The non-fiction book, Enrique's Journey, by Pulitzer Prize winner, Sonia Nazario, tells the riveting and often harrowing story of Enrique, a Honduran teenager, who risks his life in order to reunite with his mother, Lourdes, in the United States. This true story mirrors the experience of many illegal migrants, drawn to the United States by the prospect of the American Dream as well as the desire to reclaim the love of lost, idealized parents. Their odysseys north are marked by peril: rapists, the betrayals of "coyotes" and smugglers, drug trafficking, violent crime, bodily mutilation, and even death.
This story made me reflect on the heart-wrenching sacrifices and trade-offs that parents make in the name of the greater good, and the way that their economic choices--ensuring a higher standard of living for their children and relatives--also disintegrate family stability and further unravel the societal fabric of their home country. There's horrible irony in the fact that undocumented migrants, particularly women, represent a high percentage of American domestic help, serving as nannies to strangers' children, yet have abandoned their own sons and daughters. While Enrique's quest is successful, the ending's more bittersweet than fairy-tale. One senses that the long separation between mother and son has permanently fractured their relationship--perhaps irreparably so. In addition, although Enrique berates Lourdes for leaving him at such a young age, like his mother, he too leaves his young toddler to the foster care of relatives in Honduras, continuing the cycle of abandonment and orphaned children.
To find out more about the book, visit http://www.enriquesjourney.com/.
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