Despite the cover jacket acclaim, I would not call this novel a "'Grapes Of Wrath' for our times." It lacks the sweep, majestic scope and flowing prose that Steinbeck's genius had, as would be proven, even more so, thirteen years later ('Grapes' came out in 1939) with "East Of Eden."
However flawed Cummins writing style may be, at times, her sense of narrative structure is exceptional. But before getting into that, I would like to address the Political
Correctness Police, who thought Cummins should not have written this book, as she had never experienced any of it herself, let alone lived in "el barrio."
This is like saying Margaret Mitchell should never have authored "Gone With The Wind," because she never lived through the Civil War! Or that Emily Bronte, whom, as far as is known, never had a torrid love affair, so how could she have written "Wuthering Heights?"
How about Sidney Sheldon? He should have never written "The Other Side Of Midnight," because he was not a sexually depraved nymphomaniac, with an ice cube fetish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Art or trash, the point is, if these rules are adhered to, most of literature as we know it never would have been written. God help us readers if these rules are adhered to, in the future.
As for the work at hand, Miss Cummins crafts a very compelling narrative.
Lydia Perez, and her son Luca, just about witness their entire family being wiped out by a drug cartel at a niece's birthday party. Lydia owns a local bookshop, where she begins a quasi-romantic friendship with a man called Javier, who is handsome, cultured, and likes talking books with Lydia. But when Lydia discovers Javier is the head of the cartel that murdered her family, she knows she and Luca have to flee Mexico, and get to the United States, to be completely free.
The peril fraught journey they take, and the characters met along the way, including two sisters, Soledad and Rebeca, who are always just one step away from being sex trafficked, is when Cummin swings into drive. Her descriptions, if overly detailed and dense, are necessary, to make the reader feel what these poor people are going through, which is something none of them deserve. Death, accidents, and destruction from the elements, follow them every step of the way, and when Cummin is writing at full gallop, "American Dirt" is as compelling as it gets. The only trouble is, like the trains they ride, the book occasionally lets its momentum slow down, rather than maintaining pace.
But this, and Political Correctness is no reason not to read Cummins' character driven narrative.
In fact, I would say, for the sake of literature's preservation, and damn political correctness, read it!
The first satisfying book of the year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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