The Book of Unknown Americans (Vintage Contemporaries)

This book, barely 300 pages, is incredibly rich; it offers so much to the reader. It tells a very powerful story, one that will stay with you for some time. "Unknown Americans" focuses on a small community of Latin American immigrants, particularly two families, living in an apartment complex in Newark, Delaware, of all places. At an impromptu Christmas day get-together in a cramped, unheated apartment, they toast each other's origins by calling out their places of birth to cheers and laughter: "Panama ! Mexico! Puerto Rico ! Nicaragua ! .....". It is an incredible scene and the reader is struck by the realization of how little they have yet how much they have. Despite some of the "love at first sight" blurbs that are used to promote this book, this is not a romance. UA deals with their struggles day to day, just to survive. Losing jobs, finding jobs, doing menial work, e.g., picking mushrooms in darkened sheds. But then author Henriquez counters with incredible passages dealing with hopes, dreams, small victories. Unfortunately, there is not always a pot of gold at the end of everyone's rainbow, and some are forced to return, occasionally for the most tragic reasons, to their places of births. This is a very emotional story, very uplifting, very well written; I cannot recall one false note in this book, nor one thing I would have changed. I believe that it would be difficult for any native American to read this book and not come away with kinder, gentler feelings toward all immigrants, but particularly those from Latin America.

Arturo and Alma Rivera lived a happy life in Mexico until their beautiful teenage daughter, Maribel, sustains a serious injury in an accident. Unsure if she'll ever be the same again, they migrate to the United States—Delaware, specifically—where Maribel will be able to attend a special school and hopefully begin to recover some semblance of normalcy. But America is difficult for the Riveras—the job Arturo secures to sponsor their journey to America is brutal, Maribel doesn't seem to be making much progress in school, and Alma struggles with English, and trying to become acclimated to a different life. "Because a place can do many things against you, and if it's your home or if it was your home at one time, you still love it. That's how it works." The one bright spot is that the Riveras meet Celia and Rafael Toro, who came to the U.S. years ago to escape the destruction and violence in Panama. The Toros are more settled into their American lives, although Celia in particular longs to return home, at least for a visit. And when their teenage son, Mayor, who struggles with self-confidence in the shadow of his more athletic, popular older brother, sets eyes on Maribel for the first time, he finds himself completely in her thrall, and wants nothing more to spend time with her, despite what others perceive as her challenges. As the relationship between the Riveras and the Toros grows stronger, it is tested—as are relationships within each family—by secrets, incorrect assumptions, fears, longing, and struggles. And a number of incidents occur which set in motion a chain of events which will affect each member of both families in vastly different ways. Cristina Henriquez's The Book of Unknown Americans gives a powerful and moving glimpse into the immigrant experience for many Latin American people. In addition to telling the story of the Rivera and Toro families, the plot is interwoven with brief testimonials from other neighbors, each of whom came from a different Latin American country and experienced different struggles and happinesses upon arriving in America. This is a book that makes you think a little bit more about the challenges and barriers people often deal with when coming to America, even legally. I thought this was a very captivating read, and Henriquez is an excellent storyteller. While some of her characters may seem familiar, I thought she imbued them with interesting characteristics and quirks that made them more complex. I read this book very quickly, and found it an emotionally rich story I'm still thinking about.

Maribel's life has been cut short of the promise of her childhood. In traveling to Delaware, her parents are determined to restore all of the promise robbed by an accident one sunny day. They are not the usual people of the American dream, they had loved their life in Mexico. Just so their friends had left Panama under threat, but miss its smells and rhythms. I love the story of Mayor who sees the person the Mirabel remains and treasures her for her quiet attention to him and his world. Their relationship sets a type of frame for the lives of the families as they attempt to be the best of unknown Americans. This is a novel of unlovely places made dear by the attention and intent of those who live within them. I find it quiet in scope, but not slow and not picky. Shining moments are let to shine without fanfare or hyperbole. I just really liked the style of this prose. Many moments break your heart, but they are of a piece with life. I find the book a lovely and important look at a corner of the world.

Hernandez seeks to turn a simple domestic drama into a social commentary on the lives of recent immigrants in general. I agree with Sandra Newman of the Guardian when she says that "It's an intriguing idea, which had the potential to be powerful. But, despite their various histories, these people are all uncannily alike. They are uniformly well-meaning, optimistic, nice. They unanimously love America. No one is bitter, depressed or angry; no one has an unlovable thought. They have no political opinions, nor views that might be controversial. After a while, these sections feel like texts designed to promote multicultural understanding in a middle school. Finally, and most problematically, none of these voices sound remotely Spanish. They are written in a plain idiomatic English, familiar from thousands of works of commercial fiction. It's a style that's designed to be transparent, to let the reader engage directly with the characters. But here, we're meant to assume that the characters are thinking and speaking in Latin American Spanish. Henríquez represents this only by throwing in an occasional "bueno" and "señora", and by having the characters mention a lot of Latin American foods. For the most part, the reader is carried through this awkwardness by the emotional force of the plot. But the violent climax of the book comes out of nowhere and ultimately means nothing. We learn about the tragedy in retrospect, from characters who heard about it second hand. It might have been a racially motivated attack; it might have been a drunken misunderstanding. It might embody some point about race relations" but it seems we'll never know. I very much want Hernandez to succeed as we need more stories written from the point of view of immigrants!

