Enrique's Journey

Enrique's Journey

3.8 of 5 stars 3.80  ·  rating details  ·  2,718 ratings  ·  659 reviews
In this astonishing true story, award-winning journalist Sonia Nazario recounts the unforgettable odyssey of a Honduran boy who braves unimaginable hardship and peril to reach his mother in the United States.
When Enrique is five years old, his mother, Lourdes, too poor to feed her children, leaves Honduras to work in the United States. The move allows her to send money ba...more
Paperback, 336 pages
Published January 2nd 2007 by Random House Trade Paperbacks (first published February 21st 2006)
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Ryan
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." Her plan is to work hard, save m...more
Mel
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 sentral yang dice...more
Ms. Montaño
Sep 14, 2008 Ms. Montaño rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: all educators and people interested in learning about immigration
Recommended to Ms. Montaño by: Professors at UCLA
"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 to risk h...more
Diana
Mar 13, 2008 Diana rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who want to know more about immigration that just what happens at our border
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 that prey on migrants...
-Speak...more
Blair Easton
Aug 19, 2007 Blair Easton rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: wants to know what motivates immigrants
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 his pain. He...more
Caz Margenau
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
Jessica
Mar 23, 2008 Jessica rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: people who live in the US.
Recommended to Jessica by: Kent Bassett
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.
But...more
Amber
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
Cammi
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? What wou...more
Meliana
Dec 01, 2008 Meliana rated it 4 of 5 stars  ·  review of another edition Recommends it for: everyone who cares for imimgrants
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 mendeportasi kembali...more
Susan
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 countries of origin.
Jenny GB
A moving story about a boy's journey from Honduras to the United States to reunite with his mother after over a decade apart. This book is a really eye opening look at how poverty and the rise of divorce is tearing apart families in Central America. As more women are single mothers they find themselves unable to care for their children's basic needs and many are making the difficult decision to illegally immigrate to the United States to find work so that they can support their children. However...more
Sarina HB
1) This book is about a character named Enrique. His mother Lourdes left him and their hometown in Honduras to immigrate illegaly to the U.S. and get a job so that she could send money back home and provide a better life for her family. Enrique misses his mother very much and wants to go to the U.S. and be with her. This book is about his journey across central america and mexico to get to the U.S. On this journey he encounters many dangerous people and other obsticles that sometimes end up havi...more
Enrique Macias
This book Called Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario. This book is about latin Americans family that come to the United Stades to have a better life. In Mexico most of the times parents leave there kids in mexico to come over here but don't think that they come over here because they don't like them or something. Mexican Parents come to the U.S.A for one reason and that reason is there kids. In this book there a short story about a kid name Enrique. Well what happen to him is that when he was li...more
Carol
An amazing story told with passion and first hand experience. Ms. Nazario does her journalism profession proud, although she certainly put her life at risk to research this story.

