Publication date: May 5th 2020
Pages: 336
Santiago's is a twelve year old boy who doesn't has an easy live living with his abusive abuela who beats him whenever she likes.
Running away from home he meets Maria Dolores and her twelve year old daughter Alegria who are on their way to cross the Mexican American Border, el otro lado. During their dangerous crossing in the dry hot dessert, Maria Dolores gets dehydrated while they are caught by U.S. immgration police, and while Maria Dolores is braught to a hospital, Santiago and Alegria are brought to one of the notoriously cruel detention centers that are nothing more then jails set up by the current US government. There arrived Santiago and Alegria are separated, not knowing where the other is brought to or what will await them next. Santiago is spending a long time in the middle of other boys, who are in the same situation, having fled from Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, and all being treated like criminal prisoners by the guards.During his stay, he frantically tries to find out what happened to Alegria and Maria Dolores and how he ever will get out of his scary situation without perspective. It takes a lot of bravery and perseverance to stay sane in the detention center because of the inhumane conditions. Will he ever get out again and find Maria and Alegria back and will get to livei in the USA, or will he be deported back to Mexico to his abusive family??
I loved Alexandra Diaz's previous books so I was looking forward to read this new book by her with this important and heartbreaking story. Santiago is standing symbol for what many unnaccompanied children fleeing to the US from Mexico and Central America have been facing today and for the past years, or infants, children and teens that are being separated from their parents at the detention center.It is just a horrible idea that this is happening every day as we speak, and therefore, Santiago's story is just one of the most realistic ever.
Altough the topic of the story is heartbreaking, the writing is beautiful and everything in the storyline is at the right place at the right moment. Santiago's time in the detention center is cruelly long, and the author stretched his time in it just so long and right that as a reader you could imagine the dread of it. He doesn't know what happened to Maria and Alegria who he now consider his adopted mother and sister. He is waiting frantically for little light point, but it takes long for it to arrive. But in the end, there finally seems to be one which was the perfect wrap up of the book.
So all together, this is a beautiful written book about an important topic (as a matter of fact the next two books I will review will also be about this ) and just like Alexandra Diaz''s previous book The Only Road which was about a little boy and girl fleeing Guatemala for the US (I Hope to read and review the sequel The Crossroads someday) I truly recommend reading this amazing book!!
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