A review by rhonaea
American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

3.0

Started well and had me gripped but, as in the novel, it felt a long journey to the finish. This is the controversial story of a Mexican mother, bookstore owner and wife who survives the massacre of her family to flee north to the US on the migrant route, La Bestia. With her, journeys her 8 year old son an assorted characters engaged with along the way. At the root of the tale is a passion of sorts for a drugs lord who appears to track her movements, commission the deaths of her/family (not quite explained) yet not quite finish the job (either to kill her or claim her). My issues with the book are under-editing and narrative credibility. I’m not going to enter into the other debates. I know others absorb your the tale; it came as a personal recommendation - by for me, it missed by a margin.