I have not finish reading this book. What I can say thus far is that you must, you must read this book. It's 2019 and everything going around in the world due to immigration and loss of ourselves, is all in this book. It is SPECTACULAR!!!!! and I cannot wait to finish ti.

I don't even know how to start this review. I thought I had experienced a book hangover in the past, but I am in stunned awe after finishing this book, and not confident another book is going to be able to appeal in any way. I can honestly say this is the best book I have read this year. I anticipate this will be the best book of 2020. And as I look back over my favorites throughout the years, I can confidently say this is my favorite book. ever.

Jeanine Cummins is an artist- she describes emotions and scenery as if I am living it. At times I had to take deep breaths and massage my neck muscles because of the taut ambience weaved throughout the story. And the entire story rings with such truth and depicts how brave and strong and determined these immigrants are to have a safe life. To protect their loved ones. To have just a tiny sense of peace. This should be required reading.

Regardless of your view of immigration and our current political situation, please read this book. Read this book about strength, love, loyalty, fear, family. Read about unconditional love and dangerous and confusing relationships. Forget your political affiliations or viewpoints and absorb Lydia's love for her amazing and brave son Luca. Imagine yourself in those shoes and read this amazing story with open eyes.

Thank you #netgalley and #jeaninecummins #flatironbooks for an ARC

What can I say about American Dirt that has not already been shared by voices far more eloquent than mine? American Dirt is a tour de force. Cummings takes readers on a ride on La Bestia, as mother and son are forced to flee their home. It’s a book that should be required reading for 2020. I can not recommend it highly enough.

What a mind blowing beginning of a book! A mother, Lydia and her little boy, Luca hid themselves in the bathtub for not being other victims of family massacre. The contract killers/ most dangerous drug-lord’s dirtbags kept looking for them, firing their guns, calling their names. And finally they thought they were not at the house so they left the place and 16 innocent victims behind.

Now mother and her son have to leave the country for staying alive because one of the powerful men is chasing them and he is determined to finish his massacre that he already started. The man, Javier Crespo Fuentes, once upon a time he was her friend. They talked about books, shared their secrets, formed a close relationship till one day Lydia’s reporter husband Sebastian wrote an article about Javier…The day the article had published their life’s direction had also traumatically changed.

So now, Lydia’s husband, mother, sister and her children are dead! Only she and her son stayed alive from vengeful attack of the cartel. And now their thrilling, heartbreaking, dangerous journey begins. They race against the time, authorities and killers at the same time. So keep still at the edge of your seats and take deep breathes to calm your nerves! This book will increase your heart rates and blow your mind by making you agitated, anxious but stop squirming nervously, just keep on reading, don’t you want to know what will happen to those innocent mother and her brilliant, smart son?

Let me tell you something, they say: “destination not important but the journey” but this time it works quite opposite at this book because throughout this long journey, the mother and son walked, hid, slept in different places, ran from dangerous people, jumped into the trains, put their lives in danger, met with different people who had amazing experiences and life stories.

This journey makes you up all night to read more, learn more, ache more, fists clenched, eyes filled in tears. You whisper prayers slowly to wish the characters can escape from the real monsters are living in our modern world. Not only mother and son but the people they’ve met especially the sisters helped them will always stay in my heart and soul forever because they’re so realistically developed, well-build characters who have heart-wrenching stories.

I think instead of the beginning of this story, author’s note part is also impressive. It summarizes all those people including me who came to this land to chase their dreams, deal with our disappointments and learn from our mistakes to try again. On the border wall of Tijuana, there is wonderful piece of graffiti. When the author feel faltered or discouraged, she clicks to her desktop and look at those words: “On this side, too, there are dreams”

Everyone has different dreams but sometimes making too many sacrifices and leaving your old lives and old selves behind might be too tough and compelling for you so sometimes you just procrastinate or give up on them. This book could be dedicated to the dreamers who are brave enough to leave, who have nothing to lose, make so much sacrifices and pay so many dues to fight with everything they have and finally reach their destinations!

Maybe it is too early to say that but I think this will be one of the most stunning, impressive and fascinating readings of 2020.

Special thanks to Netgalley and Flatiron Book for sharing this amazing ARC COPY with me in exchange my honest review!

No doubt this will be THE book of 2020.

The Where The Crawdads Sing book of 2020.

I've never read Crawdads and I wouldn't have read American Dirt if not so kindly offered the opportunity by the publisher.

This is so far from my usual genre.

Give me a thriller any day.

I want to feel compelled to flip the pages while balancing on the edge of my seat.

I want to lose sleep because I can't put a book down, a heart racing, just one more chapter type of story.

AND THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I GOT WITH THIS BOOK.

This book was nothing like what I was expecting and everything I could ever hope for.

Cummins has written a gripping and compelling narrative that every American should read. Unfortunately, those that need this message the most will refuse this book out of spite and/or the inability to read.
☝️
If that statement offends you, then you are exactly who it is directed towards.


** Thank you Hachette Australia for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. **

I would give this book 10 stars if I could! This is an amazing story about the journey of a mother and son to America after their entire family is murdered in Mexico. I won’t even try to describe the book because I could never do it justice, all I can say is everyone should read this. It is beautifully written and easily the best book I’ve read this year!

This is a timely story about a woman and her son fleeing from cartel violence in Acapulco. Her whole family has been murdered because of a news story her husband has written. Because they can't take any chances, they are forced to follow in the footsteps of other Central American migrants and try to enter the United States illegally. They meet two young sisters from Honduras who are escaping from horrible violence in their hometown. The journey is difficult and it is hard to know who to trust.
The story is incredible while also being brutal. My heart broke for everything that they had to endure. I think it should be required reading for anyone with an opinion about immigration.

Lydia is on the run with her young son, after her whole family is murdered by a cartel. She needs to escape to the United States, but how do you get through Mexico when a powerful cartel is on your heels? Lydia meets up with others who are also trying to get to the United States for their own reasons.

An excellent and timely book about why people are trying to escape to the United States. I highly recommend this book!

This extraordinary novel about migration to the United States through Mexico is going to be bestseller. As I read it, I wondered at, and was amazed by, the extensive research done by the author that made the story so perfectly authentic. The characters were so well developed and just plain real. The book started with a bang and left me feeling sad that I couldn't know more of what the future would bring to the characters. It's an astounding excellent book, and it definitely gave me an education into the fears, horrors, hopes and dreams of those who migrate to the United States in search of a safer better life. I can't wait until it's published to the rest of the world.