Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.04 AVERAGE
4.04 AVERAGE
A heartbreaking look at immigration and deportation. I just wish there had been more - it was too short, if that’s possible.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Thank you to Simon and Schuster Canada and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
INFINITE COUNTRY is a must-read story of a mixed-status family. I truly admired how Patricia Engel was able to tell the family’s collective history, from the perspectives of each member, also while weaving Columbian folklore into the story to enrich the reader’s experience. This story gets you right in the feels. It also sheds light on the reality that many families face, even today, when it comes to immigration challenges. Either way, this review won’t do the story justice, and if you haven’t already been convinced to pick it up, I hope this is another helpful reminder.
INFINITE COUNTRY is a must-read story of a mixed-status family. I truly admired how Patricia Engel was able to tell the family’s collective history, from the perspectives of each member, also while weaving Columbian folklore into the story to enrich the reader’s experience. This story gets you right in the feels. It also sheds light on the reality that many families face, even today, when it comes to immigration challenges. Either way, this review won’t do the story justice, and if you haven’t already been convinced to pick it up, I hope this is another helpful reminder.
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
reflective
sad
fast-paced
incredibly honest in its fragmented telling of immigration and displacement. i think the narrative structure delivered its purpose in depicting familial separation, but i also found the intersected povs and timelines to often be more distracting than informing, and even sometimes repetitive.
for me, engel’s consistent detail and mapping of Colombia and her myths held the story together. this generated the most emotional resonance when paired with fleshed out in-scene moments. i do wish there had been more of these to kind of combat the inherent distance born from having interchangeable narrators, especially considering that a majority of the novel is an overlapping recount of a familial past rather than a telling of present-time events (which i think the first few chapters mislead us to believe is what lies ahead).
for me, engel’s consistent detail and mapping of Colombia and her myths held the story together. this generated the most emotional resonance when paired with fleshed out in-scene moments. i do wish there had been more of these to kind of combat the inherent distance born from having interchangeable narrators, especially considering that a majority of the novel is an overlapping recount of a familial past rather than a telling of present-time events (which i think the first few chapters mislead us to believe is what lies ahead).
If you immigrated from another country to the US and experienced hardships and unfairness, don't read this book unless you want to relive all that shit again. This was a very well written story, and as someone who has experienced some of those hardships, this was very hard to read.
I listened to the audio version of this brilliant little book and I was swept away, swept into Columbia, into New York, across the border, into separation, deportation, birth, longing, trauma, across generations, and back again.
Elena and Mauro fall in love as Columbia falls to pieces and only their daughter Talia, on the run after escaping a girl's correctional facility, can knit the years and the family back together.
Author Patricia Engel's writing is exquisite, mostly spare but on point with just the right descriptions when capturing emotion and, well, infinite country. To wit, "I felt a river current, a serpentine wind, an artery of lightning pass through my parents and through me. I already felt the moment become eternal." Also, I love the Andean mythology Engel weaves in.
There is one moment in which Engel breaks the fourth wall that kind of temporarily broke the narrative spell.
Still, this is a beautiful book. Strongly recommended.
Elena and Mauro fall in love as Columbia falls to pieces and only their daughter Talia, on the run after escaping a girl's correctional facility, can knit the years and the family back together.
Author Patricia Engel's writing is exquisite, mostly spare but on point with just the right descriptions when capturing emotion and, well, infinite country. To wit, "I felt a river current, a serpentine wind, an artery of lightning pass through my parents and through me. I already felt the moment become eternal." Also, I love the Andean mythology Engel weaves in.
There is one moment in which Engel breaks the fourth wall that kind of temporarily broke the narrative spell.
Still, this is a beautiful book. Strongly recommended.