Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

Catalina is an undocumented immigrant who came to America from Ecuador as a child to live with her grandparents after her parents were killed in an accident. Her grandparents are also undocumented. Accepted at Harvard, this fictional memoir recounts her experiences there. Pre DACA, a major obstacle for this Ivy League educated young woman is that she will not be able to secure a job upon graduation.

This short book (224 pages) exposes the insecurities, fears, and emotional toll experienced by undocumented individuals and families. It is written mostly as stream of consciousness with quite a bit of fantasizing which for me took away from the importance of the topics explored. This style will not be for everyone; others may find it a vibrant, contemporary read. I did enjoy the references to Latin American history and culture.

Thanks to #netgalley and #randomhouse for the DRC.… (mere)

Portraits of the thousands of people who deliver our sustenance (waiters, delivery people, day laborers, farmworkers) and pay into the American Social Security System but realize nothing from it as they age and must keep working at bottom-rung wages. The author focused on people like her family (she's a DACA participant who graduated from Harvard), visiting key cities in the U.S. and giving voices to those who were not afraid to talk with her about their journey. The book is a well written and documented justification for her righteous anger. It is a slim, compelling volume which puts faces to headlines. Read it.… (mere)

I really disliked this book. The only section that I found really interesting was about the undocumented workers who were the "second responders" at the 9/11 site. The author made a point of saying that she wanted to write about those undocumented Americans who have been used, abused, demonized, harassed and forgotten, but then she kept insinuating herself into THEIR narrative. At one point, she writes that she is no journalist. No sh!t. Either write more about the people she said she was going to focus on or write her own memoir. Including all of her interactions with them put her center stage instead of them.… (mere)