Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
The Line Becomes a River
The Line Becomes a River: Dispatches from the Border | Francisco Cantu
A former US Border Patrol agent's haunting exploration of his time on the Mexican border and the politics, gatekeepers, and victims on both sides of the line. For Francisco Cant, the border is in the blood. His mother, a second-generation Mexican American whose father was a border crosser, raised him in Arizona's desert scrublands and the national parks where she worked as a ranger. Haunted by the landscape of his youth, Cant joins the Border Patrol. He and his partners are posted to the remote crossroads of a drug route and a smuggling corridor, where they learn to track other humans under the punishing glare of the sun and through dark, frigid nights. When they find them dead, they haul in the bodies. When they find them alive - parched, delirious, desperate - they deliver them to detention. Cant tries not to think where the stories go from there. Plagued by nightmares, Cant abandons the Patrol for civilian life. In the caf where he takse a job, he befriends Jos, who has lived in the US for more than thirty years. But when Jos travels back to Mexico to visit his dying mother and does not return, Cantu discovers that the border has migrated with him, and now he must know the whole story. Searing and unforgettable, The Line Becomes a River makes urgent and personal one of the most divisive issues we face, bringing home to us the violence wrought in the name of "protection" on countless migrants' lives, and on the humanity of us all.
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
Pick icon
100%
blurb
goodbyefrancie
post image

This is such an important book.

Reggie I liked this a lot. 2mo
54 likes1 comment
review
Reggie
post image
Pickpick

Cantú worked as a Border Patrol Agent for 4 years from 2008-2012. He talks about his other agents, the people comes across in the desert. It‘s very well written. He talks about his conscience and the guilt, the moral injury he starts to suffer from as a result of the job. Most of all I think he does the best job of showing you how people who try to cross the border are humans. He un-others them. Pick!

53 likes3 stack adds
blurb
AmyG
post image

A very powerful book about the border between the US and Mexico…and the people who try to cross it, looking for a better life. Written by a former border agent.

#Bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

TheAromaofBooks Great progress!!! 1y
93 likes2 stack adds1 comment
blurb
AmyG
post image

@CatGusMax #CreepyChristmasSwap
#CreepyChristmas @teebe

Thank you so much for everything! I DO love snacks. The books are great I especially can‘t wait to read the tagged one. ❤️

catiewithac The tagged book is so good! 3y
AmyG I was excited to get it! @catiewithac Your gift is still out in the postal system somewhere. Still no update. 😪 I believe with all my heart it will some day get to you! 🤞🏻 (edited) 3y
catiewithac @AmyG It does give new meaning to “snail mail” 🤣 3y
83 likes3 comments
review
suzie.reads
post image
Mehso-so

It was an okay read just really not my type of book. Abit of an anti climax to such a great reading challenge 🤔
#ReadtheUSA2020 #NewMexico (50th state)

blurb
jenniferw88
post image

I own the Garcia Marquez, Esquivel & Allende, meaning that they can be added to the TBR, the rest are going on my wishlist if they're not there already!

#latinxheritagemonth #integrateyourshelf @ChasingOm @Emilymdxn

ChasingOm I think I‘m going to have to break my “no spending before the Election” promise, lol. 😍 4y
Garabrandtreviews I love Allende! 4y
75 likes1 stack add2 comments
blurb
Lchnessmnstr

‘Violence does not grow organically in our deserts or at our borders. It has arrived there through policy.‘

review
Cinfhen
post image
Pickpick

This was an exceptionally moving read. I was absorbed from the first page until the last. I wanted a better epilogue but sometimes real life doesn‘t deliver a satisfying ending. This book sheds light on the current boarder issues from all sides and it‘s humanity at its best & worst. For an unfiltered true story this is a perfect alternative to American Dirt. Thank you @TrishB for sharing this with me. #ReadingUSA #NewMexico #OwnVoices

Cinfhen There‘s also something stirring about the cover. It‘s haunting and soothing 4y
Megabooks Stacked! 4y
Cathythoughts Sounds good ! & excellent picture 👌🏻 4y
See All 6 Comments
TrishB Glad you liked it ❤️ it does have a very haunting cover. 4y
BarbaraBB Wow. Stacked. 4y
Hooked_on_books I thought this one was great. He has a really interesting perspective. I like this cover, but I think the US cover works better for the content. 4y
94 likes6 stack adds6 comments
review
Erynecki
post image
Pickpick

The truth is that I‘m conflicted about this book. An engrossing read, but I am lost/confused about the author‘s moral compass. I suppose that‘s the point — that he shares his struggle as a border patrol agent and internal conflicts as a civilian in an effort to provide an empathetic and compassionate perspective on what it means to navigate the physical landscape, geopolitics, the political and the personal.

