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A review by shannonw19
In the Country We Love: My Family Divided by Diane Guerrero
3.0
Diane Guerrero's memoir of her youth and her parents' deportation from the United States at the age of 14 is a moving and emotional story. Ms. Guerrero's parents moved to the United illegally from Columbia and Diane was born in the United States. This book looks at the mircocosom of her life and addresses the bigger issue immigration through that story.
Diane's parents worked two jobs each most times to make ends meet. They lived in constant fear of deportation. She did not speak to people voluntarily. She worried about it all the time. When she was 14 years old, Diane came home to find her parents gone. They had been taken by ICE and detained. She saw them in the detention center before they were deported. she, being a U.S. Citizen, stayed behind. She lived with friends of her family for longer periods of time. She got into the Boston Academy of Arts for high school and it changed her life. She discovered performing.
She went to college and her life began to spin out of control. She suffered from depression and anxiety, to the point that she nearly committed suicide. She sought out a therapist and worked her way back to mental health. Then she landed roles on tv shows. She became successful and eventually reunited with her parents.
I enjoyed this book. Ms. Guerrero is a good writer and tells a compelling, personal story. The only reason I did not rate this book higher is that I found the last chapter very, very preachy. Not that a call to action is a bad thing, but the way it was presented seemed a little strident.
Other than the last chapter, I enjoyed this book.
Diane's parents worked two jobs each most times to make ends meet. They lived in constant fear of deportation. She did not speak to people voluntarily. She worried about it all the time. When she was 14 years old, Diane came home to find her parents gone. They had been taken by ICE and detained. She saw them in the detention center before they were deported. she, being a U.S. Citizen, stayed behind. She lived with friends of her family for longer periods of time. She got into the Boston Academy of Arts for high school and it changed her life. She discovered performing.
She went to college and her life began to spin out of control. She suffered from depression and anxiety, to the point that she nearly committed suicide. She sought out a therapist and worked her way back to mental health. Then she landed roles on tv shows. She became successful and eventually reunited with her parents.
I enjoyed this book. Ms. Guerrero is a good writer and tells a compelling, personal story. The only reason I did not rate this book higher is that I found the last chapter very, very preachy. Not that a call to action is a bad thing, but the way it was presented seemed a little strident.
Other than the last chapter, I enjoyed this book.