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Title: Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail by Ruben Martinez ISBN: 0-312-42123-0 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 07 September, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.36 (45 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Page Turner
Comment: Ruben Martinez's "Crossing Over" took me pleasantly off guard. I expected to learn, and given the topic, I assumed the book would be moving. What I didn't expect was a comprehensive book presenting the entire migrant experience. He paints a poignant image of the political, economic, and social ramifications of "crossing the line." Martinez not only exposes their lives in the United States, but delves into history and culture, a part of people's experience that is too often overlooked. Martinez accomplishes this by dedicating a good portion of the book to Mexican culture and describing their lives in Cheran. I completed the book with a sense of understanding for why Mexicans take such risks and brave the migrant trail. In addition, I learned how immigration to the United States is changing Mexico. Without this foundation, my understanding of the migrant experience would be incomplete.
A reader comes away with a sense of how this supposed "problem" is actually perpetuated by America's split personality toward Mexican immigration. Due to our economy's dependence on cheap labor and continued ties between migrants and their homeland, the Mexican-American border is surprisingly porous. This is demonstrated through Rosa's experience. After many failed attempts to cross the border, being caught several times but never arrested, she eventually made it. This illustrates the U.S.'s contradictory stance on the issue; although efforts are made to stop these migrants, they can come to our country if they persist and risk their lives. This is solidified when Rosa's family is compensated for the death of her brothers. By doing so, the Border Patrol accepts responsibility for what happens at the border, but not nearly to the extent deserved. This message directly contradicts the notions most Americans entertain about illegal immigration and migrant workers.
Of the many nuances Martinez revealed about migrant immigration, the change Mexican women experience after coming to the United States was particularly interesting. Both Rosa and Reyna had experiences that never could have happened in Mexico. They grew more independent, explored further education, owned property, chose their spouses, and became leaders, paving the road for their children to have more opportunities. Whether their sacrifices were worth these accomplishments, Martinez can't say, but he provides real experiences and depth to the issue.
I recommend this book to any person who cares to be aware of, although through the limitations of a book, their fellow Americans. Actually, I think it should be a prerequisite for those who don't care to understand, because they need exposure to this issue the most. This country and the faces of "Americans" are changing rapidly; the only hope for cohesion is mutual understanding. Of the many intentions and motivations Martinez had for "Crossing Over," I imagine this is the strongest. He is on the right track.
Rating: 4
Summary: The Migrant Trail
Comment: The book, Crossing Over: A Mexican Family on the Migrant Trail by Ruben Martinez, focused on an intriguing and a relevant subject in today¡¯s society. The first part of the novel focuses on the Chavez who lose three brothers in a crash in the United States when they are going to the fields to work for the summer. When the brothers are killed, the family is deeply affected and so is the whole town. The author does a nice job of depicting of how the Americans responded to this accident and the people back home. As a book filled with images of the hardships the illegal and legal migrant face when facing their journeys to America, the author does a good job of focusing on this difficult topic.
As a reader who was excited about this book, I learned about the difficulties individuals face when trying to get across the border. There are so many loopholes that are created for the migrant workers, from the coyotes all the way to their final destination. At each step of the way, the individual faces a life or death situation. Many of these migrant workers end up being slaves and they are cut off from communication with their family. This creates pain for the family back home and the individuals who are waiting for them in the United States. By showing the reader the difficulties one has to face when looking for success in America, one understands why many of these individuals have social and psychological problems.
The aspects of this book that were powerful to me are how the author can paint such a vivid picture of the hardships the migrant workers face. The author shows the struggle the migrant faces back home and the struggles they face in America. Each and every single can mean that they will live or they will die. The migrant has to come up with finances to pay for their journey, not knowing whether they will make it or not. The individual also has to face the fact that family members will be home, while they are in America; this creates psychological problems for the individual. Crossing over and being safe is the ultimate goal, unfortunately one also has to realize the dangers they will face on this incredible and dangerous journey.
As an aspiring teacher, this book can shed light on the students who have migrant family situations and show the stress they have to deal with. One can realize how migrant families are moving back and forth, trying to figure out what they afford to do. The children are put into a situation where survival is the key for them and no wonder they can sometimes miss school for months and then come back. Educators often don¡¯t have the time to realize what these children are going through. This book does a nice job of showing how survival and education have a hard time blending.
Rating: 5
Summary: Honest and insightful.
Comment: I'm glad I read this book. Although I traveled through Mexico in the summer of 2003, I learned far more about the Mexican way of life from this book. It does three things well: it creates the flavor of Mexican poverty without becoming sentimental; it shows the brutal transition from a tradition of self-sufficient hopelessness to cheap American values; and it does both of these by looking intimately at a few Mexican families. I was impressed by the author's ability to strip off a culture's surface in order to reveal both its oppression and its integrity. - Michael Squires
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Title: Coyotes: A Journey Through the Secret World of America's Illegal Aliens by Ted Conover ISBN: 0394755189 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 August, 1987 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Across the Wire : Life and Hard Times on the Mexican Border by Luis Urrea ISBN: 0385425309 Publisher: Anglophone Sa Pub. Date: 12 December, 1992 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: By the Lake of Sleeping Children by Luis Urrea ISBN: 0385484194 Publisher: Anchor Pub. Date: 01 September, 1996 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Balm in Gilead: Journey of a Healer by Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot ISBN: 0140249672 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: September, 1995 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: The Other Side : Notes from the New L.A., Mexico City, and Beyond by Ruben Martinez ISBN: 0679745912 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 04 May, 1993 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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