This novel left me feeling a little ho hum but a handful of other women in my church read it and loved it. I'm curious about what others think. The book includes two parallel stories, one of a woman in Texas who cannot conceive a baby and the other of a Honduran girl who, after her grandmother dies, makes a desperate journey across Mexico to try to unite with her mother in the US. I had a hard time with the Texas woman. She befriended a troubled high school girl, but didn't offer her much guidance. She crosses paths with the Honduran girl at the end of the book but I was disappointed that their relationship didn't really develop. Maybe I'm being unrealistic in my expectations for us middle-class Americans. I likely wouldn't have done better than the Texas woman did. I guess I was just hoping for heroism. So, although, I feel that (especially in our current climate) this book is worth reading, I've read two non-fiction books following refugees from Central America to the US that I would recommend over this one: Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario (on 2008 UMW RP list) The Faraway Brothers by Lauren Markham (not a UMW book)
The book includes two parallel stories, one of a woman in Texas who cannot conceive a baby and the other of a Honduran girl who, after her grandmother dies, makes a desperate journey across Mexico to try to unite with her mother in the US.
I had a hard time with the Texas woman. She befriended a troubled high school girl, but didn't offer her much guidance. She crosses paths with the Honduran girl at the end of the book but I was disappointed that their relationship didn't really develop. Maybe I'm being unrealistic in my expectations for us middle-class Americans. I likely wouldn't have done better than the Texas woman did. I guess I was just hoping for heroism.
So, although, I feel that (especially in our current climate) this book is worth reading, I've read two non-fiction books following refugees from Central America to the US that I would recommend over this one:
Enrique's Journey by Sonia Nazario (on 2008 UMW RP list)
The Faraway Brothers by Lauren Markham (not a UMW book)