The Book of Unknown Americans Quotes

“We're the unknown Americans, the ones no one even wants to know, because they've been told they're supposed to be scared of us and because maybe if they did take the time to get to know us, they might realize that we're not that bad, maybe even that we're a lot like them. And who would they hate then?”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“I felt the way I often felt in this country - simultaneously conspicuous and invisible, like an oddity whom everyone noticed but chose to ignore”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“People do what they have to in this life. We try to get from one end of it to the other with dignity and with honor. We do the best we can.”
― Cristina Henrxedquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“You shouldn't want to be like everyone else. Then you wouldn't be like you.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“Because a place can do many things against you, and if it’s your home or if it was your home at one time, you still love it. That’s how it works.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“I learned something about grief. I had heard people say that when someone dies, it leaves a hole in the world. But it doesn't, I realized. Arturo was still everywhere. Something would happen and I would think, Wait until I tell Arturo. I kept turning around, expecting to see him. If he had disappeared completely, I thought, it might be easier. If I had no knowledge that he had ever existed, no evidence that he was ever part of our lives, it might have been bearable. And how wrong that sounded: part of our lives. As if he was something with boundaries, something that hadn't permeated us, flowed through us and in us and all around us. I learned something about grief. When someone dies, it doesn't leave a hole and that's the agony.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“English was such a dense, tight language. So many hard letters, like miniature walls. Not open with vowels the way Spanish was. Our throats open, our mouths open, our hearts open. In English, the sounds were closed. They thudded to the floor. And yet, there was something magnificent about it. Profesora Shields explained that in English there was no usted, no tu. There was only one word—you. It applied to all people. No one more distant or more familiar. You. They. Me. I. Us. We. There were no words that changed from feminine to masculine and back again depending on the speaker. A person was from New York. Not a woman from New York, not a man from New York. Simply a person.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“Maybe it’s the instinct of every immigrant, born of necessity or of longing: Someplace else will be better than here. And the condition: if only I can get to that place.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“Sleep was like wealth, elusive and for other people.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“The truth was that I didn’t know which I was. I wasn’t allowed to claim the thing I felt and I didn’t feel the thing I was supposed to claim.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“I know some people here think we’re trying to take over, but we just want to be a part of it. We want to have our stake. This is our home, too.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“You can come back one day. Or I could come there."
"Maybe."
"I could find you."
"Finding is for the things that are lost. You don't need to find me, Mayor.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“What if God wants us to be happy? What if there’s nothing else around the bend? What if all our unhappiness is in the past and from here on out we get an uncomplicated life? Some people get that, you know. Why shouldn’t it be us?”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“We stood side by side and looked out at the vastness, the possibility of everything out there. Within the universe, I felt like a speck, but within myself I felt gigantic, the salt air filling my lungs, the roaring of the waves rushing in my ears.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“People do what they have to in this life. We try to get from one end of it to the other with dignity and with honor. We do the best we can.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“I didn't want to accept that in order to move forward, I had to walk through it. It was so much easier just to believe there was another path I could take around it and that at the end of that path would be the destination I wanted. It would be easier to want to end up at a lie, instead of the truth.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“We would be thousands of miles apart from now on and we would go on with our lives and get older and change and grow, but we would never have to look for each other. Inside each of us, I was pretty sure, was a place for the other. Nothing that had happened and nothing that would ever happen would make that less true.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“I understood how easily and how quickly things could be snatched away.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“You have to believe that you’re entitled to happiness.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“Finding is for things that are lost. You don't need to find me, Mayor.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“I wanted her to have the full, long life that every parent promises his or her child by the simple act of bringing that child into the world.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“The characters were not unknown because they were illegal or didn't have the documents but because people didn't want to know them.”
― Cristina Henríquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“Sometimes I think I would rather just remember it in my head, all those streets and the places I loved. The way it smelled of car exhaust and sweet fruit. The thickness of the heat. The sound of dogs barking in alleyways. That's the Panama I want to hold on to. Because a place can do many things against you, and if it's your home or if it was your home at one time, you still love it. That's how it works.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“We left a lot of things behind - not only physical objects, but our friends and of course our families, pieces of ourselves - all for the chance to see that light in Maribel's eyes. It's been difficult, yes, but I would do it all again. People do what they have to do in this life. We try to get from one end of it to the other with dignity and with honor. We do the best we can.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“I came from México, but there’s a lot of people here who, when they hear that, they think I crawled out of hell.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“We’re the unknown Americans, the ones no one even wants to know, because they’ve been told they’re supposed to be scared of us and because maybe if they did take the time to get to know us, they might realize that we’re not that bad, maybe even that we’re a lot like them. And who would they hate then?”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“I'd spent my whole life feeling like that. Like everybody else was onto something that I couldn't seem to find, that I didn't even know existed.I wanted to figure it out, the secret to having the easy life that everyone else seemed to have, where they fit in and were good at everything they tried. Year after year, I waited for it all to fall into place--every September I told myself, This year will be different--but year after year, it was all just the same.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“When someone dies, it doesn't leave a hole, and that's the agony.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“It's in you,' my dad assured me once. 'You were born in Panamá. It's in your bones.'

I spent a lot of time trying to find it in me, but usually I couldn’t. I felt more American than anything, but even that was up for debate according to the kids at school who’d taunted me over the years, asking me if I was related to Noriega, telling me to go back through the canal. The truth was that I didn’t know which I was. I wasn’t allowed to claim the thing I felt and I didn’t feel the thing I was supposed to claim.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans

“You don’t understand,” my dad said. “They stop you.”

“Who? What are you talking about?” my mom asked.

“That’s why I was being cautious.”

“Who stops you?”

“The police. If you’re white, or maybe Oriental, they let you drive however you want. But if you’re not, they stop you.”

“Who told you that?”

“The guys at the diner. That’s what they say. If you’re black or if you’re brown, they automatically think you’ve done something wrong.”

“Rafa, that’s ridiculous. We’ve lived here for fifteen years. We’re citizens.”

“The police don’t know that by looking at us. They see a brown face through the windshield and boom! Sirens!”

My mom shook her head. “That’s what that was about?”

“I didn’t want to give them reason to stop me.”

“You were driving like a blind man, Rafa. That will give them reason to stop you.”

“Everybody else just has to obey the law. We have to obey it twice as well.”

“But that doesn’t mean you have to go twice as slow as everybody else!”

The light turned green and my dad brought the car out of first. We cruised under the overpass, a shadow draping over the car like a blanket.

“Next time, just try to blend in with everyone else and you’ll be fine,” my mom offered.

“The way of the world,” my dad said.

“What?” my mom asked as we emerged back into the sunlight.

“Just trying to blend in. That’s the way of the world.”

“Well, that’s the way of America, at least,” my mom said.”
― Cristina Henriquez, The Book of Unknown Americans