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2017 | Philosophy, Psychology & Social Sciences
A moving, eye-opening polemic about the US-Mexico border and what happens to the tens of thousands of unaccompanied Mexican and Central American children arriving in the US without papers
‘We are driving across Oklahoma in early June when we first hear about the waves of children arriving, alone and undocumented, from Mexico and Central America. Tens of thousands have been detained at the border. What will happen to them? Where are the parents? And why have they undertaken a terrifying, life-threatening journey to enter the United States?’
Valeria Luiselli works as a volunteer at the federal immigration court in New York City, translating for unaccompanied migrant children. Out of her work has come this book – a search for answers and an urgent appeal for humanity and compassion in response to mass migration, the most significant global phenomenon of our time.
‘Harrowing, intimate, quietly brilliant’ New York Times
‘The first must-read book of the Trump era’ Texas Observer
‘Angry and affecting. A slight book with a big impact’ Financial Times
‘There are many books addressing the plight of refugees. Tell Me How It Ends – lucid, plain-speaking and authoritative – is one of the most powerful’ Big Issue
Valeria Luiselli
(Author)
| Published by | 4th Estate |
| Edition | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9780008271923 |
| Language | English |
social sciences
Main Image Courtesy: 4th Estate.
Background Image Courtesy: 4th Estate.
Images And Data Courtesy Of: 4th Estate.
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Suswatibasu (1703 KP) rated
Jan 3, 2018
Based on her experiences working as an interpreter for dozens of Central American child migrants, she speaks to those who risked their lives crossing Mexico to escape their fraught existence back home. To stay in the US, each must be vetted by the Citizenship and Immigration Services, a vast, impersonal bureaucracy. It's her job to help these kids, but in order to do so, they must answer 40 questions that will determine their fate.
The truth about the crossing may be much more brutal in reality, with 80% of women and girls who cross from Mexico to the US being raped, hence some of the children appear evasive when answering questions. But this book is fueled, in no small part, by Luiselli's bottles up shame and rage. She's aghast at the gap between American ideals and the way they actually treat undocumented children, yet her writing is measured and fair-minded.
Luiselli takes us inside the grand dream of migration, offering the valuable reminder that exceedingly few immigrants abandon their past and brave death to come to America for dark or nasty reasons. Fantastic read.
