A review by thenovelmaura
The Book of Unknown Americans by Cristina Henríquez

emotional sad slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I was surprised by my lukewarm reaction to this one given that it's on so many "best of lists." While I appreciate any book that sheds light on the difficulties of immigrating to the United States, I've read much stronger YA books in recent years that deal with these topics (We Are Not From Here by Jenny Torres Sanchez immediately springs to mind). The reader is meant to be supportive of Maribel and Mayor's relationship, but he felt almost as creepy as the bully to me. Several passages made it seem like he was only interested in Maribel's appearance, and that he felt he was "doing her a favor" by looking past her traumatic brain injury and getting to know her as a person. And while I liked Alma's chapters, I found it an odd (and infantilizing) narrative choice to never have a chapter from Maribel's perspective, since she is supposedly the focus of the story.

I do highly recommend the audiobook with the full cast reading the different characters' perspectives! This really added to my enjoyment of the story and is probably the reason I'm giving this 3 stars overall.
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