The life of Enriqué, an illegal immigrant child, making his way from Honduras to the States to find his mother, reads like a suspense-filled action thriller. It is just that, but sadly it is true. After numerous thwarted attempts, putting his life in danger and losing virtually everything but the shirt on his back he fi...more
Jill Boyd
I learned so much from this book. It's a great story about Enrique who travels from Hondurus to America via foot, train, boat, car and a lot of brain power. If that kid set out to do anything in this world, he could probably do it just by shear determination. This story needs to be told so we can understand where some of our new immigrant friends are coming from. I was touched by the generous and brave people who help immigrants along the way. The eccentric priest is a great story of love in act...more
Tiana Jacquez
The first time I have heard about this book was at the library about a week ago. I was going to the computers to print projects that had been doinng at the time. My mother who is always at the books trying to find what to read next was just walking past the newer books. She happened to look down and seen this book -"Enrique'z Journey"-. She had gotten it and another copy for us to read together and talk about what we have read after. At first i was skeptical I didnt want to read it at all, I was...more
Cheryl
In Enrique’s Journey, author Sonia Nazario details the true experiences of a young Honduran boy as he attempts to cross the border into the United States to reunite with his mother, Lourdes. In an effort to escape extreme poverty and starvation, and to provide a better life for her two young children, Lourdes, a single mother, decided to leave Honduras and try to find work in the U.S. She left her children with relatives and promised to return in a few years. Eleven years later, Enrique found hi...more
Bob Jones
This book is a modern day Odyssey - the tale of a 17 year old boy making the perilous journey to America from his home in Honduras, to reconnect with his mother. It's a very gripping story, told in short, easily digestible sentences and paragraphs, that really manages to convey the struggles and epic scope of the modern tale of immigration. The author tells in the intro and epilogue of how she did the journey herself, and interviewed many of the people Enrique met along the way. Her research def...more
Justin Mandia
I thought that this book really did an amazing job in exposing some of the misconceptions that come along with being an immigrant in today's society. Upon reading this book, I found myself thinking of broader scoping questions, not just about the journey that Enrique took and his constant struggle, but about the issue of immigration as a whole. As a 20 year old who will be voting for the first time in the upcoming election, I found myself becoming more and more interested in Nazario's penetratin...more
Christy
Let me start by saying that I am not an avid reader of non-fiction. That being said, Enrique's Journey was a good introduction into non-fiction for me. I think they content of this book made me rethink my views on immigration, seeing it from a first-hand point of view made it more realistic and made me more sympathetic to the harsh reality that hundreds upon thousands take every year to find a safe haven, a job, family members or to escape harsh conditions they currently live in. What stood out...more
Lauren
Enrique's Journey was a great nonfiction "true" story that deals with the central idea of immigration and the many struggles that go with such an important issue in today's world. Enrique struggles with family,drugs, relationships and his life all together. He is trying to find himself and his mother as he heads north to the United States traveling on the dangerous trains.His courage through such torture as he struggles to get to the United States is remarkable but some of his life decisions sho...more
Kirsten Corcoran
Apr 05, 2012 Kirsten Corcoran rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: High school educators and students
This book was very interesting, if a bit confusing at times. Though titled "Enrique's Journey", the book is not solely about Enrique, but rather includes anecdotes from other migrants as well as townspeople from the towns through which the train passes. Though these anecdotes are interesting and allow you to gain further perspective on the difficulties of riding the train, they can be a bit hard to follow, as well as gruesome.
That being said, it in no way detracts from the overall feeling of th...more
Judy Sides
Enrique's Journey is a must read for, well just about anyone. Certainly educators need to read this book in order to understand the backgrounds and life experience of migrant children who may be in their classes. More than that, everyone needs to understand the complexities of illegal immigration. The value of this book is that, rather than taking a side in the immigration debate, it just lays out the truth - the whole truth, framed by one family's experience. First and foremost, we need to unde...more
Emiko Houck
Enrique's Journey left me thankful for my freedom in America. It also left me bewildered at the dangerous and desperate measures migrant children take to feel their mother's love again. They leave everything behind and yet, they are continuously chased only to be robbed, beaten, and raped. Despite numerous failed attempts, the migrants are persistent and become stronger with each failure. Enrique "tells himself over and over that he'll just have to try again".

Latino families value family. It wa...more
Nichole Caton
Although I did learn a lot about immigration and the dangers that people face while attempting to better their lives and to be with their families, I was very distracted by the journalistic approach that the author uses to tell Enrique's story. (I know I know, she is a journalist after all...). Unfortunately, I thought it was very dry and if it were to have been written differently I could have 1. Read it faster and 2. been able to become emotionally taken by what was happening and relate to the...more
Kerri
As cliché as it may sound, this book truly is an “eye-opener.” For once, the immigration situation is not reduced to cold, uncaring numbers and statistics. Sonia Nazario brings us the true story of Enrique, a boy who made the long journey from his home in Central America to North Carolina to find his mother. The untold dangers that the immigrants, many of them young children, face on their way to America are almost unimaginable. It is unthinkable to realize we live such different lives. At times...more
Lisa
I found this book at the library book sale, and I'm so glad I read it. The author did an amazing job making a true story come alive, and helping us better understand the difficult choices so many people face. I appreciate her efforts to put a face and a name to the issue of illegal immigration, so we can understand this issue in all of its complexity.

This is a book I'll long remember, and it truly changed my views of the many people who live in our country as illegal immigrants. I hope the book...more
Shirley Freeman
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 here for more t...more
Megan
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 travel a...more
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Fiction Lover's B...: * Enrique's Journey, by Sonia Nazario 1 2 Oct 18, 2012 09:20am  
Enrique's Journey 1 11 Apr 07, 2012 07:01pm  
I did not like this book at all...... 1 17 Mar 05, 2012 11:07am  
Enrique's Journey (Hardcover)
Enrique's Journey (Hardcover)
Enrique’s Journey (Paperback)
Enrique's Journey (Hardcover)
La Travesia de Enrique (Paperback)

Enriques Journey Enrique's Journey: The True Story of a Boy Determined to Reunite with His Mother Travesia de Enrique, La

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