savvylit's review
challenging
emotional
reflective
5.0
This entire memoir is told through Zamora's perspective as a nine-year-old child. The covert border crossings that he must make become even more harrowing when viewed through his young eyes. Javier is so often powerless due to his age - he has to trust that the coyotes will do as they say and take him across borders safely. He has to trust the other folks in his group of migrantes to advocate for him. Javier wavers between feeling pure joy at the thought of reuniting with his parents and total exhaustion and fear due to the journey's length and extreme conditions. His youth is evident on every page - his fear of using the toilet alone, his watching a lizard he calls Paula, his naming of dangerous cacti as "fuzzies" or "spikies." It's incredibly devastating to experience Javier's sweet naivete in juxtaposition with the constant danger.
However, Solito is so much more than a harrowing tale of a dangerous journey. It's also a testament to found families and the kindness of others. As the journey progresses, Javier becomes close with a mother and daughter, Patricia & Carla, and their friend Chino. Chino and Patricia end up helping Javier every step of the way as surrogate parents. They make sure that Javier has food and water, they keep him warm, they tie his shoes, they escort him when it's time to bathe so he won't be alone... The love that the four of them develop for one another and the ways that they support each other throughout Solito is spectacular and deeply moving.
Ultimately, Solito is perhaps one of the most gut-wrenching and difficult memoirs that I have ever read. Again, any retelling of a journey even slightly similar to Javier's would be an emotional read. But seeing the world through his nine-year-old eyes is what really makes this story unforgettable.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deportation and Injury/injury detail
100_pages_hr's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deportation, Excrement, Abandonment, Cursing, and Confinement
kshertz's review
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
I can’t say enough good things about this book. This story is so raw and true. The journey is so brutal for such a small child. The trauma and the pain is felt on the page. This author puts it all out there and I am grateful. It allows me to share with my students what kids their age are going through and continue to go through. For some of them, they can also feel less alone reading this book. I want every teen to know this authors name and story so they can be a generation that doesn’t allow for false rhetoric to persist around those coming across fake borders. Amazing book. Have everyone you know read it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Forced institutionalization, Injury/injury detail, Death, Racism, Body horror, Cultural appropriation, Confinement, Abandonment, Blood, Deportation, Trafficking, and Police brutality
lettuce_read's review against another edition
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deportation, Vomit, Excrement, and Racial slurs
Moderate: Body shaming
feistyannotatingbooks's review against another edition
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/injury detail, Physical abuse, Deportation, Police brutality, Racial slurs, and Racism
amiegold's review against another edition
hopeful
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
3.75
I feel really guilty for not rating this book higher. But honestly, it was just a bit slow paced for me. I might’ve enjoyed it more if I had read it versus listening to it. I did not enjoy the narration by the author as much, I think because it didn’t match the tone of the book from a child’s perspective. I have coworkers who are immigrants and this book!was very informative and helped me understand what they and their families may be going through. Makes me wish that we had a world without borders, and because of that I recommend reading it
Content Warnings
Graphic: Excrement and Deportation
morrisimo's review
challenging
emotional
funny
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
4.5
A devastating memoir following the author's migration from El Salvador to the United States. A very compelling and detailed read, and exposes a lot of small things you wouldn't know about the crossing. It's visceral and difficult, but an important, intimate story.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Deportation
internationalreads's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
tense
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Body shaming, Cursing, Gun violence, Animal death, Deportation, Excrement, Grief, Racial slurs, Injury/injury detail, Xenophobia, Classism, and Vomit
leslie_overbookedsocialworker's review against another edition
emotional
informative
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Deportation
christynhoover's review
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
4.5
An astonishing story. I was on the edge of my seat throughout!
Clearly, the author successfully reaches the US since he is looking back to chronicle it. But it's HOW he ultimately succeeds that is so gripping. DON'T peak ahead as you read each chapter! Just read it one page at a time so you can stay with the author as a nine year old, wondering who to trust, not knowing where today's footsteps will take you.
Crossing the Mexican border into the Southwestern US is a vaguely familiar reality/concept to the American public, but this book gives you a GRANULAR experience of immigration at the southern US border.
Clearly, the author successfully reaches the US since he is looking back to chronicle it. But it's HOW he ultimately succeeds that is so gripping. DON'T peak ahead as you read each chapter! Just read it one page at a time so you can stay with the author as a nine year old, wondering who to trust, not knowing where today's footsteps will take you.
Crossing the Mexican border into the Southwestern US is a vaguely familiar reality/concept to the American public, but this book gives you a GRANULAR experience of immigration at the southern US border.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing and Deportation