(POLL BALLOT) The Only Road / Alexandra Diaz - 5***** and a ❤

[Book Concierge]

The Only Road – Alexandra Diaz
Digital audiobook performed by Ramon de Ocampo.
5***** and a ❤

Twelve-year-old Jaime and his fifteen-year-old cousin, Angela, are forced to flee their Guatemalan village due to the Alpha gang’s terrorizing families in their area. Their families make the heart-wrenching decision to send the youngsters to America to live with Jaime’s older brother after Angela’s brother is killed by the gang for refusing to join. The novel details their harrowing journey through Mexico, where they encounter other gangs, as well as officials who do not want the refugees in their country.

It’s a powerful story and very well told. I loved these characters! The dangers they face include robbery, beatings, incarceration, hunger, lack of shelter, and various threats from both fellow refugees and local inhabitants they encounter on this 1,500-mile long journey. Having little more than a small bag of provisions, a sewing kit, some money sewn into the seams of their clothes, a crude map with some information on safe houses along the way, and Jaime’s sketchbook, they find in themselves courage, inventiveness, tenacity and compassion. A few of their fellow refugees have made the attempt before and they learn quickly from them a few tricks to be able to pass as Mexicans. Other fellow refugees turn out to be almost as dangerous as the gangs that control various territories they pass through. Despite the many dangers they face, they cling to hope and to the telephone number they’ve memorized – so they can call Jaime’s older brother if / when they make it across the border to the USA.

Because this is for the young adult market the book is probably less horrific that the realities, though it still alludes to the many dangers such refuges face. Threats of injury, dismemberment or death when boarding a moving train, for example. The possibility of assault and rape from gangs that “patrol” the tracks. The lack of food, water or shelter as they make their way through a desert landscape.

Ramon de Ocampo does a marvelous job of narrating the audiobook. He sets a good pace and gives the young characters reasonably “young” voices. Diaz includes a number of Spanish words / phrases in the text (there is a glossary / dictionary at the back), and Ocampo’s pronunciation of Spanish is spot on. (Though I can’t really speak to whether he sounds Guatemalan vs Mexican.)




LINK to my review