Welcome to Litsy!

Another challenge down. The #nonfiction2024 challenge hosted by @Riveted_Reader_Melissa remains a favorite. I liked the double challenge to read nonfiction and the banned prompt books. Those with a yellow star represents banned books I read before this year and the blue star are those I read in 2024. All of the books above have been memorable. The tagged book left the strongest impression and has led to great conversations about immigration.

No words for this. Human resilience at its best.

I want to make everyone read this book. The audiobook (read by the author) was fantastic. My brain can't comprehend how terrifying the migration had to be for a 9 year old boy surrounded by complete strangers. Javier's story is a powerful reminder of the risks undocumented immigrants take to enter the USA for the hope of a better life.
#nonfiction2024
December #bookspin @TheAromaofBooks

#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView

1. Coffee and reading in the morning.

2. Tagged. This is a memoir and I would say his best trait is his courage, being that this happened when he was 11 years old.

Thanks for the tag @Sace

It was time for this…

Current audiobook, and already hooked!

Gosh, a roller-coaster of a book, detailing his journey as a nine year old across Central America to reunite with his parents.
It really shows the love from some people, their instinct to protect whilst also showing the flip side of the smugglers.

1. There‘s a local distillery that makes “cocktails in a can” that pair nicely with a snack and a book.
2. I do my 5-star reads a little differently. At the end of the year, I review the 4-star reads and pick out those that have really stuck with me to get an added star. Last year it was the tagged book.
#two4tuesday

This quote reminded me of how skillful Zamora's writing is. Despite the gravity of the situation, Javier's childlike wonder continuously peeks through. It is also important to remember that the author was 32 when this book was published, meaning that this childlike mindset was likely quite foreign to him at the time. Despite the age gap between when the story occurred and when it was written, Zamora was still able to tap back in to his childhood.

I really loved this quote from “Solito“ because it perfectly encapsulates Javier's journey and his evolving sense of family/friendship. Javier grew up with an “untraditional“ family structure as his parents immigrated when he was young. The author's journey of navigating various different familial relationships is reflected in his friendship with “The Four.“ Their journey bound them together as a family, even if their time together was brief.

My favorite stylistic choice that Zamora made was blending both English and Spanish language/vernacular. The blend of English and Spanish words/punctuation perfectly represents Zamora's childhood that was torn between El Salvador and America. As someone who speaks both languages, I thought that the specific words that he chose to include in Spanish were super impactful. Some words just have more OOMPH in Spanish.

A constant theme that I noticed throughout “Solito: A Memoir“ was food. Food was constantly present and each dish was tied to a certain memory or feeling. Javier and his friends associate pizza with America because of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtled. This gives him yet another thing to look forward to for his journey to America. On the other hand, the first quote illustrates how Javier can associate food, culture, and shame.

There are so many moments in the reading that made me feel emotional or got me thinking, and I marked certain quotes in those scenes that suck out to me. There are many instances where Javier is observant, and I marked a quote in the memoir where he says, “I remember the man in the boat. The Guatemalans on the bus. Strangers, but I remember some of their faces. The wrinkles when one of them cried... I hope everyone is ok. That they're in La USA.“

One thought that I keep grappling with about this memoir is the importance of why Javier writes his experiences that he had as a nine-year-old with such attention to detail. While it's definitely worth the read for us, I think that this memoir is meant to be more than an intriguing read. Javier's telling of his experiences throughout his journey gives un an insight to what he endured, but also to what migration is like for countless others.

As I read, I noticed that among the themes of survival and migration was the theme of family. Even at the age of nine, Javier was able to connect with strangers of different ages because of the perilous journey and experiences that they shared. This just goes to show even further that blood ties aren't always what makes a family. The experiences we share and the bonds we make through those experiences can last a lifetime, as we see with Javier.

I found this book to be really emotional and moving in the way Javier recounts his journey. When I first started reading, I didn't know how the perspective of a nine-year-old would work, but Javier Zamora did an amazing job. I felt like his descriptiveness involving situations and occurrences helped me envision what was happening throughout the novel.

Overall, this is one of the best books I have ever read, EVER. It is so out of the norm of what I typically read and it has shown me how I can really branch out and love new types of literature. This story is so important and I‘m so glad I could be a small part of Javier Zamora‘s incredible and brave journey. I genuinely never wanted to put it down and I ended up reading it in the span of two days because it was just so easy to be enthralled.

