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A review by stacialithub
The Beast: Riding the Rails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail by Óscar Martínez
5.0
This account is immediately gripping & I have great respect for the author & his photographer trekking along with the migrants -- it could almost be considered the same as war reporters on the front lines.
While I'm not within immediate access of the Mexican/US border, I am in the South, so we have a relatively large migrant population here. Not everything I read is new to me -- I was aware that there were dangers & knew some of what was faced. But, it's one thing to know that the dangers exist, but quite another to read very detailed & personal stories attached to those dangers (whether the trains, the authorities, the cartels, the rapes, the kidnappings, the terrain, etc...). I guess the sheer number of hurdles, the extreme pervasiveness of the dangers, just the enormity of it all is what is eye-opening & shocking. It's like an up-front seat vs. viewing something from a distance.
The Beast needs to be required reading for everyone who resides in the Americas.
While I'm not within immediate access of the Mexican/US border, I am in the South, so we have a relatively large migrant population here. Not everything I read is new to me -- I was aware that there were dangers & knew some of what was faced. But, it's one thing to know that the dangers exist, but quite another to read very detailed & personal stories attached to those dangers (whether the trains, the authorities, the cartels, the rapes, the kidnappings, the terrain, etc...). I guess the sheer number of hurdles, the extreme pervasiveness of the dangers, just the enormity of it all is what is eye-opening & shocking. It's like an up-front seat vs. viewing something from a distance.
The Beast needs to be required reading for everyone who resides in the Americas.