Children of the Land

By: Marcelo Hernandez Castillo

Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon

An Entertainment Weekly Most Anticipated Book of 2020

This unforgettable memoir from a prize-winning poet about growing up undocumented in the United States recounts the sorrows and joys of a family torn apart by draconian policies and chronicles one young man’s attempt to build a future in a nation that denies his existence.

"You were not a ghost even though an entire country was scared of you. No one in this story was a ghost. This was not a story."

When Marcelo Hernandez Castillo was five years old and his family was preparing to cross the border between Mexico and the United States, he suffered temporary, stress-induced blindness. Castillo regained his vision, but quickly understood that he had to move into a threshold of invisibility before settling in California with his parents and siblings. Thus began a new life of hiding in plain sight and of paying extraordinarily careful attention at all times for fear of being truly seen. Before Castillo was one of the most celebrated poets of a generation, he was a boy who perfected his English in the hopes that he might never seem extraordinary.

With beauty, grace, and honesty, Castillo recounts his and his family’s encounters with a system that treats them as criminals for seeking safe, ordinary lives. He writes of the Sunday afternoon when he opened the door to an ICE officer who had one hand on his holster, of the hours he spent making a fake social security card so that he could work to support his family, of his father’s deportation and the decade that he spent waiting to return to his wife and children only to be denied reentry, and of his mother’s heartbreaking decision to leave her children and grandchildren so that she could be reunited with her estranged husband and retire from a life of hard labor.

Children of the Land distills the trauma of displacement, illuminates the human lives behind the headlines, and serves as a stunning meditation on what it means to be a man and a citizen.

©2020 Marcelo Hernandez Castillo (P)2020 HarperCollins Publishers

I love this book

It was hard to finish because I could relate to the author's relationship with his father. It is beautifully written.

Tooooo Long!

Good substance and very well written. It just went on 4-ever! Probably could have cut it in half.
Easy to see why the author is an award winning poet as his descriptors are extraordinary.
Why did he have to tell us of his sexuality? It didn’t play into the story at all and wasn’t necessary.

Phenomenal

I loved this in depth look at in immigrant's story. It's important to showcase that it's not easy to become a citizen, as well as the facets surrounding the process. For those of us who are a few generations in, who feel a bit removed from others' struggles, this gives an understanding we have lacked... until now.

Really well done

Definitely intend to listen again and recommend. I wasn’t expecting the end to come when it did I could have definitely listened more.

borders can bar or invite people to come together

borders can bar or invite people to come together . We must decide. we are all children looking to explore and expand our horizons. we can help one another bridge these gaps or we can turn our backs on each other and fade away into our own fear and loathing s. We are nothing without the love and care we share. all we can do is try.

Wow

I'm crying, this book is so strong and beautiful, I totally recommend it. Plus the performance is great.

Dry and depressing

Just could not get into the story. The main character seemed continually depressed and had a”poor me” attitude.

This memoir felt almost like a novel

This book is moving and at times heartbreaking. Sometimes I had to remember that it wasn't a novel. His writing is poetic, fitting since he is a poet. I've read quite a few novels that speak to the immigrant experiences in the last few years. Each is unique, but most are tough at times, whether they are legal or illegal immigrants, refugees or otherwise.

In this book the author's father is deported back to Mexico and they don't see each other for many years. Their lives are all changed. The parents are separated by distance, but still married.

I don't want to say too much more and give you spoilers. I loved this book and may have shed a few tears. I highly recommend it. The narration is also excellent.

Extraordinary!

I grew up on the Texas/Mexican Border and have known many undocumented immigrants. So, I expected a story of daily fear and uncertainty. Of life-threatening Border crossing. Of crushingly arbitrary immigration bureaucracies. Even before the Trump administration.

But, this gifted poet utterly changes how you look at immigration by taking you not on one crossing, but on multiple trips back and forth between the U.S. and Mexico, as he tries to piece together a family separated for more than ten years; as he tries to define what is "home". As he just tries to function.

So, he becomes the first undocumented student accepted into a prestigious creative writing program, but can't take a bus or drive. And, his mother saves everything so she can one day prove how long she has been in the U.S. trying to get a green card, but....none of that really matters.

If you are trying to understand the reality of the United States broken immigration system, this story of one family's experience is a great place to start.

The format may take a little getting used to, lots of vivid scenes, including flashbacks, within the context of four journeys. But, they are all about grappling with how you live your life when any second, a knock at the door could change everything.

I usually like immigrant stories

but I found this one dry and boring . it just didn't work for me.