review
CaitlinByTheBook
post image
Mehso-so

I was excited for this monthly #bookclub pick, but it ended up only being a 3⭐️ read. I didn‘t think it was very cohesive. The topic is interesting and timely, but the choppy sections, lack of quoted dialogue and sections quoting other authors that felt like college papers made it fall mostly flat for me. I definitely liked the third section best though, probably because it was more focused.

review
EliNeedsMoreShelves
post image
Mehso-so

I think perhaps Francisco Cantu' has an interesting story to tell about why he chose to join the border patrol, and why he later chose to leave it. Unfortunately for me, this book wasn't it. It felt a bit like a rough draft - like an author just starting to organize his thoughts, waiting for an editor to help shape it into a cohesive narrative. I wish I could have read THAT book. Interesting moments, but it never came fully together. #nonficnov

blurb
ReadingEnvy
post image

This month I really zeroed in on getting through some of my eARC backlog from Edelweiss and NetGalley, and it really worked with 16 of the books I read coming from that list (and a few more that I started or didn't review publicly.)

It was also a good month for five star reads, with seven! And even stranger, four of them were non-fiction and one was poetry.

http://readingenvy.blogspot.com/2019/10/books-read-september-2019-206-229.html

review
ReadingEnvy
post image
Pickpick

I finished the book for tomorrow's book club. The Line Becomes a River portrays the realities of the border, and the trouble of separating the border patrol from the end results. The dehumanization of migrants and refugees is real.

Lcsmcat 😢 5y
63 likes5 stack adds1 comment
blurb
Well-ReadNeck
post image
68 likes1 stack add
blurb
Chrissyreadit
post image

We must learn more about life #downinmexico and other countries in the Central and Southern America‘s. I went to the authors excellent talk at the National Book Festival in DC. #wanderingjune

BarbaraBB This seems an emotional but important read. I agree that we should learn more about other countries. It was the thought behind this month‘s prompts and I am so happy to get to know books like these by this photo challenge! Stacked! (edited) 5y
Cinfhen I stacked this a few months ago - I think @TrishB posted about the book!! Still need to pick it up. And by the way @BarbaraBB this month‘s theme/ music was FABULOUS 🙌🏻💕 5y
BarbaraBB @Cinfhen 😊😘 5y
See All 6 Comments
TrishB @Cinfhen @BarbaraBB I brought and still haven‘t read! It seems the time should be now to read too ☹️ 5y
Chrissyreadit I agree @Cinfhen this was a great prompt month @BarbaraBB 5y
BarbaraBB @Chrissyreadit Thank you so much!! 😘 5y
82 likes2 stack adds6 comments
review
catiewithac
post image
Pickpick

Cantú shares a complicated and compelling story of living among the borderlands. Of Mexican ancestry himself, Cantú opts to work as a border patrol agent for 4 years before he can no longer handle the “moral injury” of such work. He later befriends an immigrant who experiences the horrors of deportation. This is not an easy story. It‘s written in a literary style to impart maximum emotional impact. Cantú humanizes the border, not an easy task.

38 likes2 stack adds
review
Hooked_on_books
post image
Pickpick

Cantú delves here into his complicated relationship with the US/Mexico border as a 1/4 Mexican American who worked for a time as a Border Agent. He reveals the reality of illegal border crossings and discusses some of the border‘s history. But most importantly, he does that vital thing for immigrants: turns “them” into human beings. A marvelous book.

51 likes3 stack adds
review
farre
post image
Pickpick

Compelling and a bit emotional read about the border. The first part is a series of stories from when the author was la migra. They just flow into one another. The second part dives into why people leave. The third is an account of illegal status and what happen when caught crossing over. Nothing is as simple as it seems.

review
rmaclean4
post image
Pickpick

Compelling memoir about the U.S. southern border. Made me want to read more about our imigration policy.

Coffeedaily Desperate and haunting. 5y
7 likes1 stack add1 comment
review
LanieFitz
Pickpick

Definitely recommend!

4 likes1 stack add
blurb
LanieFitz
post image

Finished my first semester of Grad School with a 4.0! Time to start doing some holiday break reading!

review
BookwormM
Pickpick

#Netgalley #ARC
4⭐️

A timely and human look at the immigration situation between Mexico and the USA

Full review here www.thereadersroom.org

17 likes1 stack add
quote
almalania
post image

You spent nearly four years on the border, she said. You weren‘t just observing a reality, you were participating in it. You can‘t exist within a system for that long without being implicated, without absorbing its poison. And let me tell you, it isn‘t something that‘s just going to slowly go away. It‘s part of who you‘ve become. So what will you do? All you can do is try to find a place to hold it, a way to not lose some purpose for it all.

7 likes1 stack add
review
Nebklvr
post image
Pickpick

When Francisco Cantu became a Border Patrol agent, he had no idea how the job would change him. He didn‘t see the entire deportation process until a friend was caught crossing the border. This was sad but important.