This book weaves narratives and themes in a way that enthralls and marvels the reader with the distinct wisdom that can only be gained by empathy. If you want to dive deeper into romance, tragedy, adversity, identity, catharsis and so many other poignant and wondrous contexts you should read this book.

a realistic immigrant story.............. Being an immigrant myself, I can fully imagine and empathize with the life and times of these people who chose to emigrate to a new culture, language and way of life: terrifying, lonely, isolating, rewarding, sad and, hopefully over time, rewarding. In this time capsule, played out in a guest workers' tenement, the author realistically portrays how the strong adapt and how the not so tough become further alienated or lost in their new country and culture. But all have come to seek a better future. However, those days of a happy, safe future are hard to come by. And Cristina Henriquez ably tells those peoples' stories in this novel of hope, suffering and redemption. In this tale, one of several by this author, Ms. Henriquez successfully illustrates the way humans interact and fight for the top of the universal pecking order, by pitting the immigrant tenants' relationships against one another. Besides neighborly struggles, the immigrants also fight for opportunities in employment, education, basic sustenance and sharing themselves with the local community. However, heroes and givers do emerge, in the varied scenarios of each person in the tenement. One family has arrived, hoping to give aid to their handicapped child. Another neighbor struggles with their older children's escape into the host country's culture, which is the antithesis of the parents' values, south of the border. A single woman is bullied and alienated by her female neighbors, typical of any culture. The men must go out to work, in demeaning and dangerous jobs that offer no hope of advancement or even minimum wage. All are joined in their loneliness and need to be whole people again, after their flight from their former heritages. By mingling a good mixture of personalities, families, relationships and attitudes, Cristina Henriquez successfully describes how the "winners" survive by the will to adaptation and to press onward into their futures with courage and the stubborn desire to not return to former lives. Some do not succeed, due to the hand of Fate sundering them into despair and destitution. However, in the midst of all the struggles that inhabit the crumbling tenement that hangs onto the edge of the local society, success stories do emerge. In the conclusion, the universal humanity of the immigrant neighbors, as well as some local persons who understand and want to help in the lives of the town's new inhabitants, each character survives in their own way. This novel is a brave and accurate insight into the lives of some of our new neighbors that we often choose to scorn and ignore. Who knows? If the reader were to one day find themselves in a similar situation, would they be as tough and brave, as the characters in this timely book? If you enjoy a glimpse into the lives of the people on the fringes of any society, do read this story. Ms. Henriquez is an able and knowledgeable writer. She knows of what she writes.

I was sort of reluctant to read this book at the beginning since it seemed like another heroic story about immigrants coming to the United States to make their dreams come true. I do not use the word assimilation since it is dated and might be considered as a form of microaggression to some of us. Back to my review, Cristina Henríquez's book amplifies the stories of struggle, resiliency, anger, hatred, and hope that many immigrants deal with every single day. As a former public school teacher in this country for over 16 years, I felt every single story crafted in this book. Additionally, as an immigrant man from Panama, like Mayor's parents, I couldn't relate any more to those stories about the U.S. invasion to my homeland and the ripple effects after it that pushed hundreds of Panamanians, those who could afford it and get a visa, to leave their motherland behind to start from scratch. Again, I highly recommend this book. I loved it from the beginning to the end.

This was an intriguing read that was hard to put down. The book tells the story of several different people from different perspectives. The only commonality is that they all live in an apartment complex in Delaware. Although the story is written about Latinos, it really could be an expose on any group of people. The book addresses not only how the characters perceive each other, but how the characters perceive themselves. They reveal bits and pieces of the personal struggles that shape them, their hopes, their dreams, their disappointments. When you read their personal insight, the reader is afforded a unique opportunity to learn about the character in a way the other characters cannot share. The story resonates of the soundness of the axiom: "Do not judge a book by its cover." Or perhaps, more appropriately: "Do not judge another until you have walked a mile in his shoes." The fact that the characters are Latinos give the read more depth. All too often, people assume that all Latinos are the same regardless of their country of birth. They are in fact as different as the English are from the Germans. Henriquez brilliantly highlights these differences by allowing the characters to talk about their experiences from their native countries. Each character, no matter how trivial in the story, comes from different country. Each character has a different reason for immigrating to the United States. They all come together is a single apartment complex that despite of its less than illustrious condition provides shelter to all those involved. As such, they share each others experiences in a way they would not have known had they remained in their native country. It is a read that keeps you engaged until the very end. It gives a voice to the countless number of immigrants who struggle against all odds to come to the United States, as it reveals the bitter challenges that life presents and the unquenchable desire to survive. I would recommend this book to anyone who desires to understand the fear and the tenacity of immigrant people.