The Book of Rosy is an absolutely essential piece of witness—the account of one mother separated from her children under Trump's "Zero Tolerance" policy, along with reflections by the woman who founded the organization that finally gets Rosy out of immigration detention and back with her children. This book brings the day-to-day reality of current U.S. immigration policy to life, turning devastating headlines into a devastating, but also hopeful narrative.

Highly Recommended!

I received a free electronic review copy of this title. The opinions are my own.

Thank you for letting me read and review this book. This was a timely discussion on immigration. I really connected with Rosy.

This is a compelling telling of a woman's/family's journey to get to the US from Guatemala. The story is told in 3 parts, the 1st & last part are told by the woman (Rosy) making the journey herself....& she does a great job of telling her story. The middle part is told by the woman who helped facilitate Rosy's transition once in the US, & she too does an excellent job of giving voice to the needs of these immigrants. There are some good resources at the end of the book, for anyone wishing to know more about this. I would recommend this book to everyone, actually. It's a pretty quick, very interesting read. Real well done.
I received an e-ARC of this book, offering to read it & post my own fair & honest review, from Harper One/Harper Collins Publishers via NetGalley.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the chance to review this advance copy. This book is so important. We need true accounts of the immigration experience from people who have lived it, not sensationalized fiction.

Thanks to NetGalley and Harper One for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Book of Rosy tells the true story of Rosayra Pablo Cruz, who came to America from Guatemala seeking asylum and who was separated from her two sons at the border in 2018. The book includes chapters written by Rosy and by Julie, who started the organization Immigrant Families Together. Julie's organization helped secure Rosy's release from her detention center, reunited her with her sons, and mobilized a network of volunteers to help Rosy's family start a life in America. The book is heartbreaking, inspiring, infuriating, and uplifting, and I highly recommend it.

I sincerely hope that this book gets just as much buzz, if not more, as another popular book that was recently published about the experience of people seeking refuge in America. The fact that this is a true story and written by someone who actually experienced having her children taken from her makes it much more powerful .

Review posted on Goodreads on May 5, 2020.

Raw, Real, Heartbreaking.

This would be an excellent companion to the novel, American Dirt. Only, this story is non-fiction, it's true. This story recounts a heart-wrenching portrayal of Rosy, whose children were torn from her at the U.S.-Mexico Border.

This story is a tale of loss of freedom and a tale of hope. It is real in the best and worst of ways. It shows the injustices and the inhumanity that is thrust upon many, while also showing the goodness that this world can offer.

It is ultimately a story of hope and redemption in the face of unspeakable loss.

This book is beautifully written! Rosy’s voice is honest, lyrical, and describes just how traumatic and difficult her personal journey to the US, and her encounter with Trump’s despicable zero tolerance policy was.

This book is roughly divided into two parts: Rosayra Pablo Cruz’s story, and then Julie Schwietert Collazo’s journey to creating the non profit Immigrant Families Together, and how she became part of Rosy’s story here in the US.

Rosy was born in Guatemala, lived mainly in poverty and survived several very traumatic events before she was even really an adult. Violence and death are everyday occurrences where she comes from, and she made the journey to the US a first time before going back home to join her children again, and then a second time once she realized her eldest son was in danger in Guatemala, leaving with her two sons. The second time happened just as Trump’s zero tolerance policy went into effect, and when Rosy claimed asylum at the border her two children were taken away from her and sent thousands of miles away.

In the meantime, a group of women, including Julie, were so distraught about the fact that children were being ripped from their parents’ arms (who wouldn’t be?!), that they formed an organization to help pay women’s bonds, reunite them with their children, and help them navigate the system. It is thanks to Immigrant Families Together that Rosy was able to pay her bond, make the trip from Eloy to NYC and be reunited with her children.

This period in US immigration history is especially dark, and it hurts my heart to think how many families were ripped apart, how many mothers were stuck in detention centers not knowing where their children had been taken. Rosy’s youngest son was still nursing when she made that second journey to the US, and still he was taken from her. The cruelty is unbelievable, yet it happened. I’m glad that Rosy’s story has a happier ending than some, but I finished the book wondering about all of the stories that did not have a happy ending, about all of the people stuck in detention centers, and all of the children who are still “lost” in the “system”. We are all human and we all have a right to a safe home, no matter where we come from. It’s not a crime to be an immigrant and to seek for safety, for a better life. So when are we going to stop criminalizing people for doing exactly that?

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review. And thanks to Rosy for telling her story, as hard as it must have been to relive.

