Reviews with content warning for Confinement - Sanctuary

Non-spoiler synopsis: We follow Vali, a sixteen-year-old girl who is undocumented. The government is very anti-immigrant and in a dystopian future all residents are tracked by a microchip on their wrists. Vali and her mom get fake ones implanted, but her mom’s tracker malfunctioned one day in the past. With turmoil starting at the California/Mexico border, the government doubles down and decides to start going after all undocumented folk. Vali, her mom and her younger brother (a citizen himself) are forced to find sanctuary and safety when things begin to affect her local community and the country as a whole.

This story was heartbreaking and tragic. This reads like a young adult book but there are moments in the story that are quite intense and somewhat graphic. The struggles Vali and her family go through are not new, many people suffer from having undocumented status. What’s scary about this story is that though it’s a dystopian story, it could honestly become real life very easily.

Not only does Vali have to deal with the trauma of her dad being deported, but once the specialized police force start hunting and taking away undocumented people in her neighborhood, she flees only to have her mom’s tracker not work and they take her mom! She managed to escape, but got close to being taken thanks to the lady sitting next to her on the bus, seriously why open your mouth lady?! At the end of the book, she does get to make it to California with her brother (CA seceded from the US & became a sanctuary state for immigrants) but she’s not happy. The ending felt very bleak because she said she would never feel good until they help the others taken into interment camps back in the US. She also thinks she saw her mom in one at the CA/Arizona border?! But we don’t see her finding her mom after that or rescuing her. Quite sad.

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challenging dark emotional informative sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Sanctuary was such a different book than I expected it to be. Being tagged as a dystopia, I thought it would be more like a classical YA dystopia. Instead, it was a much more contemporary book talking about the struggles of so-called illegal immigrants. In this aspect, the book was good, but the writing itself was lacking at some points, so I couldn’t give more than three stars.

The general dystopian setting had so much potential, but this potential was barely used. Vali, her mother, and her brother live in a future America where so-called illegal immigrants like themselves are being persecuted. This setting was so creepy since it was not too unrealistic, just like the escalation of the situation which forces Vali and her family to flee. While trying to escape, their mom gets caught by the deportation unit and Vali and her brother are on their own.

Around 80% of the novel thus just consists of them fleeing from their home and trying to find their way to California. Most of this was just so depressing, hopeless, and probably depicted the struggles of immigrants quite well. Besides this, Vali’s feelings are portrayed so well. Some parts were a bit over the top with the bad guys and also

Vali fell in love with Malakas way too fast

. At least,

they arrive at their destination in the end. It would’ve been so depressing if they died while trying

. I also wasn’t the biggest fan of the writing itself. At many points throughout the novel, there’s just too much telling, like about Vali’s past or the ending. Additionally, there were not many descriptions, so it wasn’t very vivid.

Like I’ve said, I see what kind of story Sanctuary was trying to tell and I appreciate the authentic insight into the topic. Nevertheless, if the storytelling had been better, I would’ve given a better rating as well.

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