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Aug 16, 2011

Ryan rated it:

I learned a lot about illegal immigration from reading Sonia Nazario's Enrique's Journey. Nazario, a distinguished journalist for the Los Angeles Times very much takes a "features" approach in her writing, emphasizing the human stories and motivations that create the statistics.

It certainly makes for a compelling read. Enrique's story starts in Honduras with his mother, Lourdes. Lourdes cannot afford to feed and educate her children, so she leaves for "el norte." More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Nov 09, 2008

Mel rated it:

ok. setelah komentar latar saat mulai pembacaan buku ini bbrp hari lalu, kali ini komentar setelah bukunya tuntas dibaca. [akhirnya...]

bukunya memang banyak mengulas reportase sang pengarang yang memenangkan pulitzer di tahun 2003 tsb. bicara banyak isu tentang para migran dan segudang problema yang menyertainya. dari masalah kemiskinan hingga sistem yang korup. tapi terlepas dari semua data statistik dan isu-isu sosial yang disorot, saya mendapatkan kesan tersendiri dari tokoh sentr More...

18 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 15, 2011

Ms. Montaño rated it:

"Enrique's Journey" completely challenged my views on immigration and helped me identify the challenges that I face as a teacher. Sonia Nazario begins the book by providing a background of information on the immigration policies of the 80's and 90's. She then takes us to Honduras where a mother is about to leave her children so that she can come to the US and have a better life in order to provide a better life for her children. As the years go by, the mother is faced with the decision More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 13, 2008

Diana rated it:

Stuff I already knew:
-The US/Mexico border sucks and there are lots of shady people making lots of money off of it.
-People leave their countries and come to the US because they are dirt poor and can't support their families

Stuff I didn't already know but learned from this book:
-The Mexico/Guatemala border sounds like it's even worse than ours... not necessarily in terms of how difficult it is to cross, but rather, in the absolute brutality of the gangs and bandits More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Aug 19, 2007

Blair rated it:

True story from an "L.A. Times" reporter, who retraced the steps of Enrique, from Tegucigalpa, Honduras to North Carolina, to reunite with his mother. Enrique is born into a hot, poor life in Central America and by his early teens he's sniffing glue to get a buzz and kill hunger. His mom left him when he was 5, and has been sending money from California to he and his sister. But he still misses his mom. With his girlfriend pregnant, Enrique decides that finding his mother will stop More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 06, 2008

Caz rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 23, 2008

Jessica rated it:

Three stars. But, everybody in the US should read this book. I don't believe there is a competitor out there. I thought after 6 years of immigrant rights work that I knew something about the risks of getting to the US from Central America. I didn't. It drives home the violence of our failure to achieve amnesty, again, making it now 22 years since the last time folks were given the opportunity to come out of the shhadows, visit their families, travel home or north without risking their lives.
More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Oct 04, 2008

Amber rated it:

Everyone in the US should read this book in order to understand the dangerous journey that Central American immigrants make in order to work in the US. This is not a book that tries to persuade you to feel one way or another about immigration. It is simply about one boy´s journey through Mexico on top of trains and the perils that surround him. He has many flaws, but a deep desire to reunite with his mother (who immigrated to the US when he was 6) and to send money back home to his family in Hon More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Mar 19, 2008

Cammi rated it:

I absolutely loved this book and recommend it for everyone out there. It doesn't matter what you think or feel about the illegal immigration issue, you will never be the same after reading this book. It opened up my eyes and helped me understand some of the people that I encounter every single day. It also made me realize, yet again, how good I really do have it. What would lead a mother to leave her children to come to a foreign land, to face death and struggles beyond her imagination? Wha More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 01, 2008

Meliana rated it:

enrique's journey adalah buku perjalanan seorang remaja honduras bernama enrique yang berangkat ke u.s demi mencari ibunya. perjalanan ini dilakukan enrique dengan kereta api "el norte" (kereta api maut)yang artinya setiap saat harus mewaspadai para gangster yang menguasai kereta, berhati-hati supaya tidak terjauth dari atap kereta yang akan mengakibatkan kehilangan anggota badan, kelaparan setiap saat, pelecehan seksual, penganiayaan sampai ke polisi tukang peras yang siap mendeportas More...

