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undocureader 's review for:
Across a Hundred Mountains
by Reyna Grande
Across a hundred mountains is an emotional and compelling story about two young women trying to survive through life. Juana Garcia and Adelina Vasquez are two women trapped by their circumstances in life. I love the way that Reyna Grande brings together the two stories of these women throughout the book jumping back and forth between each of the women. This book was incredibly powerful and very emotional – from the very first chapter it pulls you into the story and fully makes you fall for the characters that Reyna Grande has created. The imagery she includes throughout the novel makes it easy to visualize the lives of each of these women and to start to piece together how their stories may be interconnected. The other character in this book that stood out to me was Juana’s mother – Dona Lupe. In this book we see the transition of her life and how each event changes the woman she is until she is almost unrecognizable. It is her story that stayed with me the most as I was going through this book and reminded me of the saying my great-grandmother used to say, “There is no such thing as bad people, there are only people and moments and you better pray to God that he does not place you in bad moments.” Dona Lupe reminds us that there is a breaking point – and that when we see those we find easy to judge we must remember that we do not know the full story and had we lived through it ourselves we may have ended up in a worse position. I appreciate Reyna Grande for writing this incredibly moving story that covers so many aspects of the stories of immigrant women that often go ignored. (Im)migration is not only the journey north but all of the injustices that lead people to make the decision to leave everything they know and try for a better life en el Norte.