Kind of Kin
Written by Rilla Askew
Narrated by Rilla Askew
3.5/5
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About this audiobook
With the passing of a new state law, it becomes a felony to harbor an undocumented immigrant in Oklahoma. So when Robert John Brown, a churchgoing family man and respected community member, is caught hiding a barnful of migrant workers with no papers, he is arrested and sent to prison. Meanwhile, his ten-year-old grandson Dustin tries to help the sole escapee of the raid reunite with his family, and his granddaughter, Misty, is struggling to raise her daughter alone after her husband, an illegal immigrant himself, has been deported. Then there's Brown's daughter Sweet, who finds her life unraveling: her father is refusing to speak in court to defend himself, her nephew is missing, her niece is in need of shelter, and the stress of it all is destroying her marriage.
Rilla Askew's brilliant, hilarious, and heartfelt novel follows a handful of complicated lawmakers and lawbreakers as workers are exiled, friends turn informers, and families are torn apart in a statewide exodus of Hispanics. In the end, Kind of Kin reveals how an ad hoc family, and an entire town, will unite to do anything necessary to protect its own.
Rilla Askew
Rilla Askew received a 2009 Arts and Letters Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. She is the author of four novels, and has been nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Dublin IMPAC Prize, and is a three-time recipient of the Oklahoma Book Award.
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Reviews for Kind of Kin
26 ratings3 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Whenever I read a book straight through in a couple of days, I know it's a winner. This one covers so many issues that affect families of all kinds: illegal immigration, substance abuse, parents trying to do their best for their children, Christians trying to live out their faith, politicians and law enforcement trying to garner fame and influence, and children just trying to survive it all. Rilla Askew has a keen ear for her characters and their troubles.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I could only give this book five stars because I wasn't offered ten! I read all 416 pages in 3 days. It was so good. It's about the plight of Mexican immigrants. An ambitious politician in Oklahoma thinks it's a hot button issue and wants to prosecute everyone involved.A wonderful family and their foibles in dealing with this.With lots of wisdom and insight in between. A must read for everyone.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5To those who think reading fiction is for escape from the “real” world, this novel addresses a very serious real world problem, one with no easy, one-size-fits-all answer.A fairly normal, strongly Christian family in Oklahoma gets caught up in a felony, harboring illegal immigrants, violating a new law. And the family is being torn apart.Children are involved, as are family members who don't have good sense, good people trying to stand up for what they think is right and those trying to protect their families, and two men who are in the country illegally.The story is exciting throughout. “Sweet” is a flawed character that I couldn't help but love. Some of the characters seemed a little too much like stereotypes for me, especially the sheriff. But then I live in Maricopa County – we have living, breathing stereotypes of our own. The publicity-seeking legislator also hit a little close to home.The writing was lovely and crisp. In the end, some questions were answered but not everything was tied up into a nice, neat bundle. And just as in real life, there are no easy answers to the issue of what to do about people who are in the country without proper documentation.