Julian Pina-Sanz
Book Review: Enrique’s Journey
Hi, I just finished Enrique’s journey by Sonia Nazario. The story mainly takes place in Central America and
The book is entirely in a third person view so the author is talking about Enrique’s hardships. The author explains the story as Him on a dangerous odyssey to reunite with his mother. He clings on to dangerous trains trying not to lose his grip and fall into the wheels of the train. He avoids the bandit gangs and corrupt police who steal any money or clothes a migrant has. And He must escape
I see the book’s theme as “Never give up on your goals” because it talks about how Enrique is determined to get to his mother after many deportations back the way he came and his determination to stop doing drugs and drinking. Enrique is constantly begging for money and food and repeatedly being turned down. All he has is his wits to stay alive in the cruel and risky world that he is in.
In the United States his mother is having difficult times trying to get enough money for rent, sending money back to Honduras, and food for her recently born second daughter Diana (her first was Belky). There is a lot of love in this book. The incredible amounts of love a child has for his/her mother and will go on perilous journeys to just get one hug. That same love is what drove Enrique and he meets many other kids on the same goal he has.
This book was great to me. There are many emotional moments in this book. There are also some turns in emotion in the story which for me was disappointing. It was exciting and fun to try to predict what would happen next. I liked that it was sort of explaining what’s really happening on the other side of the border. And in the book you can sort of imagine this country compared to Central America and
