Published by Knopf
Publication date: June 3rd 2014
Genres: Contemporary, Cultural, Fiction, Literary
We’re the unknown Americans, the ones no one even wants to know, because they’ve been told they’re supposed to be scared of us and because maybe if they did take the time to get to know us, they might realize we’re not that bad, maybe even we’re a lot like them. And who would they hate then?
When their daughter, Maribel, suffers a traumatic brain injury that affects her memory and ability to retain information, Arturo and Alma Rivera are told there is a school in America that can help her more than any one in Mexico can. So, as any parents who love their child would do, they upend their lives and head to a new country to get her the best care possible. Armed with a work visa for Arturo they arrive in Delaware, speaking no English, but with a connection that gets them an apartment in a small building composed solely of other Latino families. There they slowly begin the process of assimilation and building a community in The Book of Unknown Americans, a poignant novel by Cristina Henriquez that goes beneath the surface of our differences to the critical mass of our sameness.
Like many before them, Arturo and Alma find the reality of life in Delaware to be wildly different than what they were told. At its most basic level is the language barrier, something that resonated with me after being in a foreign country this summer and finding the inability to communicate about even the simplest matters to be incredibly frustrating. And these were touristy, superficial communications. Imagine then, trying to find your daughter who has not come home on the school bus.
The woman said something else that I couldn’t understand and I nearly wept in frustration. They were only words. I had the sense that I should have been able to unpack them, that there was only a thin veneer separating me from their meaning, and yet that veneer was impenetrable.
In this way, Maribel’s unique situation makes the Riveras’ life even more fraught with tension, but Henriquez goes beyond the family to encompass many of the lives that brush up against theirs. On a broader level it is members of all the various families who live in the building with the stories of their lives in Nicaragua, Guatemala and Panama to how they are striving for safety and a better life in America. Closer in there is budding relationship between Maribel and a teenage Panamanian boy who, in accepting her as she is, begins to bring her out of her shell. Through each of the characters and their relationships Henriquez melds the issues unique to immigrants with the universal themes of love, fear, intolerance and acceptance in a way that makes for powerful reading.
The Book of Unknown Americans is quiet novel that still sears itself into the mind and, given the environment we live in now with the fear mongering and hatred ratcheting up every day, is timely reading. Henriquez accomplishes the most difficult task of any author: taking the reader out of their own life and settling them into realities they’ve never known. Making them consider that their beliefs are not just misguided but inaccurate. She does so with such a gentle touch that there is no sense of being manipulated, just of realizing that the entire concept of us versus them is one that brings heartbreak to us all.
OH! I love, love, love this book; I’m so glad you decided to read it, Catherine. It’s been quite some time since I read it and, yes, it does seem disconcertingly appropriate to where we are today, as a nation, under our current leadership. I felt very emotional while reading this one; would make for a good repeat.
I loved it too, even though it made me so sad. Henriquez did a beautiful job of putting the reader in the characters’ skins and living their lives.
OMG CATHERINE! This review! Once again you slay. I’ve already read this book but now I want to go back and read it again!
The language barrier thing. I have never found that, with a little effort, I’ve been unable to communicate with someone who doesn’t speak the same language as me. Definitely not eloquently but I think the general message gets across. But books like this, that illuminate that difficulty, are necessary so that we all try a little harder, to empathize a little more.
You’re so sweet! Thank you! I was grateful to find a book that made me want to write about it. There haven’t been a lot of them this year- as you know.
There is definitely an appalling lack of compassion in our new government. Very disheartening.
I’m embarrassed to admit that I’ve had this audiobook for a while and haven’t given it a listen. I got it from AudioSync’s summer reading program because I felt a connection to my students with the premise and title. I hope to get to it this year, since I missed it last year.
You should give it a listen if you have time. It is relevant on so many levels, but not in your face, if that makes sense. At its heart it is a beautifully written story.
Such a great book! I read The Book of Unknown Americans a couple of years ago, but it’s the sort of story that stays with you. I have found myself thinking of it quite often in the last couple of months. It should be required reading for so many! Very nice review.
Thank you! It has stayed with me as well. Also, Lucky Boy- if you read it- left me with the same deeply sad feeling about how immigrants are being treated in this country right now. And why?
I’ve heard such good things about this book, I know it’s one I should pick up. I really enjoyed your review and appreciate the reminder to get to it!
A timely novel indeed. Trump is ratcheting up the hatred, eh? I’ve had this book on my list for a long while. Glad you got to it.