What readers think of Enrique's Journey, plus links to write your own review.

There are few books that show immigrants points of view. This may cause people to not understand what hardships exist for those who come here without documentation. This is a true story but a novel about the same theme is The Tortilla Curtain.

This book reveals the plight of Enrique and other minors that travel to the US. It is a very good book.

Beware, "Enrique's Journey" is written in a journalistic style, not a literary one. What it does do, is to hammer and hammer -relentlessly- on day to day experiences of a seventeen year old poverty stricken boy, who feels he will find the meaning of his life by getting to his mother who left him at the age of five. Its up to you to determine whether he does or not. It also shows the unconscious need of all of us at an early age to gain the needed prompt affection and esteem only a parent can give. His mother has left her children to work in the U.S. and to send money "home," so her children will have a better life. The author leaves it up to you to decide if this ethic is the right thing to do. Although (her point of view is implied,) she leaves it up to you to decide what would be the right thing to do. It does not promote a certain political or ethical view point. It only tells a story, with granted, unpleasant, hard to stomach, graphic facts at times, but gives a personal -journalistic- account of what a child could go through when this kind of situation is handed to them, by no fault of their own. What would you do, relying solely on your own wits, no mentors, with next to no education, and no financial means to speak of? No right or wrong answer is implied here. The book is meant to initiate mature, genuine thought only. If action is taken, all the better. I would highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in the subject of man's inhumanity to man.

Excellent, provocative reading! Enrique's Journey is a strong, and rightfully so, emotional appeal for all of us to share our humanity. Though Enrique's story surrounds his decision to come to the U.S., it really is about his slide into darkness, which he believes can be relieved only by the presence of his mother and her love, which he so strongly feels was taken away by her alleged 'abandonment' of him. His struggle to understand why engulfs his very existence, as he stops at nothing to regain that necessary affection and validation as a human being, regardless!

This book is about mothers who make the ultimate sacrifice - they leave their young kids in their home country where little kids are forced to work/beg so the family can maybe eat; they make an amazingly dangerous journey to a completely foreign land (US); they try to work as much as possible and live, yet send as much money as possible back home - all in hopes of keeping their kids in school so they have some possibility - maybe their only hope - of getting out of the utter poverty they live in. The tragedy of all this is that the moms almost never can afford to bring their kids to the US or to go back home, and, they usually "lose" the kids they left behind in the process. Those kids feel so abandoned and are so emotionally scarred by the experience they join gangs, get addicted to drugs, or get pregnant young - all undoing their "chances" their mom is working so hard for.The author asks - what would you do if your kids were starving, at this was the only perceived possibility for a better life for your kids? Could I envision myself doing whatever needs to be done so my kids could have better chances in life? What heart wrenching decisions these women are making. They have all my respect. I want to give this book as a gift to all my friends so they can know this side of the story and know these people's plight. And God strike me dead if I ever complain again about what I don't have - because we truly have it all.

The story is heartwarming. And I was hooked, BUT then the writer tried to do her own thing and failed. The book turned into a bland narration. And I lost my interest halfway through the first chapter.

Sonia Nazario, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, Is a well known Journalist. In Enrique’s Journey, She writes the story of a boy searching for his mother. She uses this story to make a point, and show her political opinion on the immigration issue. In her story, she uses three rhetorical appeals: ethos, and logos, but mostly pathos. While Enrique’s adventure to find his mom must have been exciting and eventful, Nazario destroyed his story, with an awful book written so horribly that it was absolutely unbearable to read.

My daughter was required to read this book for school, so I read it after she started asking me questions. It is clearly a sad story much less so when you know that illegals cost taxpayers over 100 billion a year. I wonder how much the open borders lobby paid Nazario to write this book.