{"id":9494,"date":"2021-03-29T18:28:13","date_gmt":"2021-03-29T17:28:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9494"},"modified":"2021-03-29T23:59:54","modified_gmt":"2021-03-29T22:59:54","slug":"american-dirt-by-jeanine-cummins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=9494","title":{"rendered":"American Dirt, by Jeanine Cummins"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"OFF THE SHELF<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

“American Dirt”<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong>, by Jeanine Cummins<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"American Dirt is a 2020 novel by American author Jeanine Cummins, about the ordeal of a Mexican woman who had to leave behind her life and escape as an immigrant to US with her son. At the opening of Jeanine Cummins\u2019s devastating and timely novel, bookshop owner Lydia and her eight-year-old son, Luca, are the only survivors of a targeted massacre by the Mexican cartel that dominates and terrorises their hometown of Acapulco. Sixteen of their relatives have been shot at a family barbecue, including Lydia\u2019s husband and Luca\u2019s father, a journalist who had been investigating and reporting on the drug traffickers.<\/p>\n

What follows is the story of a mother\u2019s desperate attempts to keep her son alive, away from the cartel whose influence stretches across Mexico and from whom she knows they will never be safe. It is through their ordeal that Cummins humanises the migrant crisis, delivering a powerful portrayal of the extraordinary lengths people will go to in order to save their loved ones. It is a moving portrait of maternal love and an unflinching description of the experiences of displaced people on the move.<\/p>\n

As members we really enjoyed reading this book. It was very well written, had powerful descriptions throughout and the turn of events were easy to follow. Although these were menacing at times and difficult to read, we persevered and appreciated its honesty. The characters were powerful and the main characters Lydia and Luca extremely likeable. We would recommend this book and gave it a score of 9\/10. Chris Munroe<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OFF THE SHELF “American Dirt”, by Jeanine Cummins   American Dirt is a 2020 novel by American author Jeanine Cummins, about the ordeal of a Mexican woman who had to leave behind her life and escape as an immigrant to US with her son. At the opening of Jeanine Cummins\u2019s devastating and timely novel, bookshop owner Lydia and her eight-year-old […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[347],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-2t8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14104,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14104","url_meta":{"origin":9494,"position":0},"title":"Musings On Friendship","author":"Alan Williams","date":"15th March 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"MUSINGS ON FRIENDSHIP \u2018The only way to have a friend is to be one\u2019 Ralph Waldo Emerson \u00a0 \u2018Love demands infinitely less than friendship\u2019 George Jean Nathan \u2018The severest test of character is not so much the ability to keep a secret as it is, but when the secret is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Readers Articles of Interest"","block_context":{"text":"Readers Articles of Interest","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=228"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6618,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6618","url_meta":{"origin":9494,"position":1},"title":"\u2018The Age Of Innocence\u2019,Novel By Edith Wharton","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th September 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2018The Age Of Innocence\u2019,Novel By Edith Wharton This month\u2019s book was \u2018The Age of Innocence\u2019, a 1920's novel by American author Edith Wharton. The book is set in the 1870s, in upper-class New York Society. Although we appreciated Wharton\u2019s attention to detail, we found the book introduced too many characters\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12627,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12627","url_meta":{"origin":9494,"position":2},"title":"The Heart is a Lonely Hunter","author":"Alan Williams","date":"9th December 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF \"The Heart is a Lonely Hunter\" by Carson McCullers Carson McCullers\u2019 first novel is known as a modern-day classic. To an extent it mirrors her own background of growing up in a poor mill town in the Southern United States. The story tells of the lives of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15644,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15644","url_meta":{"origin":9494,"position":3},"title":"“Real Americans ” by Rachel Khong","author":"Alan Williams","date":"31st May 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF \"Real Americans \" by Rachel Khong We thoroughly enjoyed Real Americans. We were especially drawn to the novel's multi-generational structure and the thoughtful exploration of identity, heritage, and the American experience. The characters, particularly Lily and Nick, felt well-developed and relatable. May (also known as Mei) revealed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for June 2025"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for June 2025","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=422"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10567,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=10567","url_meta":{"origin":9494,"position":4},"title":"Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin","author":"Alan Williams","date":"19th November 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 OFF THE SHELF This month\u2019s reading was a classic novel written in 1852. Uncle Tom\u2019s Cabin written by Harriet Beecher Stowe was the best-selling novel and the second best-selling book of the 19th century. One million copies were sold in Great Britain alone. The emotive story features Uncle Tom,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11469,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=11469","url_meta":{"origin":9494,"position":5},"title":"Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami","author":"Alan Williams","date":"17th April 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF \u00a0 Book Review for Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami Norwegian Wood by Japanese author Haruki Murakami, is a modern literary depiction of depression, suicide and the sense of grief born from loss. Although the novel deals with heavy themes, it leaves us with a positive message: \u2018even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9494"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9494"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9499,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9494\/revisions\/9499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}