this senseless death happens every single day in the desert of our border lands. Maybe not to 26 (or 14) people all at once. One at a time is bad enough.
persnickety_9's review against another edition
3.0
This book is intense and horrifying as it detailed an incident I knew nothing about. 3.5 stars because the writing style was a bit too much at times.
sicilianlemons's review against another edition
1.0
DNF.
Having just read Lonesome Dove, at first I felt drawn to the thematics of this book. However, the writing style is so distant and clinically descriptive that my mind kept drifting away and I had to force my attention back towards the text. I had flashbacks of House of Leaves which I also couldn't get through.
Following the (main?) events that seemed interesting was impossible, because the author constantly moves away from them to tell more about the desert, the highway, a warlock or whatever and jumps back and forth through time rapidly changing perspectives while doing this. He also seems to assume I know the geography, casually mentioning multiple places, mountains and roads in one sentence - but I don't. It's just confusing. Where Lonesome Dove powerfully connects the reader to the characters, there is nothing to care about in this book.
Having just read Lonesome Dove, at first I felt drawn to the thematics of this book. However, the writing style is so distant and clinically descriptive that my mind kept drifting away and I had to force my attention back towards the text. I had flashbacks of House of Leaves which I also couldn't get through.
Following the (main?) events that seemed interesting was impossible, because the author constantly moves away from them to tell more about the desert, the highway, a warlock or whatever and jumps back and forth through time rapidly changing perspectives while doing this. He also seems to assume I know the geography, casually mentioning multiple places, mountains and roads in one sentence - but I don't. It's just confusing. Where Lonesome Dove powerfully connects the reader to the characters, there is nothing to care about in this book.
amb3rlina's review against another edition
4.0
A beautiful little book that really humanizes the issues at the border on both sides. The amount of research he must have done seems incredible. I have enjoyed his fiction so much, it was great to try his non-fiction as well.
What I loved:
His writing style is very engaging and beautiful even though it is informative non-fiction. I loved exploring the men involved as fully human characters.
What I learned:
A lot about the perspectives on both sides of the border. I think Urrea did a great job of staying impartial and showing the issues that all of the different parties deal with. I unfortunately also learned a lot about what it means to die of sun exposure and dehydration. Harrowing.
I love the very opening paragraph:
What I loved:
His writing style is very engaging and beautiful even though it is informative non-fiction. I loved exploring the men involved as fully human characters.
What I learned:
A lot about the perspectives on both sides of the border. I think Urrea did a great job of staying impartial and showing the issues that all of the different parties deal with. I unfortunately also learned a lot about what it means to die of sun exposure and dehydration. Harrowing.
I love the very opening paragraph:
Five men stumbled out of the mountain pass so sunstruck that they didn't know their own names, couldn't remember where they'd come from, had forgotten how long they'd been lost... They were burned nearly black, their lips huge and cracking, what paltry drool still available to them spuming from their mouths in a salty foam as they walked. Their eyes were cloudy with dust, almost too dry to blink up a tear. Their hair was hard and stiffened by old sweat, standing in crowns from their scalps, old sweat because their bodies were no longer sweating. They were drunk from having their brains baked in the pan, they were seeing God and devils, and they were dizzy from drinking their own urine, the poisons clogging their systems.
natcatsbookishcafe's review against another edition
(I don't rate my non-fiction books)
Listened to audiobook.
This story was at time very hard to listen to. What happened to these men was tragic and most importantly, preventable. Which makes this whole situation even more harrowing. I liked how the author didn't blame individual people or even groups, but rather he put the blame on the systems of government that rule on either side of the boarder. This problem is so much bigger than boarder control, immigrants, or even cayotes and this book shows that.
I liked that we saw why people cross, how they are convinced to cross with a cayote, how the boarder control works, and also how the process of transporting "illegals" into the country works. It really gave you a good summary of the whole process. I also thought that the descriptions of the men's time in the desert was so well done, that I almost began to feel a bit woozy from heat (I was reading this around the time of a heat wave and often listened to it at the gym)
What really made the story for me was the writing. I thought it was so beautiful. The beautiful writing contrasted so well with the ugly truth of what happens on The Devils Highway.
Listened to audiobook.
This story was at time very hard to listen to. What happened to these men was tragic and most importantly, preventable. Which makes this whole situation even more harrowing. I liked how the author didn't blame individual people or even groups, but rather he put the blame on the systems of government that rule on either side of the boarder. This problem is so much bigger than boarder control, immigrants, or even cayotes and this book shows that.
I liked that we saw why people cross, how they are convinced to cross with a cayote, how the boarder control works, and also how the process of transporting "illegals" into the country works. It really gave you a good summary of the whole process. I also thought that the descriptions of the men's time in the desert was so well done, that I almost began to feel a bit woozy from heat (I was reading this around the time of a heat wave and often listened to it at the gym)
What really made the story for me was the writing. I thought it was so beautiful. The beautiful writing contrasted so well with the ugly truth of what happens on The Devils Highway.
sofieelise's review against another edition
5.0
I loved this book. The content is challenging but it is poetic and humanizing of all parties in struggling with immigration on our southern border. Spoiler alert: in the ten years since this book was written, everything and nothing has changed. I would also suggest reading the more recently published editions with the afterword.
notesonbookmarks's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. This was intense and brutal and revelatory. And it's still happening and has gotten worse