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    American Dirt (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel
    Unavailable
    American Dirt (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel
    Unavailable
    American Dirt (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel
    Audiobook16 hours

    American Dirt (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel

    Written by Jeanine Cummins

    Narrated by Yareli Arizmendi

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    #1 New York Times Bestseller
    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

    También de este lado hay sueños. On this side too, there are dreams.

    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's 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

    Editor's Note

    Oprah’s Book Club…

    This #1 NYT bestseller was initially acclaimed by reviewers, and all but destined for success once it was announced as an Oprah’s Book Club pick. But an outcry over what many saw as the appropriation of the immigrant experience sparked a powerful backlash. The result has been an important, difficult conversation about the lack of diversity in publishing.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Audio
    Release dateJan 21, 2020
    ISBN9781250260604
    Unavailable
    American Dirt (Oprah's Book Club): A Novel
    Author

    Jeanine Cummins

    Jeanine Cummins is the New York Times bestselling author of American Dirt, as well as the novels The Outside Boy and The Crooked Branch and the bestselling memoir A Rip in Heaven. She lives in New York with her husband and two children.

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    Reviews for American Dirt (Oprah's Book Club)

    4.5/5

    754 ratings57 reviews

    What did you think?

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    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      Powerful, moving, visceral, tragic, shocking, thrilling, horrific, beautiful, and transcendent.

      4 people found this helpful

    • 1/5
      Just no. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 1/5
      I was gifted an ARC by the publishers.

      I started reading this book before I read all the controversy on it.

      I put down this book so many times that if I didn’t find the audiobook I probably wouldn’t have picked it up for a while.

      As for the “fiction” part of this story it wasn’t the best I’ve read, so I didn’t feel impressed at all.

      This story would’ve meant so much more if I read it as a memoir by a latinx author or just a fiction story from a latinx story.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 1/5
      Full of cliches and copies a lot of scenes from other books. Not really worth the time. They are better books that depict a less stereotypical immigration story.

      3 people found this helpful

    • 1/5
      Trash. Not worth your time at all. There are much better writers talking about similar topics who actually know what they are writing about. Not just faking it and taking the worst stereotypes like this author does.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      EVERYONE needs to read this book! Amazingly written and a modern story of strength, perseverance and compassion.

      2 people found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I don’t think many Americans have a true understanding of what Latinos have to suffer through in different parts of the world. I find the negative reviews are probably written by non-compassionate Republicans who fear immigration. Unless we are native Americans, most of our ancestors didn’t come to the United States because life in their homelands was easy. To leave the security of your culture, your family, your friends to seek a better life means your life must be in despair. It takes courage to seek a new life in a new country especially knowing there iate so many dangers ahead.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      A powerful, moving story of a mother fighting for her and her sons survival after experiencing a traumatic act of violence. No American can read this and think the country needs a border wall.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Trying not to rush to the end. Will the main characters survive. The twist and turns in the telling. The vivid details. At some points if felt as if I was in the scene.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      As the descendant of relatively recent immigrants and an educator who works with refugees, I think this book is beyond important! As a reader, I cannot say enough about a beautifully told story. Shame on all who protested this author’s right to tell this tale.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Better than I accepted. I felt weird reading the migrant story for a white woman’s perspective but after hearing what others have to say it gave me the push I needed to get the physical copy of this book and to read it completely with a open heart and open mind. I’m glad I waited because this story was profound. I enjoy the author’s honesty about her privilege and reason for writing this story. I am glad she did. I am glad she made this hard decision to tell a story that wasn’t hers because it shows how we are all humanly connected. That’s what we forget.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I’ve never read a book from this perspective before. I think we all have preconceived notions about immigration and reading it from a mother’s perspective was so powerful. I know there’s a lot of controversy around the authors ethnicity, but I think the story is great and she’s a wonderful writer. It’s clear that she wrote this story to shed light on the atrocities happening in Mexico and wasn’t trying to capitalize on the backs of people of color.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Spectacular! What a ride... The beginning was fascinating and I was hooked but around half way through I couldn’t put it down and listened through the night to finish it. While full of tragedy and the horrors that real migrants face, there are also beautiful and unexpected bonds formed by their shared experience. I can’t recommend this book enough.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Mrs. Cummins, you did a phantastic job. This book made the whole immigration issue personal, believable. I suffered with all the persons so well described , on the horrendous journey. I knew that the way North was difficult, bit the extent of the horrors awaiting the migrants on their trails, surmounted all my expectations. For making this suffering accessible to her readers Janine Cummins deserves my deepest respect, and that she is no Mexican - well: please let not the „perfect“ become the enemy of the „ very, very good“. She writes with knowledge and empathy and a deep understanding of the human longing for home , family and the good to believe in. Her nationality does not contribute or Chang e any of it. It saddens me when I think of how many readers will miss this book/experience because of the unnecessary discussion about her „right“to write or not to write about migration. I almost let myself be influenced and not read the book, what a great, great luck for me, that I gave it a try. I hope you will do this too. Promise: you will not regret it

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      I think what was so great about this book is that the characters were so alive and so real so we could see their struggles firsthand. I was amazed by their tenacity and perseverance, their ability to carry on in the face of horrific hardships and adversaries. Enlightening and gives me so much more compassion for migrants from any country.

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      This story touched my soul. The terror of living in Fear of brutal death is real. Things have to change.
    • 4/5
      I’m very aware this was a controversial book when it was first published. I’m leaving all the controversy out of my review.
      I enjoyed this story. I listened to it as an audiobook and I was a bit sad I couldn’t listen at night before bed. It was just too disturbing. I did not want to fall asleep to this story and have bad dreams about it. About half way though, I almost gave up on it because of the content. But I was too invested in finding out what happens to them, so I had to finish. I’m glad I stuck it out. It definitely took me out of my happy comfort zone bubble.
    • 4/5
      A must read. You do not have to like it. But you should read it anyway. I am changed by this book. And I liked it
    • 5/5
      Loved this book--really makes you feel the plight of the people trying to find a better life in the U.S.
    • 3/5
      Written in a way that it does not present the dreadful journey.
    • 5/5
      This book made me think of immigration in a different way. I am grateful for all the research the author put into this novel.
    • 5/5
      This story was phenomenal and extremely eye opening for me. Prior to this book, I had not considered the dire situations in which migrants are fleeing from. Many of these situations were ones where they had no control or resulted simply from the location where they were born. Being a Texas resident, I tend to think only of the Mexican border towns that are overwhelmed by cartels and not of the whole country. I tend to forget that there are many good people in the country as well. And those good people don’t want association with the drugs, gangs and violence anymore than I do. I’ll definitely change my thinking! Thank you for writing this wonderful story.
    • 5/5
      Intense but a great story told of the intolerable violence in our neighboring country. God bless those that have endured similar stories.
    • 4/5
      I love the narration, the story is quite heavy though but very gripping.
    • 5/5
      One of the best novels I’ve read in years. You won’t regret it.
    • 5/5
      The narrator made this book come to life. The stories woven throughout the book touched my heart in so many ways this was beautifully written I enjoyed every moment of reading it.
    • 5/5
      Really enjoyed the story and narrator. Tugs in your heart strings and makes you think about others. Highly recommend.
    • 5/5
      Fast paced from beginning to end. Memorable characters and riveting plot
    • 5/5
      The arduous journey of illegal immigrants powerfully described. I don’t consider this novel “a novel”because without any hesitation I know it’s someone’s real story.
    • 5/5
      Although the story is heart wrenching it was well told.