My Side of the River: A Memoir

It took me a little bit to settle into this memoir, mostly because of some of the writing choices Camarillo Gutierrez makes, but I very much enjoyed it. (And thank you, Libby, for having two books I put on hold months apart come up together -- Parachute Kids and My Side of the River were a great pairing for both the similarities and the differences.)

Camarillo Gutierrez doesn't seem entirely clear on who her audience is, but that's absolutely fine with a memoir; some of them are written just to get it all on paper, and while I don't think that's what happened here, a memoir is maybe the only form of writing that can work even without a sense of the audience. I do wish she'd decided whether or not she expected her readers to know a show more little Spanish; it took me a while to adjust to her style of dialogue. If someone was speaking Spanish in the book, she put the Spanish first and then the English. I don't speak Spanish, but I can read it enough to follow the Spanish in this book, and for the first few chapters, it felt like everyone was repeating themselves constantly. On the other hand, she didn't translate the occasional random Spanish word at all, which I assume would be a bit of a roadblock for someone who spoke no Spanish.

Camarillo Gutierrez does a great job of conveying a life lived at great risk, but she still seems pretty distanced from her own emotions about it -- totally understandable, given that she had to distance herself to survive what happened to her, and then to get to where she wanted to be. She talks about telling her story over and over, in college applications, in job interviews, in applications for her brother, in her TED talk, to the point where she became numb to what she was saying, and some of that numbness does come through in the book. But, again, that works; the book itself demonstrates everything she's describing. (She also talks about how she turned her trauma into gold, and I think that's what the book is doing, in addition to talking about the horrible choices and extreme trauma our brutal immigration system requires.)

Overall, a really solid read. show less

nonfiction/memoir - viral TEDtalker relates life story: born in the US to Mexican parents who would later be denied re-entry to the US when they tried to renew their visas, Elizabeth would, from the age of 14, have to maintain her outstanding academic record while living without family in the US, get accepted into multiple Ivy league schools, and support herself and her family (including a younger brother that needed a US education apart from their parents) through the demands of college and employment.
The author is a skilled writer and storyteller, well practiced in presenting her story (which in itself is remarkable) for maximum effect. A valuable perspective on an always timely topic. Would recommend.

As a former public high school librarian I met many teens who faced the real fear that this could happen to them. My concern for these young people remains a high priority and forms the basis of my desire for real, meaningful changes to our immigration problem/rules. It should also be possible to keep out the cartels and criminals. The citizens and future citizens deserve nothing less. People who want to come to the US as citizens should have a reasonable way to do so without being caught in the illegal net.

I encourage all to read books like this (especially the real stories of people caught in this web) and force our government to deal with this situation.

FROM NETGALLEY: Elizabeth Camarillo Gutierrez reveals her experience as the U.S. show more born daughter of immigrants and what happened when, at fifteen, her parents were forced back to Mexico in this galvanizing yet tender memoir.

Born to Mexican immigrants south of the Rillito River in Tucson, Arizona, Elizabeth had the world at her fingertips. She was preparing to enter her freshman year of high school as the number one student when suddenly, her own country took away the most important right a child has: the right to have a family.

When her parents’ visas expired and they were forced to return to Mexico, Elizabeth was left responsible for her younger brother, as well as her education. Determined to break the cycle of being a “statistic,” she knew that even though her parents couldn’t stay, there was no way she could let go of the opportunities the U.S. could provide. Armed with only her passport and sheer teenage determination, Elizabeth became what her school would eventually describe as an unaccompanied homeless youth, one of thousands of underage victims affected by family separation due to broken immigration laws. show less

This was a very interesting memoir, and gave some good perspectives about immigrants coming to America for opportunities they didn't have back home.