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caitlinhume's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 rounded up. Start was a bit slower than I’d like but the last 40% is incredible.
jansbookcorner's review against another edition
3.0
I have mixed feelings about this one. There was definitely no perfect ending to this story, which I knew would be the case. I feel like this story tugged a little too hard on emotions at times at the cost of neglecting some of the details. At the same time, it is a story that leaves the reader thinking about not only immigration, but also about what is the best thing for a child.
enby's review against another edition
4.0
soli being mexican felt too safe of a choice. idk how to explain it, like… lazy might sound harsh bc the author did say she did a lot of research but still. anyway 4 stars purely for how easy it was to read and for all the characters’ internalizing (i love a good look into people’s minds bc i myself am stuck in mine all the time and it’s great rep every time this happens in a novel lmao)
kshea1's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
5.0
waynediane's review against another edition
4.0
I really enjoyed this book. It could be that it takes place in the Bay Area, familiarity. However, I thought the story was good and realistic. Immigration issues, adoption, and entitlement. All relevant to the present time. I'm not sure I could give it a 5 but definitely a 4.5.
reikista's review against another edition
4.0
This is the story of Solimar Castro Valdez as she makes her way to the US from Oaxaca, and also the story of Kavya and Rishi Reddy, who live in Berkeley and have a loving marriage, but yearn for child. It’s the story of living as an undocumented person in the US, and the story of living as the children of Indian immigrants and being compared to the children of their friends. It’s the story of loving a baby boy, and of who gets to parent him. The writing was good, the relationships complex, and I thouroughly enjoyed the book.
eudijo's review against another edition
5.0
The urgency and hypervigilance of the main characters were contagious. Very pressing topic, which made this all the more intriguing to read.
rac653's review against another edition
I started out liking this book and by the end I was just annoyed. I have to say, even though this is a decently long book, I found it very readable and compelling, and I breezed through it. My issues with it were how Kavya vs Soli were portrayed. I read reviews saying that the author was "obviously pro-birth mother" but I didn't find that to be accurate at all. It was very odd to me that the author chose to delve so deep into Kavya and Rishi's lives, and barely even scratch the surface of Soli's. For example, Kavya gets a fully fleshed out mom, a childhood, memories, opinionated coworkers, a husband with his own POV, and so on. Soli gets....trauma. She does not elaborate on why she would want to risk her life to leave her hometown, does not elaborate on her childhood, does not experience (in my opinion) the same range of emotions that Kavya does. It's just trauma after trauma, and even that she doesn't elaborate on very much. I was so confused why none of the people in Soli's life got to have a perspective like Rishi did. I would have loved to hear Silvia's perspective or even Mrs. Cassidy. What was the POINT of Rishi's "clean air" story line? Also you're honestly going to tell me he broke into Soli's parent's house in the middle of the night, got caught, and left without a scratch? There were so many inaccuracies and things that didn't make sense in this book, even though in the acknowledgements it seems that the author did a lot of research.
This book seems geared toward people who have never given two shits about immigrants or stopped to think about what they go through to come to this country. If you have literally never once had empathy for an immigrant or for children being separated from their families at the border, this book is for you. You will get a tiny, half baked glimpse into what it's like to have your child taken from you. But you will really end up just feeling bad for the American woman who decided he should legally be her child because "they could give him a better life."
Also, this storyline was almost exactly the same as the storyline from Little Fires Everywhere, which was odd because they came out in the same year. And you know what's crazy? Neither of them did a good job at portraying the birth mother as a real, dynamic, dimensional human being and instead used them to create tension and a moral dilemma for the reader. I hope to find a book that actually portrays the immigrant experience and motherhood in a way that does not make her compete with the American woman pining for a baby of her own.
This book seems geared toward people who have never given two shits about immigrants or stopped to think about what they go through to come to this country. If you have literally never once had empathy for an immigrant or for children being separated from their families at the border, this book is for you. You will get a tiny, half baked glimpse into what it's like to have your child taken from you. But you will really end up just feeling bad for the American woman who decided he should legally be her child because "they could give him a better life."
Also, this storyline was almost exactly the same as the storyline from Little Fires Everywhere, which was odd because they came out in the same year. And you know what's crazy? Neither of them did a good job at portraying the birth mother as a real, dynamic, dimensional human being and instead used them to create tension and a moral dilemma for the reader. I hope to find a book that actually portrays the immigrant experience and motherhood in a way that does not make her compete with the American woman pining for a baby of her own.