Looking for a book to read instead of American Dirt? Look no further. This duel memoir tells Rosayra Pablo Cruz’s story of immigration, and of being separated from her children at the boarder. It also contains the story of an activist who inspires action by us all and demonstrates not only what we can each do, but how big of a difference it makes. Empathetic and inspiring.

This is a book about two amazing women—one who crossed the Mexican-American border twice and one who started a grass-roots effort to help women who have been separated from their children once they have made this difficult journey. I do not want to speak out of turn, but I believe Rosy would say she was one of the lucky ones—separated from her children she travelled with for only months, not years (or permanently) and found a group that not only provided her bond and travel to her children, but so many of the things that immigrants need to start feeling safe and beginning to heal and get settled in the U.S. This book is an amazing blueprint on how to truly accept and assist immigration families for any community, large or small. But, most of all to sustain her, Rosy had, and has, faith.

This is a moving story of immigrants and family separation at the border. It is told from two points of view. The first is Rosy, a Guatemalan mother who must make hard choices for the safety of her family by coming to the United States. As she enters, she is separated from her two sons and that separation lasts 81 days. Thankfully this is where Immigrant Families Together and Julie come in. This grassroots group provides the bonds for mothers to get out of detention and be reunited with their children. What is a heart-warming about this is the thousands of people who offered help and money to make this a reality. What is horrifying is that this needs to be done at all.

First off, this book is important. It gives a personal account of escaping the trauma and violence that is common place in Guatamala and Mexico as a woman and her son journey towards North America. I really enjoyed the memoir part of the book - Rosayra's personal account of immigration. At the border, she is separated from her children and lives in a jail for eighty-one days. Her bail is posted by a nonprofit group out of New York that made it their mission to fight the injustices the migrants find at the border.

Part II of the book transitioned to the head of this nonprofit company and that's where the book lost its steam to me. I also value this part of the story, but its inclusion with Rosayra's story felt clunky to me and didn't transition well. Maybe it would have went a little better with some introduction, but it took me half of the first chapter to realize we had a new narrator...I thought that it was a flash forward instead of the new perspective of the nonprofit.

Earlier this year, the publication of American Dirt came under fire as not accurately depicting life south of the border. Many people expressed that these types of stories should be written by #ownvoices so that those inaccuracies would be avoided. Because of that controversy, The Book of Rosy came on my radar. I felt like it was important for me to read an personal account of immigration, and now having finished The Book of Rosy, I'm more confused than ever about the earlier outrage. While American Dirt is fiction and The Book of Rosy is nonfiction, the parallels in both books are numerous. One of the chief complaints was that American Dirt inaccurately portrayed life in Guatamala and Mexico, but The Book of Rosy contradicts that notion - also depicting life in this part of the world as scary, violent, and controlled by the cartel.

Reading both of these books is imporatant so that you can form your own opinions on the controversy, and I'm grateful for the opportunity. I would love to talk to more people as they read both of these books, so if that's you, message me!

3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars

Such an important and topical book to be published at this time. I hope it is widely read so that all of us can have a better understanding of what is happening at our borders currently.

If you read this book you will be filled with empathy and then anger as you see how immigrants crossing our borders are treated, especially the mothers and children being separated from one another.

Rosayra's story is one of grit and determination as she crosses the border not once, but twice to find a better life for her some of her family. It's also a book about hope as I read about all the amazing Americans helping those in need with money, clothing, housing and much more.

It's inspiring!

I received this title as a digital ARC from NetGalley in return for a fair and honest review.

This book told in two voices provides the perspective of a woman fleeing Guatamala on the migrant highway, not once but twice, to save her life and those of her children. Rosayra makes the difficult decision twice to leave her home with some, but not all of her children. In turn, the voice of Immigrant Families Together (IFT) fills the second third of the book, portraying the initial efforts to save one migrant family and how the effort grew the social media, grassroots work of young mothers, and sheer persistence. This book moves between Eloy Detention Center and New York City courtrooms(primarily) giving an inside look into the emotion of one family seeking asylum and the nascent organization trying to provide it.

The powerful life story of Rosy and how she managed her childhood, to the loss of her husband, to the attempted murder of her own life, and then all of the tragedies she faced during the immigration crack down.

I devoured this book. I could not stop reading it. I have never gone through or been in the position the author was, however, I strongly believe this is in indeed an accurate representation of what people at the border experience. I know it could be seem as cliche or easy to say for me, but I admire when people like Rosy share their experiences, when they are brave enough or feel compelled to do something about it. Somehow, help the others that are living the same pain and suffering to have hope.

