readingwithhippos's review against another edition
4.0
I have now read back-to-back books that take somber subject matter and infuse it with light and warmth in unexpected ways. Earlier this week I wrote about [b:Crooked Heart|19546111|Crooked Heart|Lissa Evans|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1403645702s/19546111.jpg|27676536], set during the London Blitz, and today I bring to your attention the delightful and surprising Into the Beautiful North, a hybrid coming of age/quest novel about teenagers from rural Mexico crossing the border into the US illegally—for a reason you'd never expect.
The book blipped onto my radar thanks to the Big Read , a promotion in my fair city and others across the country in which everyone in town is encouraged to read the same book. Then there are public events and discussions about the book and its themes. While I'm not one for hobnobbing with strangers or touring art galleries, I was game for reading this year's selection, especially when I found out it was a title so topical and relevant. (I'm still not over the 2008 choice of My Antonia. If I wanted to encourage people to make reading a regular part of their lives, Willa Cather is not exactly the fresh, exciting starting point that comes to mind.)
Unlike the Cather bomb, Urrea's novel is an inspired choice. Main character Nayeli is a firecracker, short and cute but trained in martial arts and tougher than a boot. She lives in Tres Camarones, a tiny village in Sinaloa, Mexico. Nayeli's father, along with most of the men in the village, have left for the US to earn money, leaving Tres Camarones unprotected from the bandidos and corrupt cops that make their way through town. After a showing of The Magnificent Seven, Nayeli hatches a plan to recruit her own Magnificent Seven—she will go to the United States and find men who have left, like her father, and bring them back to Tres Camarones to revitalize the town.
So Nayeli sets off on her quest, along with her friends Vampi (so named due to her Goth proclivities), Yolo (short for Yoloxochitl), and Tacho (who named his bar “The Limp Wrist” in an effort to get ahead of those who would judge his sexuality). As you might guess, the friends' border crossing is rife with danger and tension—encounters with border agents and less than welcoming Americans—but it's also hilarious. Nayeli, Vampi, and Yolo are still teenage girls, despite the seriousness of their mission, and teenage girls are hard pressed not to swoon and shriek. It's just what they do.
Even if you've read other books about undocumented immigrants, you haven't read this playful riff on the theme before. Into the Beautiful North is a marvel of reinvention.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
The book blipped onto my radar thanks to the Big Read , a promotion in my fair city and others across the country in which everyone in town is encouraged to read the same book. Then there are public events and discussions about the book and its themes. While I'm not one for hobnobbing with strangers or touring art galleries, I was game for reading this year's selection, especially when I found out it was a title so topical and relevant. (I'm still not over the 2008 choice of My Antonia. If I wanted to encourage people to make reading a regular part of their lives, Willa Cather is not exactly the fresh, exciting starting point that comes to mind.)
Unlike the Cather bomb, Urrea's novel is an inspired choice. Main character Nayeli is a firecracker, short and cute but trained in martial arts and tougher than a boot. She lives in Tres Camarones, a tiny village in Sinaloa, Mexico. Nayeli's father, along with most of the men in the village, have left for the US to earn money, leaving Tres Camarones unprotected from the bandidos and corrupt cops that make their way through town. After a showing of The Magnificent Seven, Nayeli hatches a plan to recruit her own Magnificent Seven—she will go to the United States and find men who have left, like her father, and bring them back to Tres Camarones to revitalize the town.
So Nayeli sets off on her quest, along with her friends Vampi (so named due to her Goth proclivities), Yolo (short for Yoloxochitl), and Tacho (who named his bar “The Limp Wrist” in an effort to get ahead of those who would judge his sexuality). As you might guess, the friends' border crossing is rife with danger and tension—encounters with border agents and less than welcoming Americans—but it's also hilarious. Nayeli, Vampi, and Yolo are still teenage girls, despite the seriousness of their mission, and teenage girls are hard pressed not to swoon and shriek. It's just what they do.
