Reviews tagging 'Trafficking'

American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

70 reviews

kaela_arcuri's review against another edition

emotional informative tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Stalking, Toxic friendship, and Injury/Injury detail

abbywj's review against another edition

challenging dark hopeful reflective sad tense 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Deportation

quillathe_23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gore, Miscarriage, and Violence

Moderate: Rape and Trafficking

soph_mills's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Trafficking, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

lindsey_bear's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot

4.0

This book was super challenging but well done. I found it hard to get through because of the violence and drawn out plot, but I think that was what Cummins was ultimately going for. I feel like I learned a lot about migration through this book, even if it was a fictional story. Understanding why people end up in such desperate situations is such a huge part of this novel to me. I would recommend to anyone who is interested in learning more about migrants’ experiences and the lengths people go to flee violence and seek refuge. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Rape, Sexual assault, Violence, Trafficking, Death of parent, Murder, and Deportation

lay_kone's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Panic attacks/disorders, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

missai's review against another edition

adventurous sad 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

3.0

An intimate, action-packed exploration of what it takes to make the treacherous journey across Mexico and to the U.S. border. This book illustrates the mentality and resolve required to literally leave everything behind in search of a better life. It also shows how losing everything, being driven to rock bottom, makes even the risk of death seem inconsequential. The characters we meet shed their identities, and at times their humanity, to survive just one more day, one more mile.

Unfortunately, this book falls into the paradoxically "sanitized-yet-still-trauma-porn" category that is endemic in women's historical fiction. One could argue that the numbness experienced by the characters is mirrored in the reader's own experience, where every new terrible thing is no longer shocking. To me, though, this concept wasn't executed well enough, and reads as more of a stylistic issue, which extends to other areas of the writing.

Narrated from third-person, the POV sporadically jumps around to various characters outside the main one. Consequently, all of the perspectives are watered down. The son's POV felt contrived and didn't add any emotional depth for me. Once the twins were introduced, I actually found the main character's plot line wholly uninteresting and wanted to know more about the girls. They experience so much intimate trauma that is largely brushed aside and used as a plot device.

And I have issues with the world building in general. I didn't come out of this novel feeling like I learned much about how cartels operate, how migrants navigate the "legal" systems in Mexico, or how U.S. government decisions regarding the border impacted migrants' journeys. All of these elements are included superficially, so I was disappointed that the novel didn't add any depth to my existing understanding of these topics. It also rubbed me the wrong way how the story romanticized the cartel leader; I'm all for humanizing villains, but it was done in a light-handed way that I think leans more towards problematic than nuanced.

Overall, the prose was good and so was the narration, but American Dirt is certainly not the tell-all on Mexican migrants' experiences the way positive reviews make it out to be. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood and Trafficking

Moderate: Child death, Death, Rape, Sexual assault, Suicide, Violence, Police brutality, and Kidnapping

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Body horror, Gun violence, Misogyny, Death of parent, Murder, and Deportation

beetandbaguette's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Trafficking, Grief, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

reagananidobu's review against another edition

emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Miscarriage, Rape, Xenophobia, Police brutality, Trafficking, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Deportation

beccalora's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative sad tense fast-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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Miscarriage, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts and Deportation

Minor: Rape