For us readers, it is a way to better understand and not easily judge or think all the people trying to cross the border are bad people, like they want us to believe. I can only imagine how hard and heartbreaking was for Rosy, and all the other moms there, to be separated from their children and for them as well, being without their moms, for such longs periods of times. Granted they are taking care of but is it not the same.

This certainly won't be the last book I will be reading on the subject of immigration, border stories, border separation. I want to know of other people's stories and better educated myself. I think we as a society have the responsibility to understand that behind the pain, the suffering, the difficulties, are real people and we have an obligation not to judge but understand and be more compassionate.

I found this gripping, heartbreaking and inspiring - the story of a Guatemalan woman's journey to cross the border to the US with her two children and the New York women who banded together to help her after Trump's cruel family separation policy tore them apart. A window into the complex, courageous people who seek asylum and the power of grassroots activism.

This book is about a refugee from Guatemala and her family. It is narrated by Rosy, the immigrant, and Julie, the woman behind Immigrants Family Together (IFT). IFT is an organization which reunites families separated by Trump’s policies.. Rosy’s journey from her home to New York City where her sons have been relocated is harrowing and powerful. Julie’s transformation from stay at home mom to activist is also revealed. This was a very informative and interesting story which everyone should read. Thank you to HarperOne and NetGalley for this ARC.

I received a free ARC of The Book of Rosy from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

The Book of Rosy: A Mother's Story of Separation at the Border reveals the heart-wrenching true story of a Guatemalan migrant mother and two of her children as they seek freedom in the United States. It's been months since the cable news channels have focused on the cruelties and deprivations of the makeshift border camps where children are forcibly removed from their parents. The news cycle may have moved on to the presidential race but the issues presented in this timely memoir still exist. One part of this book reveals the perilous journey of Rosy and her family to the United States, the terrifying ordeal of imprisonment and separation at Homeland Security border camps, and the subsequent unexpected kindness of strangers and communities who rally to support Rosy while she undergoes the legal hoopla called asylum. The other part of this book explains the origins and steadfastness of groups in this country that are determined to ameliorate the cruelty of the current administration's immigration policies.

Rosy is the widowed mother of four children in Guatemala. Her husband had been murdered and her life was nearly taken. Drug and gang violence, poverty, and constant uncertainty surround her family. The only saving graces she has - her devoted extended family and a work ethic focused on improving her family's chances for survival. Fearing for her older son's safety in a gang-ridden environment, Rosy leaves her two daughters with her mother and sister and begins the perilous journey north with her two boys. The coyote system of human transport is reminiscent of cattle cars headed to Auschwitz; they are overcrowded and filled with anguished, hungry and thirsty people. At times the migrants are uncertain if they will survive the journey.

A desperate race across the border results in Rosy and her children taken into custody by border patrol. Separated from her children and placed in an ice-cold cell with other women is just the beginning of Rosy's nightmarish experience with US regulations. In a short time, Rosy's boys are taken to New York for foster care while she languishes in the camp with no sure mechanism for aid. It is sheer luck that places Rosy in contact with a lawyer who seeks to reunite mothers and their children. Volunteers across the US and countless others who donate financially enable Rosy to be released on bond and reunited with her children. Unfortunately, their future is still uncertain.

The section of the book dealing with the rather spontaneous creation of "Immigrant Families Together" and its mission to help mothers separated from their children is quite powerful. The grassroots organization provides assistance to Rosy and others without a guidebook or a set of by-laws; its members know they must do something to help. It is humbling to read of such persistence in the face of political evil.

Despite the horrors that Rosy and others have faced at the hands of our government, they express a hope and a dream that is shared by so many - and by our own immigrant ancestors. Read this book!
#TheBookofRosy #NetGalley

Wow. It is so hard to formally write a who’re because I am speechless. This book is probably my best read of 2020. I cried, I worried, and I cried again. It is such a moving story of strength and persistence. A mother’s love knows no boundaries. I will be recommending this to everyone I know. Love it.

This book is important and I think everyone needs to read it! Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy. Rosy's story is happening to so many other victims of this barbaric policy and people need to read what's really going on. This book does that in a dramatic fashion while still telling the truth of a "dirty little secret" in this country. It wasn't political, but you knew exactly what was going on. The author's did an excellent job of portraying this woman and her victimization in a way that didn't force you to choose sides. I love when a book really makes me think and this one definitely did. Again, thanks for the opportunity to read this future bestseller!