Where We Come From / Oscar Cásares - 4.5****

[Book Concierge]

Where We Come From – Oscar Cásares
4.5****

The setting is Brownsville, Texas, a border town with a mean reputation as a haven for human traffickers and drug runners. Some of the reputation is based in fact. But it’s also a community of hard-working, middle-class people who want nothing but a safe home for their children, decent schools, good roads, a thriving business district and reliable city services. Cásares focuses on one such family.

Nina is the only daughter, and now in her early 60s finds herself living with her invalid mother, having been forced by her older brothers (who are all married with families of their own) to abandon her teaching career and her own house to “do her duty as the only girl.” When her maid asks for a favor, Nina agrees. A small pink house at the back of their property was to be a rental property, but it’s empty, and Rumalda wonders if her sister-in-law and niece could stay there for a day or two. Nina agrees and becomes ensnared in a group of human smugglers. When her 13-year-old godson comes for an extended visit, she’s in a panic lest he discover her secret.

I really enjoyed this exploration of a complex issue. There are multiple layers to the novel and much fodder for discussion, from the many instances of mother/child relationships in all their variety and nuance, to the vivid descriptions of a landscape that is very familiar to me, to the bursts of humor, to the fear of discovery, to the loneliness each of them suffers, and to the fanciful flight of parrots who cross the man-made border at will. (Yes, the river is natural, but it’s man who made it a border between nations.)

I had the pleasure to participating in an author event via Zoom courtesy of my local independent book store. That discussion made me appreciate the novel even more.