This was a longer book I struggled to get through. It’s about a family of four grappling with the migrant crisis at the US-Mexico border (especially focused on unaccompanied children), and while I found it very informative and well researched, I felt disconnected often.

The structure of each chapter/subheading was grounded in archival terms, as the parents both do archival sound recording work. It felt like I missed many of the extra-textual connections there. I found the mother’s voice more compelling than the son’s, as the story shifted to his perspective in the second half. It’s so challenging to write from the perspective of a child, and I felt that as a 10 year old he was far too precocious and wise at first. The story becomes more engaging at the end, but for the reasons listed above, it didn’t really pay off for me. 

At times a bit too esoteric, but overall a good read. The shifting perspectives and intertwining stories were a strength. While the story telling involving refugee and immigrant children is powerful and necessary, but the representation of native cultures could definitely have been better.