69 likes2 stack adds
review
mkinney10
post image
Pickpick

So sad that this one is over! Slow start but loved the ending. Hope he continues to write more about this very relevant and timely topic.

review
stargazerblue49
post image
Pickpick

So, 👆🏽 that was not at all what I was expecting when I hit the ‘About the Author‘ page. I thought this book was an interesting look at the border and found it very eye opening. Although I know it‘s not a comprehensive look, it is not something I know a whole lot about, so I feel like I learned quite a bit from his experiences.

review
Jolynne
post image
Panpan

I don‘t know why I bothered to read this. And now, the children being taken away from families, misplaced, housed in cages...

review
Litpixie
Pickpick

This book isn't an easy read. If you watch the news some of the information you will have heard before: ransom demands from the coyotes to family members, bodies left in the desert. There's more that we don't hear about: the mass graves in Mexico, the accounts of ranches being purchased by people to hunt those coming from Mexico. If you want to know more issues surrounding the boarder this book is one you should read now.

review
ShookBelf
post image
Mehso-so

#unpopularopinion - I was disappointed in this. Writing was disjointed and hard to follow at times. It succeeded as neither a memoir nor a critique of border history or policy. It was simply not in depth enough to provide a satisfactory example of either.

blurb
Litpixie
post image

Starting this today.

blurb
ShookBelf
post image

So behind with my #NetGalley ARCs so have started this one today. Heard nothing but good things so hope it lives up to the hype.

TrishB I have this ready too. Looks great 👍🏻 6y
AmyG I have heard wonderful things anout this book. 6y
Cinfhen Sounds like a great read!! 6y
38 likes1 stack add3 comments
quote
Simone_Gibson
post image

We mostly arrested the little people—smugglers, scouts, mules, coyotes. I watched as a knowing look spread across his face. His eyes met mine and held them until I turned to look away. But mostly I arrested migrants, I confessed. People looking for a better life.

TrishB I‘m looking forward to this - currently in my tbr. Is this the US cover? Mine is very different. 6y
Simone_Gibson @TrishB it was really great, I hope you enjoy it. I believe it is the US cover, is yours paperback? This was hardcover from the library. 6y
TrishB Mine‘s a hard cover - has a dog/wolf on the front - really nice cover 👍🏻 6y
4 likes3 comments
blurb
TrishB
post image

#river #keepmovin
Looking forward to getting to this one on my tbr- initially attracted to the cover!!

rockpools This looks so interesting- and I hadn't seen this cover before! 6y
Cinfhen This sounds amazing! Thanks for posting & sharing 🙏🏻 6y
Cinfhen Stacked!!! 6y
See All 6 Comments
Cathythoughts I love this title ❤️ 6y
TrishB @RachelO @Cinfhen @Cathythoughts it looks great - just need to get to it.....so many books not enough hours!! 6y
eanderson Sounds interesting! 6y
103 likes1 stack add6 comments
review
lauralovesbooks1
post image
Pickpick

After Cantu finished his degree in International Relations, he took a job as a border patrol agent so he could see how the concepts and policies he studied played out in real life. Excellent look.at the complicated issues of immigration policies -- both at the conceptual level as well as the very personal. He is a talented writer and did an excellent job with the nuances. #readathon

31 likes1 stack add
blurb
swliblady
post image

1. Association for Rural and Small Libraries!
2. Only recently...
3. Absolutely (thanks, Litsy, lol), and not just personally but for my library, too, haha.
4. Still slowly working my way through the tagged book. I didn't realize there was controversy until after I started it, so I'm analyzing more as I read, and it's a busy time in my life. Plus, I don't get as far reading an actual book compared to an e-book.

@Chellebearss

Chellebearss I‘ve been adding many to my TBR! 😀 6y
41 likes1 stack add1 comment
blurb
peacegypsy
post image

Time for some non-fiction and thoughts on the insanity of walls from the beloved RFK: “Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” ☮️

blurb
swliblady
post image

1. Female, probably. I honestly hadn't thought about it until this question.
2. 8
3. Orange
4. Blue
5. James Patterson, though I suppose I will break down and read one soon. ;)
6. Same

@kaye

Kaye Thanks ♥️ 6y
asiriusreader Welcome to Litsy!! 6y
Richryan52 Welcome to Litsy 6y
See All 12 Comments
tammysue Hello - Welcome to Litsy!! 👋🏻🌸 6y
StillLookingForCarmenSanDiego Welcome to Litsy 👋😊 6y
Trashcanman Welcome to Litsy, I love this community I hope you do too. 6y
niha923 Hey! Welcome to Litsy!! 🎉📚🎉❤ 6y
swliblady Thank you, @niha923 ! ☺ 6y
Tadams4 Welcome to Litsy! You‘re gonna love it here! 6y
swliblady @Tadams4 - ❤ l already do! ☺ 6y
63 likes12 comments
blurb
TrishB
post image

Today‘s Foyle‘s purchases 😁 Another copy of Gatsby for my daughter!

