A Good Provider Is One Who Leaves

One Family and Migration in the 21st Century

By: Jason DeParle

Narrated by: Fred Sanders

One of The Washington Post's 10 Best Books of the Year

"A remarkable book...indispensable." (The Boston Globe)

"A sweeping, deeply reported tale of international migration...DeParle's understanding of migration is refreshingly clear-eyed and nuanced." (The New York Times)

"This is epic reporting, nonfiction on a whole other level...One of the best books on immigration written in a generation." (Matthew Desmond, author of Evicted)

The definitive chronicle of our new age of global migration, told through the multi-generational saga of a Filipino family, by a veteran New York Times reporter and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist.

When Jason DeParle moved into the Manila slums with Tita Comodas and her family three decades ago, he never imagined his reporting on them would span three generations and turn into the defining chronicle of a new age - the age of global migration. In a monumental book that gives new meaning to "immersion journalism", DeParle paints an intimate portrait of an unforgettable family as they endure years of sacrifice and separation, willing themselves out of shantytown poverty into a new global middle class. At the heart of the story is Tita's daughter, Rosalie. Beating the odds, she struggles through nursing school and works her way across the Middle East until a Texas hospital fulfills her dreams with a job offer in the States.

Migration is changing the world - reordering politics, economics, and cultures across the globe. With nearly 45 million immigrants in the United States, few issues are as polarizing. But if the politics of immigration is broken, immigration itself - tens of millions of people gathered from every corner of the globe - remains an underappreciated American success. Expertly combining the personal and panoramic, DeParle presents a family saga and a global phenomenon. Restarting her life in Galveston, Rosalie brings her reluctant husband and three young children with whom she has rarely lived. They must learn to become a family, even as they learn a new country. Ordinary and extraordinary at once, their journey is a 21st-century classic, rendered in gripping detail.

©2019 Jason DeParle (P)2019 Penguin Audio

Critic reviews

“This years-in-the-making, panoramic story follows the Portagana family from the slums of Manila across four continents. A humane epic of real people in search of better lives.” (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

“DeParle delivers a remarkably creative, enlightening, and empathetic book about international migration’s personal and public impact…[a] well-informed analysis, of immigration’s history, benefits, and downsides, demonstrating his mastery of the subject.” (Library Journal (starred review)

“[A] captivating story.... DeParle excels in both intimate details and sweeping scale.... This well-crafted story personalizes the questions and trends surrounding global migration in moving and thought-provoking fashion.” (Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Excellent and Important

Jason DeParle's writing style is succinct and flows well, his research is in depth and solidly grounds the book, and his subject is important -- particularly in these times, when cruise ship workers (many from the Phillippines) and others in similarly-impacted service sectors are likely to be laid off. I recommend the book to anyone who wants to learn about those who seek a better life (economically) and whose stories are human and highly relatable.

A huge work

20 years of following a family, and a well researched context in world migration. A moving and impressive book

Must listen/read!

Well written story with interludes of history and statistics showing the phenomenon of migration in recent history.

A Book for the times

A look at legal immigration and the long forgotten ideal immigrants (Filipinos) which the west doesn't always see.

This filled my heart as a daughter of immigrants

To all my first gen immigrants, I really do recommend listening to this book. So much pain and triumph in these stories 💕

Very well written, narration is top!

Truly inspiring. I laughed and cried and smiled and cheered. Very well written and the narrator is awesome.

Outstanding

Outstanding macro yet intimate look at the challenges and benefits of immigration, one of the great political hot potatoes of our time.

Excellent

Describes very well the journey of the Filipino immigrant in particular and immigrants in general. It shows that for the financial reward that comes in the end there are numerous sacrifices that have to be made by those who leave and provide for their families.

Great Book

Regardless of what you think of immigration, this is a great book!! When it comes to the audio, it was also great, having options about how can you listen to the book makes it less hard to follow.

Moving and well informed

Excellent book that beautifully mixes general analysis of international migration with The moving story of one single Filipina family the author has followed for 35 years, from poverty in the slums to middle-class life in a Texas suburb. It’s a tale of perseverance, faith, family, hard work, bad luck, global, economic, change, and love, all wrapped in one book. The reading was excellent as well.