Enrique's Journey

Infobox Book |
name = Enrique's Journey
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = The cover of "Enrique's Journey" by Sonia Nazario.
author = Sonia Nazario
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Novel
publisher = Random House
release_date = 2006
english_release_date = 2006
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback & iTunes)
pages = 300 pp (English edition, hardback)
isbn = ISBN 9780812971781 (English edition, hardback)
preceded_by =
followed_by =

First published in 2006, "Enrique's Journey" is the best-selling non-fiction book by Sonia Nazario, about a young boy from Honduras who makes the difficult journey from his home town,Tegucigalpa to United States, to be reunited with his mother. It is based on a Pulitzer prize-winning series of articles in the "Los Angeles Times" published in 2003 [ [http://www.pulitzer.org/works/2003,Feature+Writing 2003 Pulitzer Prizes - Featured Writing] ] .

The book is due to be filmed by HBO as a mini-series [ [http://www.enriquesjourney.com Official Website] ] .

ummary

Enrique, a young boy from the village of Tegucigalpa in Honduras, is abandoned by his mother at the age of five with his sister, Belky, who is seven at the time. Their mother, Lourdes, has left for the United States in search of a higher paying job to escape the confinements of poverty in Honduras. She leaves her children with relatives and plans on wiring money back home, while saving for her planned return trip in less than 2 years. After many years have passed, and Enrique has grown into a teenager, his mother still is in the United States. Enrique has longed to be with his mother since she left. Every day this longing grows as his relatives treat him condescendingly, and the relatives that do love him are killed in the hazards of life in Honduras. He does manage to find a love, a girl named María Isabel, who he dotes on. He is unable to live up to his mother's wish for him to study, and with the lack of stringent discipline from a small age, he falls into a low of sniffing glue and doing drugs. He is confined to a small hut, and alienated by family and others, he decides to head north illegally in search of his mother.

Enrique, now 17, leaves his grandmother's abode with his mother's telephone number and $57 dollars in cash. Nazario, the author, accounts his travels. Enrique's journeys north involve skirmishes with "la migra", the border patrol agents who catch and deport migrants. He also has to endure bitter weather, hazardous freight trains, traitorous smugglers, and dangerous gangsters and bandits who rob, rape, and kill migrants. Enrique stops at many migrant sanctuaries, where Nazario gives accounts of other migrants - mothers, children as young as seven, amongst others. Enrique makes eight attempts north, the final one being successful. Despite Enrique's success, Nazario's accounts reveal that many more migrants are unluckier. Some die from freight train accidents, losing both their legs or limbs. Others are raped and cannot continue. Still others are beaten and shot, or mutilated by gangster attacks with machetes. Nazario also accounts the many people who do good for the migrants, such as the citizens of Veracruz, in Mexico, that give food to passing migrants, or priests and hospital managers devoted to helping migrants, to no gain of their own. Nazario interviews many mothers and ask their motives for leaving their children. Mothers say they cannot bear watching the empty stomachs of their children. Still, she asks children of their drive to find their mothers. They say it is because they cannot find love from anyone else.

Even though many migrants do find their mothers, they expect the same love from their mothers. After the initial exultation passes, feelings of abandonment and resentment rise. Enrique fights with his mother almost daily. What is expected to be a "happily ever after" story often turns into a nightmare. Mothers try to assert authority over youngsters who never had a authority over them. The children blame their resentment on their mother's absence.

A prevailing idea is that the U.S. problem with illegal migration is not solved at the Mexican border, but instead at the core, the Central American economies. Nazario concludes with a account of Don Francisco's TV show where Lourdes, Enrique, and Belky are brought together in a tearful reunion in the U.S. Belky is asked whether or not losing her mother to money sent home was worth it. The story concludes with Belky returning to Honduras to take care of her son.

Critical Reception

The reception of the book has been relatively good, with some critics skeptical of the dangers in the journey, and how Nazario could have survived the feat of following Enrique's route. Others have warmly praised the book, for its in depth, real time reporting [ [http://media.www.unews.com/media/storage/paper274/news/2007/10/01/Culture/Nazario.Endangers.Self.To.Take.enriques.Journey-3003893.shtml University News Review] ] [ [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/23/AR2006032301468.html Washington Post Book Review] ]

ee also

*Freighthopping

Footnotes

External links

*" [http://www.latimes.com/news/specials/enrique/la-fg-firstsoniasep29,0,3923498,print.story Enrique's Journey: The Boy Left Behind] ", beginning article in the "Times" series; includes maps, photos, and statistics
* [http://www.enriquesjourney.com Random House homepage] for "Enrique's Journey"