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| Enrique's Journey | 
 enlarge | Author: Sonia Nazario
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95 (35.19 RON)
Buy New: $10.17 (23.94 RON)
You Save: $4.78 (11.25 RON) (32%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  51 reviews
Sales Rank: 11947
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.1
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.9
ISBN: 0812971787
Dewey Decimal Number: 305.23089687283073
EAN: 9780812971781
ASIN: 0812971787
Publication Date: January 2, 2007
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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| Customer Reviews:
 A story that needed to be told...but not like this! October 4, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I picked this up, only to put it down after a few pages. The author's rather melodramatic approach made the story seem more like a cheap, badly-written novel than a nonfiction account. I just didn't see any sense that the author had 'connected' with the subject, and so I couldn't connect with it, either.
 Enrique's Journey August 1, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The book is about illegal immigration. I read it before my college-aged daughter for insight on what she needed to accomplish. It is an OK story, definitely makes you think twice about trying to get into the US illegally!
Boring, Predictable, Nothing New for Me July 18, 2008
3 out of 6 found this review helpful
First things first: I need to address that I am reviewing the BOOK, based on my experience of reading it, and nothing else. I am not rating Ms. Nazario, or Enrique, and I am not making a statement about illegal immigration.
Nor am I reviewing this book to provoke outrage or negativity. Think of this review as an invitation: if it speaks to you, the information is probably useful, and will inform your decision to purchase or not purchase this book. If it doesn't speak to you, don't read my review; no one is forcing you to. In either case, you have made the right choice.
I'm reviewing the book. And I really didn't like the book. There's a few reasons for this:
1) THE WRITING STYLE IS BORING
No doubt Ms Nazario is a talented journalist, but I do not think that her style of writing is engaging. Unlike the writings of Eric Schlosser or Malcolm Gladwell--two journalists who I felt became successful at the art of writing longer nonfiction--Nazario's prose feels choppy and disjoint, unable to find its own rhythm or build momentum. Due to this lack of momentum, I found that I had to put the book down every few pages.
Perhaps this style was unintentional--it would work well in a short newspaper article, where there is a very small space to write, and one can get away with a repetitive sentence structure and narrative "attack"--but Nazario's much longer (and larger) story suffers from the monotony of her style.
The style reminds me of the camerawork on shows like CSI, where quick, jerky movements of the camera imply a constant sense of urgency, even though two characters are simply discussing the details of an autopsy (which, frankly, they do every day). Climactic situations deserve this urgency; the narration of a character's history does not. Nazario's style indiscriminately applies this sense of urgency in the same way that Fox News indiscriminately seeks to frame any situation in terms of a crisis. In America this style of reporting/camerawork is popular, but to me it is simply tiring.
Some reviews of the book call it "Gripping." Those reviews are accurate. However, I don't need my attention to be constantly gripped. Which brings me to
2) THE LACK OF MENTAL/EMOTIONAL DEPTH AND NUANCE
Nazario, politically, does not present a one sided story. However, the book is one-sided in the way it frames Enrique's life in terms of lack, absence, and failure. Undoubtedly, Enrique lacks a lot, most importantly his mother. A better writer would be able to get away with this, but Nazario's prose gets stuck in the formulaic traps of standardized journalistic writing.
This, coupled with the constant sense of urgency in her writing prevented me from seeing Enrique's situation as anything other than... well, urgent... and bad. Her train of thought rarely stops for imagery, metaphor, reflection, or interior monologue. When it does stop, it does not stop for long. The result is that rather than rather than "feeling" and "knowing" Enrique in all his pain, I merely caught a glimpse of him--literally and figuratively, as if I were looking through the window of a fast-moving train.
There is almost no humor whatsoever, something that the aforementioned Schlosser does manage to squeeze in while tackling equally dark subjects. One might say that humor does not fit the storyline, but I disagree: everyone's life is a mixed bag. Life is not uniform, but variegated, a vast ecosystemic swirl of light and dark.
3) THE STORY MOVES PREDICTABLY
While I've never been to Honduras, I have travelled elsewhere within the Third World. I've also read a lot. Thus, I have a large amount of firsthand and secondhand experience about the difficulties people face in impoverished areas.
Had I not had these experiences, I might like Enrique's Journey. But to me, it offers nothing new. I felt like I "got the point" of the book within the first two pages: "Enrique's life sucks, and he has very few choices, and that's a shame."
Based on my experiences, I'm not arguing that these things aren't true--I'm reviewing the book, not people--but it leaves me wondering: why read the rest of the book if it's not going to teach me anything I don't already know?
I already know how bad the external conditions are in these areas. I wasn't surprised to read about people looking for moldy bread in a landfill; that's reality for these people. It's also nothing new, nothing I can learn from.
For anyone who can't find Honduras on a map, lacks media-literacy, or awareness of the ways in which multinational corporations take advantage of political corruption in the Third World, or of who works in the kitchen of their favorite restaurant... for that person, I can see this book being an "eye-opener." Ditto for American high schoolers, who lack the knowledge of these conditions.
Enrique is unique. He's a person. No one will ever be Enrique. Had Nazario's writing taken me into the mind of Enrique, or at least subtly pointed as to his state of consciousness--a no-no in journalism, but a must in nonfiction--I would have learned a heck of a lot.
 Enrique's Journey June 13, 2008
This book was hard to put down as well as hard to read. It evoked the full range of emotions. The inhumanity of some mixes with the incredible generosity of others. It is a story of the best and the worst that humans can be. It puts a human face on the problem of immigration. You will never look at undocumented workers the same way again.
Sonia Nazario does a tremendous job of describing the immigration problem from many different perspectives. Although she focuses on Enrique's journey to the United States from Honduras, she also gives us a view of all of the people who are touched by immigration. She wisely gives us no answers. In fact, we are left knowing that there are no easy answers.
An Enlightenment May 1, 2008
I happened on this book at church on Sunday morning, part of the United Methodist Women's Mission reading. I guess I was meant to pick it up and read it. I have not had much compassion for the plights of immigrants. Coming to the United States illegally. Flooding our society with push 1 for English every where you call. Teaching our children in grade school to speak Spanish if only a small amount. Getting services from welfare systems and even social security benefits........are those meant for United States citizens. Now I have a different view. The living conditions of these individuals is deplorable at best. The prices we have to pay to buy our children and grandchildren Tommy Hilfiger clothes when people in Honduras are sewing these clothes in sweat shops working 10-12 hour days and making $30 a week. And what they endure to even get here with the Mexican authorities treatment on the way.........There has to be a way to allow them the opportunity to apply for Visas and work permits for 6 months out of the year to come and work and make enough to raise their families.....................MY EYES ARE OPEN. An excellent read!!!!!
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