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4.54 AVERAGE
4.54 AVERAGE
such a sad, harrowing tale of immigration. the ending made me cry. i would encouraged everyone to read this but its so brutal
dark
emotional
inspiring
emotional
tense
⭐️4.5
A friend started her review acknowledging the difficulty of rating a memoir because it is someone's very real, important story. And I feel similarly. I think this book is important and I definitely suggest everyone reads it to humanize and make real the experience of people migrating to the U.S. The imagery was consistently solid and heightened the connection to the story. I struggled around 70% of the way in to stay engaged but the ending really hooked me and phew it packed a punch.
I listened to the poem he dedicated to Chino and I encourage anyone, whether you've read the book or not, to listen to his poem. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/90978/second-attempt-crossing
A friend started her review acknowledging the difficulty of rating a memoir because it is someone's very real, important story. And I feel similarly. I think this book is important and I definitely suggest everyone reads it to humanize and make real the experience of people migrating to the U.S. The imagery was consistently solid and heightened the connection to the story. I struggled around 70% of the way in to stay engaged but the ending really hooked me and phew it packed a punch.
I listened to the poem he dedicated to Chino and I encourage anyone, whether you've read the book or not, to listen to his poem. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/90978/second-attempt-crossing
I sometimes love books that are objectively not good but they’re enjoyable to read. I found this book to be the opposite. The story itself is incredible and you can feel the emotions of 9 year old Javier as you read it. I gave it 3 stars because it personally felt too redundant at times and honestly boring. It’s obviously not a boring plot itself, but it felt about 30% longer than it needed to be. Some of the details that would go for pages didn’t feel like they added anything to the story itself and could have been conveyed in half the pages. I found myself wanting to know what happens next but not being excited to keep reading because the pacing was too slow (again, the writing not the pacing of the actual events). I also personally found it sometimes difficult to keep up with the amount of untranslated Spanish in the book. It is, of course, his first language and the language the story is meant to be told in, but it did feel like a hindrance to frequently have to look up Spanish phrases that my high school level could not keep up with. All of this said, I would recommend it (particularly to people fluent in English and Spanish) and think it would be a great book to use in any high school education for a true immigrant experience.
A harrowing story about immigration. Our immigration system is criminal what it makes kids go through to be reunited with their parents. Thanks for telling it.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
A modern day classic. There is no doubt in my mind that this memoir will become required reading in schools. Zamora perfectly captures the voice of his childhood self which amplifies the reader's heartbreak as we follow him on his perilous journey. Great stuff.
emotional
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
Intensely described, poignant in the extreme peppered with Spanish/El Savadorian expressions and comments.