A review by mynameismarines
The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail by Óscar Martínez

4.0

3.5 stars

This was such an expansive and informative work. I don't think many people could read this and deny the work and research Martinez poured into it. I truly knew very little about the migrant trails before reading this, and was constantly overwhelmed by their reality while reading. I took a lot away from The Beast, and have new context for any news stories or political discussions about migrants and other issues at the border.

I think that for the most part, Martinez presented a balanced story. I can't speak to how any groups were represented, but I do feel like he didn't shy away from any portion of this story, good, bad or any complicated shade in between.

Because things can change pretty radically between administrations, the portions of this that discussed the US side, Border Patrol, the wall, etc, I would expect are already rather outdated. It doesn't take much away from the information that is presented, because I think it's an interesting foundation to have, but I did find myself asking about how things might be now under new policies, a new president, and as things become increasingly difficult for migrants.

I had two issues with the telling and structure of this as a book. First is that I felt it could've been better organized to tell a more cohesive story. I imagine it was quite a challenge to gather so many years of research and so many pieces of a giant story, but the result is something that jumped around a little too much for my taste. Second is that I found the translation to be a bit awkward at some points. There were word order and sentence structure things that made me feel as if the translators stuck to a more strict word for word translations instead of capturing the spirit of the meaning and correcting for English syntax.

Still, I'm glad I read this and feel as if this is a subject I will continue to learn more about, thanks to the work Martinez shared with us.