What readers think of American Dirt, plus links to write your own review.

Blurbs have covered the stratosphere heralding the publication of this novel. I am here to tell you that these comments are not hyperbole; all of them are well deserved. Simplistically, it is the story of one woman's heart wrenching flight from Mexico with her young son to El Norte to escape the cartel and its spiteful drug lord. The horror of the first chapter alone is enough to put one over the edge. However, it is the prose and the dramatic tension throughout that propel the dynamism of the novel. Cummins shines a lens on our own biases lumping all migrants together, and helps us understand the harrowing ordeal that they encounter to try and escape persecution. How sobering to think that she must have written this a few years before the issues that confront us today were not staring us in the face painfully day after day after day. It is also the story of a mother's deep love for her child that tugged at my heart's drawstrings with an aching hurt. This is a fabulous book for book groups but you might want a lot of wine to get you through the discussion.

I loved this book. It was compelling, frightening, tender and expansive. It really seated you in the experience of a Mexican mother and son on the run from a dangerous drug cartel lord. Their journey from Mexico to America is harrowing and unimaginable. Read this book and you will support every immigrant organization you can. This book is so special and written. You won't be able to put it down. When writers like Stephen King, John Grisham, Julia Alvarez and Tara Conklin highly recommend it, you must take notice. You will be better for the experience. Thank you BookBrowse.

También de este lado hay sueños. On this side, too, there are dreams.

This has become one of my favorite books of all time since The Storyteller of Jodi Picoult. Cummins wants to tell a story of the victims more than the perpetrators and she successfully delivered it well. American Dirt narrates the plight of migrants from Mexico and Central America, about running away from the life they didn't know they will have to leave behind. Beautifully written with a crisp understanding of the cartels and the migrants' journey to el norte, the novel moves emotions with tales of horror, suffering, love, friendship, loss, and hope. 378 pages of solid skillful storytelling that depicts humanity in its core. Both sensitive and strong, this novel is a must-read!

Every once in a while you go in to a book with no expectations whatsoever, and it blows you away. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins is one of those books.
On the surface, it is a story about a mother and her child trying to escape a drug cartel in Mexico, but it is really so much more. It is a story about the families we are born into and the families we make. About a mother's love for her son and her willingness to do anything to keep him safe even though she is absolutely terrified. It's about the ability of the human spirit to endure no matter how horrific an experience they have lived through.

The book draws you in immediately-the first pages are heartbreaking yet you will race on to finish them. Every character is fully formed and the author clearly knows what she is writing about. Beautiful writing, believable characters and a story that is so timely in the world we currently live in. Highly recommended for any reader and it will certainly spark a lot of conversation if read in a book club. This book actually gave me a book hangover that is making it difficult for me to move on to another story. I can't recommend this book enough.

American Dirt is the best book I've read this year. It tells the story of a mother and son as they flee drug cartel violence in their hometown of Acapulco. They head north, facing many dangers, and have to draw upon reserves of inner strength they did not know they had. Author Jeanine Cummins has done a wonderful job conveying the experiences of these refugees. The story is beautifully written and I have been unable to stop thinking about the characters since finishing the book a number of days ago. I think American Dirt would make a fantastic pick for book groups.

Imagine yourself at a family party in Acapulco. The festivities are underway, and everyone is having a wonderful time. In a split second, gunfire breaks out, leaving 16 members of your family dead. You and your son are alive only because he had gone inside and you went in to check on him. You hear the gunmen -- cartel members you assume -- looking around for survivors. By pure luck and instinct, the two of you survive. But this is only the beginning of the story. And I mean literally. This is not a spoiler, but what happens within the first few pages of the book.
Now Lydia and Luca are on the run as the cartel searches for them to complete the task of wiping out the entire family. As the story progresses, we learn what transpired that led to these heinous murders. We learn of a surprising relationship Lydia, a bookstore owner, has with one of the cartel members. And, most importantly, we learn of Lydia and Luca's struggle to reach the border to freedom in the United States and the people they meet along the way.
Cummins' writing is beautiful and compelling. There are moments of abject terror, but there are also moments of joy. The way Lydia holds it together for her son reminded me a bit of the father in the movie "Life is Beautiful."
"American Dirt" is a novel you will never forget. It is an example of the way fiction can shine a light on an international crisis--immigration, in this case--by giving it a face. A must-read book.

Jeanine Cummins was not an author previously read by this reviewer; however, once having finished this enlightening novel, it's a sure bet that more of her work will be enjoyed
American Dirt starts off like the explosives that the main characters, mother and son, Luca and Lydia endure in page one A party is being held at Lydia's parents' house when a drug cartel descends upon the party with firing AK-47's. Luca, Lydia's seven year old son is in the bathroom washing his hands when a bullet just misses him. The next thing he knows his mother Lydia, burst through the door and knocks him down landing on top of him in a five foot walled shower.
The two are not discovered but their entire family are dead, sixteen in all, including husband-father Sebastian. This is the start of a journey whereby both mother and son who are used to middle class culture become part of the migrant culture and population as they make their way from Acapulco, Mexico heading to Estados Unidos.

Cummins description techniques are amazing. The reader becomes part of the journey experiencing the horrors, of traveling while being chased by the Cartel plus the humiliation of seeking food and information from strangers. The author reminds the reader that the protagonists are Mexican by often writing her character's words in Spanish, but then translated to English. Cummins has chosen third person omniscience as the point of view and switches back and forth through most of the novel from mother to son. We also learn the thoughts of the two sisters Soledad and Rebeca who show them how to board a moving train, and 10 year old Beto who saves the day by providing much needed money to Lydia who has been robbed. These characters are introduced to the reader just as she is becoming somewhat bored with the monotony of the odyssey.

The book has several themes — Mother's Love — Family — The cost not only monetarily but emotionally of living in Mexico where the Cartels with all their viciousness are becoming more and more the government of Mexico.
This writer's eyes were opened when she realized the hardships and what is to be disappointing outcome for the migrants. A new found respect is realized by the reader. I highly recommend American Dirt.

This is a riveting,compassionate, eye-opening account of immigrants on their journey to the U.S. These fictional people, coming from various countries in Central America,become very real and put faces on the many statistics we have read about immigrants. Each is coming north for different reasons, but as the horrors of their pilgrimage are faced, it becomes obvious that not one of them chooses this route to "el Norte" without being desperate. In many instances the evil they encounter is tempered with goodness by people encountered who have the courage to help.