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shelbynuck's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
An essay about youth migrating to the United States from Latin America and the 40 questions they’re asked when seeking citizenship/asylum.
Sharp and Biting are the best descriptors for this essay. A must read.
“The priority juvenile docket, in sum, was the government's coldest, cruelest possible answer to the arrival of refugee children. Ethically, that answer was more than questionable. In legal terms, it was a kind of backdoor escape route to avoid dealing with an impending reality suddenly knocking at the country's front doors.”
“Its urgent that we begin talking about the drug war as a hemispheric war, at least one that begins in the Great Lakes of the northern United States and ends in the mountains of Celaque in southern Honduras.”
Words Matter.
“children caught while crossing illegally, laws that permit their deportation, children who come from the poor and violent towns. In short: barbarians who deserve subhuman treatment.”
Sharp and Biting are the best descriptors for this essay. A must read.
“The priority juvenile docket, in sum, was the government's coldest, cruelest possible answer to the arrival of refugee children. Ethically, that answer was more than questionable. In legal terms, it was a kind of backdoor escape route to avoid dealing with an impending reality suddenly knocking at the country's front doors.”
“Its urgent that we begin talking about the drug war as a hemispheric war, at least one that begins in the Great Lakes of the northern United States and ends in the mountains of Celaque in southern Honduras.”
Words Matter.
“children caught while crossing illegally, laws that permit their deportation, children who come from the poor and violent towns. In short: barbarians who deserve subhuman treatment.”
liambossant's review against another edition
informative
sad
fast-paced
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Deportation, Racism, Trafficking, and Violence
gvstyris's review against another edition
challenging
informative
medium-paced
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Gun violence, Violence, and Deportation
Minor: Trafficking
readingthroughinfinity's review against another edition
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
alicebm's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
cruzsuzanne's review against another edition
4.0
A heartbreaking read about the plight of refugee children in America.
"Other times, the answers point to push factors—the unthinkable circumstances the children are fleeing: extreme violence, persecution and coercion by gangs, mental and physical abuse, forced labor, neglect, abandonment. It is not even the American Dream that they pursue, but rather the more modest aspiration to wake up from the nightmare into which they were born."
"From the beginning, the crisis was viewed as an institutional hindrance, a problem that Homeland Security was “suffering” and that Congress and immigration judges had to solve. Few narratives have made the effort to turn things around and understand the crisis from the point of view of the children involved. The political response to the crisis, therefore, has always centered on one question, which is more or less: What do we do with all these children now? Or, in blunter terms: How do we get rid of them or dissuade them from coming?"
"Why did you come to the United States? we ask. They might ask a similar question: Why did we risk our lives to come to this country? Why did they come when, as if in some circular nightmare, they arrive at new schools, in their new neighborhoods, and find there the very things they were running from?"
No child deserves to live this kind of life.
"Other times, the answers point to push factors—the unthinkable circumstances the children are fleeing: extreme violence, persecution and coercion by gangs, mental and physical abuse, forced labor, neglect, abandonment. It is not even the American Dream that they pursue, but rather the more modest aspiration to wake up from the nightmare into which they were born."
"From the beginning, the crisis was viewed as an institutional hindrance, a problem that Homeland Security was “suffering” and that Congress and immigration judges had to solve. Few narratives have made the effort to turn things around and understand the crisis from the point of view of the children involved. The political response to the crisis, therefore, has always centered on one question, which is more or less: What do we do with all these children now? Or, in blunter terms: How do we get rid of them or dissuade them from coming?"
"Why did you come to the United States? we ask. They might ask a similar question: Why did we risk our lives to come to this country? Why did they come when, as if in some circular nightmare, they arrive at new schools, in their new neighborhoods, and find there the very things they were running from?"
No child deserves to live this kind of life.
brbcrying's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
4.25
lizaroo71's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
4.0
When anyone enters the country without documentation, they are asked a series of questions. Luiselli volunteers as an interpreter for unaccompanied minors when they have to answer these questions.
This is definitely profound and complex. This isn’t an easy issue, but anything that looks to label and divide skews complicated. My hope is that people find compassion, but I am keenly aware of the times in which I live.
The title refers to Luiselli’s daughter asking her to tell her how a story ends when she recounts a day’s work. The difficult part is not knowing where the story ends. That makes for heartbreaking moments.
This is definitely profound and complex. This isn’t an easy issue, but anything that looks to label and divide skews complicated. My hope is that people find compassion, but I am keenly aware of the times in which I live.
The title refers to Luiselli’s daughter asking her to tell her how a story ends when she recounts a day’s work. The difficult part is not knowing where the story ends. That makes for heartbreaking moments.
thejejo's review against another edition
3.0
What a powerful essay. Uniquely constructed words describing the immigration process for children. Packs quite a punch for such a short work.