I commented on this in another post that I made, but throughout the book, I felt like I was there through every moment; emotionally and physically. I particularly felt emotional when it came to Javier and his grandfathers relationship.

When I was reading Solito, I noticed something interesting; Zamora was using Spanish punctuation (¿?; !¡). I really enjoyed this as it not only made us aware that they were speaking Spanish, but opened us up to an new way of experiencing a book.

Solito was truly an amazing book to read. I felt every raw emotion from Javier and truly felt like I was experiencing it all beside him. Zamora did an amazing job writing this from the viewpoint of a 9 year old and did it in such a way that I knew not only what was on, but what/how of looked and how it felt for Javier as well. Everything about Javier and how he was written was authentic, genuine, and real to the very end.

Generally speaking, I liked the book. I found the topic to be very interesting and loved how he incorporated Spanish into the book. However, I am so disappointed that we did not get more information about his reunification with his parents. He talked so much about being excited to get to America and how he imagined his parents‘ house. I was shocked when all we got was “Two shadows appear. At last.” and the note about how he hugged his mom.

I was surprised by the scene where Patricia stands up for the men in the group. I knew the six of them had gotten to know one another throughout the trip, but I was shocked that she was willing to sacrifice not only her safety but also Zamora‘s and Carla‘s. If I was in Patricia's situation, I don't know if I would have been able to do the same thing.

The scene where Zamora splits up from his grandpa broke my heart. While I could not fully understand his feelings, I can relate to him. In addition, I loved seeing his Grandpa‘s personality develop over the first part of the book. I thought it was really interesting to see him go from the quite man who wouldn‘t speak to Zamora while walking him to school to the man who was waiting outside the bathroom so the toilet wouldn‘t drown Zamora.

What a poignant, touching novel! The bonds formed between Javier and those he met along the way were beautifully explored in this memoir. As interesting as it was to read about the physical journey from El Salvador to America, I think the emotional journey experienced by Javier and the rest of the group was what made this novel especially exceptional.

In Solito, I liked how Zamora was able to include the perspectives he had as a child. I think it would have been easy to write the book in retrospect given the information he has now. However, he was able to portray the limited perspective and knowledge he had about America when he was a child. A primary example of this is when he mentions how he wants to lay with his parents but noted the need for a mosquito net over the bed.

By the end of this book, Javiercito creates another family. It made me think of how those who support us through life and engage in the struggle of life with us become family. When Patricia, Carla, and Chino leave, he thinks of how they are the only ones who will ever fully understand his experience. Though their time together was short and their leaving compared to the fleeting nature of a dream, he knows they have left a lifelong impact.

One of the most touching moments to me in the book was when Javier realizes he loves his grandfather, and his grandfather loves him, after spending two weeks with him, seeing his real side. I feel like a realization like this is more common with parents in books and movies, so I really felt gravitated towards it when I‘ve felt a similar way with my grandfather.

Solito was a very good book! I found it to be investing from beginning to end! I think Javier Zamora does a great job conveying his past emotions through his simple descriptions, detailed imagery, and internal monologue. I also really liked how he explored his relationships and how they shifted throughout his life, like the bond he had with his grandfather. I recommend this book to anyone looking for an emotional read.

Zamora‘s story being told from the perspective of his nine year old self allows the reader to live vicariously through Javiercito. If the story were a reflection told from his adult perspective, the reader wouldn‘t be able to understand the experience as well on a personal level. Rather than use lots of facts or explanations, Zamora chooses to use succinct, observational phrases that highlight the uncertainty he experienced.

I thought Zamora did an excellent job at using figurative language to convey certain sensations or ideas throughout the book. For example, Javier really wants to express something but instead “swallows” the thought “like a big gulp of cough syrup” (40). He also describes everything in the desert as “having a fever” which helped me imagine how the desert air and landscape must have felt (202).

This book was an incredible display of an experience that we know so much so little of. I loved reading Zamora‘s work and all the details he includes in them. The nuances of the issues in Latino culture with machismo, colorism, and issues of immigration all are shown through the eyes of a young child which makes it all the more impactful.

I really enjoyed this quote in the book. I think this depicts Javier‘s relationship with his grandfather perfectly. I like how it develops and causes Javier to miss and even depend on his grandfather he was once afraid of.