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Jun 27, 2007

Susan rated it:

A harrowing account of a boy's journey from Honduras to be with his mother in North Carolina. He rode most of the way North on the tops of trains! The children of these workers feel keenly the loss of their parents and are driven to risk their lives to be re-united. Of course reunions do not guarantee "happily ever after", as Enrique and his mother discover, (to the sorrow of one and the disgust of the other)--it makes you understand the need for gainful employment in their countrie More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 21, 2011

Shirley rated it:

Supposedly a rating of 4 stars means "I really liked it." I gave this 4 stars because it is an amazing book but the topic is too tough to say that I 'really liked' it. Anyway, Nazario became interested in the plight of children from Central America and Mexico whose mothers leave them with relatives for years on end while they come to the United States to work. The mothers find low wage jobs here and still make enough to send money back to their children. But often the mothers are h More...

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Nov 08, 2011

Megan rated it:

I rated this a four for the amazing story, but I actually thought that the author's writing was a bit repetitive and bland at times. I had no idea that almost 100,000 Central American immigrants ride on the tops of trains through Mexico in order to reach the U.S. each year. The trip is extremely dangerous and many die or are injured. They are robbed and attacked by gangs, immigration officials, coyotes, police and others. They often have only the clothes on their backs, little money and trave More...

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Nov 07, 2011

Gabriela rated it:

This book is about a teen boy name Enrique who is planning on finding his mother in America. His mother needed to leave him and his sister behind in order to make money to sent to them and if possible bring them to America. Before him leaving sometimes his mom would call to check on him and his sisters where Enrique would try and tell her that he want to go find her but she wouldn’t allow it. Then when we about thirteen or fourteen he had enough that he went off and try to look for her in Americ More...

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Oct 07, 2011

Emma rated it:

Well, this book was certainly different from most things that I read nowadays. I received this book for free on my first day of college, as it was the "Go Big Read" selection for UW-Madison this year. So I thought, well hey, a free book. What could be better? I'm not one to pass up literature when it falls so "freely" into my hands. So, I gave it a shot. And yes, it was different from what I am used to, and yes, it was what I expected.

"Enrique's Journey More...

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Jul 29, 2011

Laurie added it

Sonia Nazario's account of a Enrique, a Honduran teenager, and his trip to the United States is searing in topicality (I believe the term is "torn out of the headlines") but at times gives us too much information about what happens when a Central American national decides to travel to "el norte." At times she loses her focus on Enrique, to the point that she leaves us wondering what happened to him.
Nonetheless, there is so much here to hold our interest. Nazario More...

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Jul 23, 2011

Rose rated it:

I actually read this book last year, but I remember it surprisingly well. It was kind of a difficult read, as I guess I'm not really used to reading journalistic-style writing. I wish it was written more as a narrative, but once I started to think of it more as a series of articles, it was easier for me to absorb. (If you haven't read it yet, you may find it helpful to take this approach, instead of expecting it to follow one consistent narrative story line.)
It was a really sad story, but v More...

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Apr 10, 2011

Bryan rated it:

To give her children a better life Lourdes emigrates alone from Honduras to the United States. She promises to return, but time passed and her children never saw her again. Growing up with out her mother was specially difficult to Enrique, who is far from that innocent 5 year old that his mother left 12 years ago. Although, Lourdes children have a better live with the money she sends, it is not enough to heal the pain caused by the absence of the live of a mother. So Enrique decides to reunite More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Mar 29, 2011

Kiersten rated it:

I really recommend this book to everyone. I gave it kind of a low rating because I'm not a huge fan of Nazario's writing style. It was very pared-down, almost minimalistic. I'm not saying that I wanted some flowery, Victor-Hugo-describing-roof-tops-for-100-pages thing, but it was a little too spare for me. It was, however, a fascinating book and showed humans at their very best and, unfortunately, their very worst. There were parts, describing the kindness that strangers showed to this boy on More...

