American Dirt (Thorndike Press Large Print Core Series) - Bestselling Novel for Book Clubs & Literature Lovers - Perfect for Reading Groups & Personal Enjoyment

This book was so elegantly done, the images of life and death painted so clearly with Jeanine Cummins words across the pages. It is so amazing to me that this book is translated; the beauty and cruelty of Lydia and Luca’s journey is revealed with such clarity.So many of us live lives gifted to us from our ancestors, their struggles watered down for our consumption. We can never really know the fear, the hunger, the sheer determination that made them leave the counties of their births to make new lives somewhere frightening and new. Those ancestors may not all have left for reasons as grisly or bloody as Lydia’s or Soledad’s, but the roads have all been paved the same way: with grit, with pride, and with vision for a future so bright as to light the way ahead with its hope.Those of us who were born here have no true understanding of this struggle, and that is the gift from those who come before. We may grow up hungry or poor, but we do not fear for our very lives or pay for our freedoms in ways no human should experience.Like so many great books, American Dirt is so much bigger than the words that make it up. The story of Lydia and Luca is frightening and sad and horrifying and you cannot help but root for their very survival even as you wonder how many other undocumented immigrants from so many other countries undergo journeys like this one - or even ones that are unimaginably worse. This book invokes such a soul-deep connection that you want to know that its characters have healed and gone on to succeed and grow and and love. It makes you wonder how many people around you are living this life or something like it. This story is so incredibly vivid it invokes compassion and empathy that make you want to ask everyone about their story so that you can celebrate it with them.America continues to be built on the backs of the last people off the boat or across the border, but as a country we continue to treat those immigrants - documented and undocumented both - as though their very lives are somehow devalued in comparison to those of us who were born here. Our government and our citizens continue to perpetuate a system where immigrant labor is undervalued and their safety is not guaranteed. American Dirt brings the struggle of two families to light, but it is up to us as citizens to demand government reforms and impact societal change to address these issues in our country. We cannot continue to embrace our apathy for such a large group of citizens who silently and impotently struggle in our midst even while we rely so heavily on their very existence in our economy and our lives.Read American Dirt. It might change your life.