Book Club: American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

Book Club is back! (Virtually on Zoom for now)

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The hosts of the Book Club have chosen to go back to meeting on Zoom for the time being.
*(Please see comments section below for updated Covid 19 policies. Thank you!)

This month's selection is American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins

**If you purchase this book from Amazon through the Amazon Smile program, HSGP will benefit. Click on this link: https://smile.amazon.com/ (https://smile.amazon.com/?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwhsgporg-20)

The Book Club meets on the 4th Saturday of every month.

Henry Geist and Vici Duarte are your hosts.

Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/9145355110

* Number-One New York Times Best Seller
* Oprah’s Book Club Pick
* "Extraordinary." (Stephen King)
* "This book is not simply the great American novel; it’s the great novel of las Americas. It’s the great world novel! This is the international story of our times. Masterful." (Sandra Cisneros)

Lydia Quixano Pérez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable.

Even though she knows they’ll never sell, Lydia stocks some of her all-time favorite books in her store. And then one day, a man enters the shop to browse and comes up to the register with a few books he would like to buy - two of them her favorites. Javier is erudite. He is charming. And, unbeknownst to Lydia, he is the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city. When Lydia’s husband’s tell-all profile of Javier is published, none of their lives will ever be the same.

Forced to flee, Lydia and eight-year-old Luca soon find themselves miles and worlds away from their comfortable middle-class existence. Instantly transformed into migrants, Lydia and Luca ride la bestia - trains that make their way north toward the United States, which is the only place Javier’s reach doesn’t extend. As they join the countless people trying to reach el norte, Lydia soon sees that everyone is running from something. But what exactly are they running to?

American Dirt will leave listeners utterly changed. It is a literary achievement filled with poignancy, drama, and humanity. It is one of the most important books for our times.

Already being hailed as "a Grapes of Wrath for our times" and "a new American classic", Jeanine Cummins' American Dirt is a rare exploration into the inner hearts of people willing to sacrifice everything for a glimmer of hope.

"Narrator Yareli Arizmendi illuminates the humanity and individuality of Latin American migrants as they flee toward refuge in the North.... The account of Lydia and Luca's travails, including terrifying rides atop Mexico's freight trains, is utterly compelling. But it is Arizmendi's voicing of Lydia, so full of fierce tenderness, that will stay with listeners after the story's close." (AudioFile Magazine)

* Amazon.com Best Books of the Year - 2020
* Boston Globe Best Books of the Year - 2020

(Image from Pixabay)

 

When
August 28th, 2021 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Location
ONLINE
Mesa, AZ 85211
United States
Human