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Mar 01, 2011

Melanie rated it:

Enrique’s Journey
Abandoning a child at a young age to migrate to another country is both tragic and heartbreaking, but in most cases, this becomes the only option for most parents. In the novel, Enrique’s Journey, the mother of a five year old boy decides to leave her life and her son behind in Honduras to seek opportunities in The United States. Enrique, the five year boy, was left with a father who wanted nothing to do with him and who started his own life wi More...

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Aug 13, 2010

Cesar rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Feb 18, 2010

mark rated it:

Enrique's journey is top-notch journalism. It began as an in-depth series for the LA Times and then Nazario went on to complete further research and turn it into an entire book. She uses one young man's incredible--but typical--experience immigrating from Honduras to the United States to shed light on one of the greatest migrations in American history.

Enrique's mother left for the US when he was 5 years old, an event that defined his life and inspired him to find her in the US on More...

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Jul 23, 2009

Ozimandias rated it:

I would give it about 4.5 stars actually. The only drawback for me is the third person narrative that takes away from the powerful immediacy of what is happening. This book would really open people's eyes if they bothered to find out the reasons for and consequences of illegal immigration on the lives of those who take the journey. Broken families are an epidemic in these countries, fathers and mothers who leave and never return. Enrique's story is heartbreaking and so is the fact that it contin More...

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Jun 04, 2009

Harun Harahap rated it:

Buku ni merupakan kisah nyata dari perjalanan Enrique..perjalanan nya menumpang kereta api maut menuju Amerika Serikat menemui ibunya, Dolores yang meninggalkannya saat ia kecil untuk merantau ke negeri orang untuk mendapatkan nafkah..

ni buku kelam banged..menyeramkan..mengenaskan..ihh iba gitu ngedenger perjalanan mereka..mesti melalui perjalanan yang "pahit" cuma untuk menemui ibu mereka..

dari buku ni gw melihat semuanya berawal dari kemiskinan..

ka More...

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Nov 25, 2008

Jorge rated it:

"Enrique's Journey" is an awe-inspiring book. Paula Nazario tells her readers about the hardships of Honduran children who go in search of their mothers. She tells this story from the eyes of Enrique, a young boy who's mother left him and his sister, Belky, to find work in the United States. Enrique, who wants to know if his mother still loves him, is determined to go to the United States.
Enrique and many other Honduran children travel to the United States More...

1 comment like

Jan 22, 2011

Lynnette rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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May 28, 2009

Tonya rated it:

Excellent book. I found it to be eye-opening as well as extremely thought provoking. I appreciate Nazario for successfully delivering a heart wrenching and sympathetic account of Enrique's and his family's stories yet still allowing the reader to feel that whichever side of the immigration issue he/she stands, it is ok as long as we realize the true matter is so gray and complicated... in no way black and white and obviously having no short term solutions. The only reason I gave 4 instead of More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 21, 2011

Kristin rated it:

I knew that crossing the border between Mexico and the U.S. was difficult, but I had no idea about the dangers that Central American migrants face before they even get to the border. Sonia Nazario tells the story of Enrique, a boy whose mother left him and his sister when he was five to find work in the United States because she could not make enough money to take care of her kids in Honduras. After feeling that no one cares about him, Enrique decides to travel on freight trains to the U.S. to More...

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Feb 14, 2011

Mari Anne rated it:

4 stars for a fascinating topic... 2 stars for execution... thus the overall average of 3 stars. This story of a Honduran boy trying to make it to his mother in the United states by riding the rails through Mexico was fascinating and horrifying. The abuse and torture that he and thousands others like him have to endure is absolutely astounding. This is a topic that I have never really thought about and for that I appreciate the author. However, the execution of the material left a lot to be More...

1 comment like

Sep 26, 2009

Aurora rated it:

With the unswerving gaze and clear, direct voice of an intrepid journalist, Sonia Nazario lays out the story of (and the many stories around) the harrowing trip made by Enrique, a Honduran teenager trying to get to the US to reunite with his mother. The five years of research that she did to put together this report included spending time among destitute families and church-run migrant shelters in Honduras and Mexico, riding the tops of the freight trains with the many Central Americans hoping t More...

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