Throughout the memoir, Javier wonders about family. His family in El Salvador, his parents in California, and his fake family in The Six, then The Four. Strangers become family, but what is incredible to me is that those family never become strangers. Even those who he traveled with, with whom he lost touch with - Patricia, Carla, and Chino - he still wants to have a relationship with and thinks of them fondly.

I had no idea what was awaiting Javier in the U.S. At first, I thought the whole point of the book was to tell about his new home with his parents, but Zamora surprised me. I never realized how difficult it is and how long it takes to migrate to another country, and that, I believe, is the one of the reasons Zamora shared his story.

There are several times in this book in which I'm surprised at the style. Zamora is clearly a good writer, as he uses different tools throughout the book, such as multiple sentence structures. In chapter 3, when Zamora is recalling his travel on the boat, he uses very short sentence structure to highlight detail. Not only that, but it also demonstrates his continuously changing moods. He does this also to show his overwhelming emotions.

Overall, I really enjoyed this memoir. It's important to see firsthand accounts of how people escape dangerous situations in their home country to seek safety and opportunities in the US, especially children who have to leave their families behind at such a young and vulnerable age. It hopefully allows non-immigrants and non-Hispanics to sympathize and understand their very real, heartbreaking, and human struggle.

Something that I‘ve found intriguing is the repetition of Javier‘s inner-thoughts (i.e., cadejo, the stars, the silver toliet, etc.). To me, these repeated thoughts/images give Javier something to cling to during such a tumultuous time in his life; they keep him sort of grounded in reality, but also allow him to feel hopeful for what‘s to come. These repeated thoughts seem to act as an escape, and it‘s neat to witness his thoughts in this way.

It's interesting how language plays a role in this memoir. Javier is so young when he migrates, and he lived an arguably sheltered life before he left. Scenes, where certain sentences or phrases are written in untranslated Spanish, broken English, or where Javier uses the wrong dialect of Spanish, stood out to me the most. The constant anxiety about being caught and the unpredictability of their situation in the eyes of a child are amplified.

Zamora really puts in great details to bring the readers straight into the story and into his perspective in his experiences. The misspelling to reflect the broken Spanish spoken by the guards is such a brilliant way to show how young Zamora is having to understand them in the midst of such panic, confusion, and fear. The way that Patricia, Clara, and Chino became a family really hit me hard especially in this scene.

The feelings that this scene brought to me were heavy. The panic that sets as everything goes so fast and so slow and everything comes to conclude. I felt this panic while reading and the heavy feeling afterwards sat with me as I kept going with my reading.

I appreciate the inclusions of Spanish punctuation and words throughout the story and how they are sometimes explained and sometimes not. As a Spanish speaker, it‘s nice to see familiar words my family or friends use and understand the severity of them. I‘d imagine for non-Spanish speakers it‘s a reflection of how Zamora endured his time listening to and reading a language he had no knowledge or explanation of.

I love the subtle ways that Zamora reminds us of just how young he is throughout the book. Throughout his journey he‘s still learning new words in his own language and newer slang far from the one he knows from home. He‘s still a child learning about the world he recognizes and he‘s going into a completely new world where everything will be new. Zamora showing us these glimpses of his naivety puts into perspective how immense of a journey this is.

The main thing I thoroughly enjoyed was how this book makes you connect to all the different characters. The narration prospers emotional connections to where the reader is invested in the characters journeys and feels emotions as they do. Zamora brilliantly entrances the reader and keeps you on the edge of your seat, waiting for the next twist or turn in his personal journey. Needless to say, I loved it!

I really liked chapter two of this novel! I found Zamora‘s relationship with his grandfather to be really interesting! For instance, throughout this chapter, Zamora‘s internal monologue constantly changes when he interacts with his grandpa. By the end of the chapter, his perspective of his grandfather completely changes and causes him to feel sad when he finally has to leave. I think lots of people can relate to this kind of relationship.

I love the persistent image of the Cabejo guardian that Javier keeps looking for, but at this point, I believe that Chino and Marcelo are his metaphorical Cabejos. His grandfather mentioned that he should look out for red eyes (the marking of a cabejo) and interestingly enough, Chino\Marcelo‘s cigarettes are always mentioned to form “red eyes” in the night. I‘m not sure if this is a correct correlation, but it‘s interesting to think about!