Solito, a memoir by Javier Zamora

 

Publisher: Hogarth

Publication date: September 6th 2022

Pages: 400

This is a review of a ebook from the publisher

Author Javier Zamora is nine years old when the book starts. His parents already have made the dangerous border crossing journey to the USA, and until it is his turn to go too, Javier lives with his aunt and grandparents in a small town in El Salvador.

And then the day comes that his parents saved enough money for a coyote to help him cross the border and that he has to start the dangerous journey to ''La USA''. Alone. Alone with a group of strangers and  coyotes, criss- cross over land and borders through Guatemala and Mexico. Luckily he makes friends with a mother and young daughter, Patricia and Carla, who treat him like family. In very detailed and vivid writing, Javier tells the reader what he experienced during the journey and how hard and difficult it was, especially as a young child when it is hard to understand everything that happens to you and it is much more scarier to travel alone, but you just have to survive. As a reader, you just hope that his journey will be quick and without any obstacles, so that he can hug his parents in California and live the American Dream, but ofcourse, this is not what happens. The group of border crossers is discovered by the border patrol police and placed back into Mexico again. But that doesn't withold Javier's group to give it another try..The trip to the US was supposed to take only two weeks but 9 weeks later and three attempted border crossings, it seems like they are on the brink of freedom, and seeing his parents again..

The story of Javier's journey is beautiful and realistic, and it reads like a fiction novel while it isn't one. At some points if found the story repetitive and it kept hanging on parts that felt like the chapters before, it somewhat slowed down the story. But that aside, I found it a very impressive and moving book!!