Infinite Country by Patricia Engel

Infinite Country
by Patricia Engel
Pages: 208
Published by Avid Reader Press
Goodreads

For readers of Valeria Luiselli and Edwidge Danticat, an urgent and lyrical novel about a Colombian family fractured by deportation, offering an intimate perspective on an experience that so many have endured—and are enduring right now.
At the dawn of the new millennium, Colombia is a country devastated by half a century of violence. Elena and Mauro are teenagers when they meet, their blooming love an antidote to the mounting brutality of life in Bogotá. Once their first daughter is born, and facing grim economic prospects, they set their sights on the United States.
They travel to Houston and send wages back to Elena’s mother, all the while weighing whether to risk overstaying their tourist visas or to return to Bogotá. As their family expands, and they move again and again, their decision to ignore their exit dates plunges the young family into the precariousness of undocumented status, the threat of discovery menacing a life already strained. When Mauro is deported, Elena, now tasked with caring for their three small children, makes a difficult choice that will ease her burdens but splinter the family even further.
Award-winning, internationally acclaimed author Patricia Engel, herself the daughter of Colombian immigrants and a dual citizen, gives voice to Mauro and Elena, as well as their children, Karina, Nando, and Talia—each one navigating a divided existence, weighing their allegiance to the past, the future, to one another, and to themselves. Rich with Bogotá urban life, steeped in Andean myth, and tense with the daily reality for the undocumented in America, Infinite Country is the story of two countries and one mixed-status family—for whom every triumph is stitched with regret and every dream pursued bears the weight of a dream deferred.

First Line:

“It was her idea to tie up the nun.”

First Thoughts:

Patricia Engel’s writing grabbed me from the first sentence and didn’t let go. Overnight I became invested in the well-being of Elena and Mauro’s family, as well as the trials and, the long journey they faced.

Final Thoughts

Infinite Country tackles immigration head-on, leaving the reader to question what is right and wrong in the face of a difficult situation. The novel’s decade-plus timeline told through different narrators is incredibly meaningful. This storytelling gives a full picture of the hard decisions that are made and the domino effect a loved one’s deportation can have on so many others. Infinite Country is a book that needs to be read. The novel is impactful and with its almost lyrical writing it is a necessary read.

Reading this book contributed to these challenges:

• Reese Witherspoon Book Club Challenge