Home Feed
Home
Search
Search
Add Review, Blurb, Quote
Add
Activity
Activity
Profile
Profile
Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life
Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life | Lauren Markham
8 posts | 7 read | 1 reading | 6 to read
The deeply reported story of identical twin brothers who escape El Salvador's violence to build new lives in California--fighting to survive, to stay, and to belong. Growing up in rural El Salvador in the wake of the civil war, the United States was a distant fantasy to identical twins Ernesto and Raul Flores--until, at age seventeen, a deadly threat from the region's brutal gangs forces them to flee the only home they've ever known. In this urgent chronicle of contemporary immigration, journalist Lauren Markham follows the Flores twins as they make their way across the Rio Grande and the Texas desert, into the hands of immigration authorities, and from there to their estranged older brother in Oakland, CA. Soon these unaccompanied minors are navigating school in a new language, working to pay down their mounting coyote debt, and facing their day in immigration court, while also encountering the triumphs and pitfalls of teenage life with only each other for support. With intimate access and breathtaking range, Markham offers an unforgettable testament to the migrant experience. NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW - WINNER OF THE RIDENHOUR BOOK PRIZE - SILVER WINNER OF THE CALIFORNIA BOOK AWARD - FINALIST FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE - SHORTLISTED FOR THE J. ANTHONY LUKAS BOOK PRIZE - LONGLISTED FOR THE PEN/BOGRAD WELD PRIZE FOR BIOGRAPHY
Amazon Indiebound Barnes and Noble WorldCat Goodreads LibraryThing
blurb
KVanRead
post image

Happy Litsyversary 🥳🎉🤩 to one of my favorite Littens! Thanks for hosting a giveaway! Impossible to choose my two favorite non fiction books but here are two I think about and recommend often. I also really enjoyed the discussion between these two authors at a book event back when I used to get to go to those live and in person.

Check out @vivastory ‘s #VivaNonfiction post for all the giveaway details.

vivastory I feel this post. I really miss live events. I've been taking advantage of the digital readings, & there's something to be said for it, but it's definitely not the same. I haven't heard of the tagged book & haven't read either one but will definitely be adding to my TBR. Thanks for entering 📚📚🙂 4y
KVanRead I actually “attended” more readings since the Pandemic so in some ways it definitely makes it more convenient - I mean you don‘t even have to put on pants 😂 But I can‘t wait to go to live events again someday!!! 4y
33 likes2 comments
blurb
Erynecki
post image

“People migrate now for the same reason they always have: for survival.” This book is literally torn from the headlines and digs deeper into one family‘s trials and tribulations. These are ordinary and extraordinary struggles told through beautiful reporting that brings the story of immigration into sharp personal focus. Read this book.

8 likes2 stack adds
blurb
ReadingEnvy
post image

So I'm working on my first book speed dating project of the year and will probably record a bonus episode about it. What would you want to know?

Notafraidofwords What is Book speed dating ? 7y
Lindy The usual: Do you remember why you‘ve got it on your TBR? what hooks/repels you? How does it match your mood? Does it remind you of anything else? Is it a yes, no or maybe? 7y
57 likes2 comments
review
Deborah42
post image
Pickpick

A good mix of the intimate personal story of a family‘s struggle for survival and the larger political and economic factors that drive illegal immigration.

The narrative is centered on the Flores family, who sends Wilbur Jr. north from their family farm in El Salvador to seek a better life in the United States. Not too much later, gangs threaten Ernesto and Raúl (they are twins) and they leave to join their older brother.

2 likes1 stack add
quote
Deborah42

“A 2010 Amnesty International Report cited research that six out of ten migrant women and girls were sexually assaulted en route to the United States—other estimates are even higher. It‘s just considered part of the payment, the paralegal says, of the passage north.”

review
KGlibrarian
post image
Pickpick

This remarkable true story of twin teenagers fleeing gang violence in El Salvador follows the boys through their harrowing journey across the border into the U.S. and the hardships they face once they arrive. Markham, who meets the twins at the Oakland, CA high school where she works, highlights, through their personal experiences, the emotional and physical toll that immigrants and refugees face.

blurb
Librarylady
post image

This might not seem like a beach read, but I'm finding it a perfect book to read while I'm sitting at the water park while my youngest daughter and her friends have fun. An amazing nonfiction account of twin El Salvadoran brothers who were unaccompanied minors embarking on life in El Norte when one of them finds himself on the wrong side of the law.

blurb
ReadingEnvy
post image

Lunchtime thunderstorm #bookmail from hogarth books - one fiction, one non-fiction, both are about refugees.

RealLifeReading Nice! I've not heard of these books before this so definitely adding to my tbr! 7y
54 likes2 stack adds1 comment