Even if you've read other books about undocumented immigrants, you haven't read this playful riff on the theme before. Into the Beautiful North is a marvel of reinvention.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
scrow1022's review against another edition
5.0
Picaresque. Dreamlike. Playful. And then stayed with me, gently haunting.
shanviolinlove's review against another edition
5.0
A novel on Mexican migration primed me for a narrative fraught with graphic hardships, strong indictments against the economic and political systems that work against migrants and their home environments, the dangers of migration, and the reality of racism. And to be sure, this novel contains all of that.
What I was not expecting was how lighthearted, even dirpy, the overall tone of the novel is. It's an action adventure, and a fun-loving one at times. At some point I stopped "worrying" about the characters' well-being. Whether or not they would be successful in their quest would be determined over the course of the novel, but I was able to relax some and even enjoy the thrill of the adventure with Nayeli and her cohorts in their precocious aim to travel to the U.S. and bring back militaristic migrants to fight the bad men who have taken over her home village. Urrea's novel does expose this reality of unhappy migrants forced out of their home and living abroad, as well as many migrants' heart-wrenching ignorance of what life in America is really like (versus what they have been told and thus leave home to pursue). His nonfiction work, The Devil's Highway, demonstrates this in a much more serious indictment, but here, again, this is ultimately an adventure story. I fell in love with each character. I laughed a lot. I was moved. This novel showed yet another side to the brilliant storytelling prowess of a favorite author of mine.
What I was not expecting was how lighthearted, even dirpy, the overall tone of the novel is. It's an action adventure, and a fun-loving one at times. At some point I stopped "worrying" about the characters' well-being. Whether or not they would be successful in their quest would be determined over the course of the novel, but I was able to relax some and even enjoy the thrill of the adventure with Nayeli and her cohorts in their precocious aim to travel to the U.S. and bring back militaristic migrants to fight the bad men who have taken over her home village. Urrea's novel does expose this reality of unhappy migrants forced out of their home and living abroad, as well as many migrants' heart-wrenching ignorance of what life in America is really like (versus what they have been told and thus leave home to pursue). His nonfiction work, The Devil's Highway, demonstrates this in a much more serious indictment, but here, again, this is ultimately an adventure story. I fell in love with each character. I laughed a lot. I was moved. This novel showed yet another side to the brilliant storytelling prowess of a favorite author of mine.
quirme01's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
audiobooked for book club - adventure and immigration story but without much character depth
sonia_reppe's review against another edition
2.0
The writing style is more for younger readers (teen) but I don't know that I would recommend this because the plot does not keep moving, and it's kind of all over the place. I liked Nayeli's character; (I wish she had been drawn with more depth), but I was perplexed at the end (Spoiler) when she sees her father. Wasn't the lead-up of the whole book that she was going to reunite with him, or at least find him and see what's up? She sees him for a second and that's it? I did not enjoy this book. Urrea writes some good dialogue but his exposition was just annoying and I couldn't take it anymore. Maybe he could write a play. Maybe he has I dunno...I have lost interest.
esther_habs's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.25
cook_memorial_public_library's review against another edition
5.0
Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea is a timely book. This journey recounts the story of three teenage girls from a small Mexican village. One of them has realized there are few men left in their village. The reason is banditos have made it impossible for the men to make a living in their own hometown. The girls watch the movie "The Magnificent Seven" and decide they have to go to the United States to bring back seven men to keep the banditos from taking over.
You will learn what people endure to cross the border from Mexico into the U.S.A. It is a tale where we all learn what motivates people to risk their lives in this perilous journey to save not only themselves but the people they love and work with daily.
Reviewed by Carolyn Z.
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sinto%20the%20beautiful%20north%20urrea__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=pearl
You will learn what people endure to cross the border from Mexico into the U.S.A. It is a tale where we all learn what motivates people to risk their lives in this perilous journey to save not only themselves but the people they love and work with daily.
Reviewed by Carolyn Z.
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/search/C__Sinto%20the%20beautiful%20north%20urrea__Orightresult__U?lang=eng&suite=pearl
catladylover94's review against another edition
3.0
an ok read, really slow in parts, the main girl, heads north to find men to help free her village, it would have been better if the author would have not bounced around with her so much, and it had been faster read
azchristenson's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5