LauraBeth Love that Gatsby cover! 6y
Leftcoastzen Nice! Any museums on the travel itinerary? 6y
TrishB @LauraBeth she‘s collecting different covers 😁 6y
See All 18 Comments
TrishB @Leftcoastzen not this time. Done a Church today and we have matinee of Hamilton tomorrow so no time! 6y
Leftcoastzen Wow , have fun ! Sounds terrific. 6y
Betty @TrishB fainting! Hamilton, I'm green 6y
Kalalalatja Love that 1984 👁👁 6y
Cathythoughts The Line Becomes A River - I havnt heard of this - great title... ❤️ 6y
Cathythoughts Yes , & fab Great Gatsby cover. I think your daughter will be well looked after for books , lucky girl ❤️👍🏻 6y
LeahBergen That 1984 cover is great! 6y
Simone_Gibson The Line Becomes a River!! I‘ve been so excited for that one to come out! Enjoy :) 6y
Sarah83 Gorgeous edition 😍 6y
TrishB @Kalalalatja @LeahBergen I picked this up twice and didn‘t buy! But hubby did and gave me outside! 6y
TrishB @Cathythoughts I never say no to buying her books! 6y
TrishB @Cathythoughts @Jessicaswebster I brought for the cover! But the book looks great! 6y
Caroline2 Ohhh what beautiful editions!! 😍 6y
TrishB @Caroline2 just had to squash into suitcase and hoping they get home not too battered.... 6y
Caroline2 Sounds like you need one of my book sleeves to protect them then!! 😉 😆 6y
120 likes18 comments
blurb
AustenJennings
post image

Took Francisco Cantú to blues Monday at Hal and Mal‘s after his signing tonight! It was super!

AustenJennings @WanderingBookaneer he‘s a beautiful man 6y
52 likes3 stack adds2 comments
review
saguarosally
post image
Pickpick

This isn‘t a book about border policy, yet it‘s the best book on border policy that I‘ve ever read. The author‘s interactions con la frontera give him a unique perspective from which it is made clear that when addressing immigration between the US and Mexico, there must be a distinction between people seeking work opportunities and polleros or narcos. Lives rest on being able to recognize the difference.

50 likes4 stack adds
quote
saguarosally
post image

When it gets too heavy, remember that the whole world needs coffee. ☕️ #immigration #inmigración #cafe #coffee

review
she_barks
post image
Pickpick

I usually try to read something geographically relevant on road trips. I read this one on a trip between Phoenix and SanDiego. It's so hard to imagine crossing this terrain with nothing. This book should be required reading for Americans.

69 likes7 stack adds
blurb
bnp
post image

March reads, & I only bought one!

ReadZenRites Welcome @bnp to Litsy!!😊🎉👏🏻✨Happy reading. 📚💕 6y
5 likes2 comments
blurb
saguarosally
post image

Just remembering the days near the border. It‘s both home and a different world. #frontera #border

review
Floresj
post image
Pickpick

A three part book: first part written as a border patrol agent , second part as intelligence agent (with some PTSD), and third as a friend of someone trying to cross the MX-US border. The third part was the strongest and elevated my overall feeling and rating of the book. Reading about the violence of the border was difficult. No solutions presented, but definitely an education of the deeper issues that lie there.

14 likes4 stack adds
blurb
sistergoldenhair
post image

Jose‘s story was my favorite part of the book. This page was the most memorable to me. #dreamers

quote
SaraBeagle
post image

25 likes1 stack add
review
GerardtheBookworm
post image
Pickpick

Despite the controversy and protests surrounding him, author Francisco Cantu opens up a dialogue concerning the immigration issue. It's not always black and white but rather gray and the fact he is shares his perspective of his former profession as a border patrol agent with disdain and hardship gives a different opinion that is bound to ruffle feathers on both sides. Still, it's an important book to read and form your own ideas.

review
Well-ReadNeck
post image
Pickpick

Cantú was a border patrol agent for four years. The book is told in three parts: his early days as a field agent; his later days as an intelligence agent; and after he leaves the patrol his co-worker and friend goes through a deportation legal process. Well-written and eye opening.

121 likes6 stack adds
review
DreesReads
post image
Pickpick

Cantu was a border patrol agent for four years. In this book he discusses what he saw and did during those 4 years: the migrants, his fellow agents, the heat, the desert, the drudgery of so much of the job, and the dehumanizing nature of the job. After he moves on, he learns one of his work friends is an illegal immigrant, after he goes home for his mother‘s funeral and can‘t get back to his wife and kids. Thoughtful. #192019 #2018 #nonfiction

30 likes1 stack add