The difference, I would say, is love. American Dirt will fade into obscurity or it will go down as a very messed up bestseller. By joining Slate Plus you support our work and get exclusive content. The difference between American Dirt and The Unnamed Country is that Thomas knows the land and her people, and his characters, heroes and villains alike, are created with care and respect, and never regarded as mere faceless masses or grotesque stereotypes. Following this breathless opening, Cummins delivers a page-turning thriller where there is literally danger around every corner for her main characters. “American Dirt,” published last week, is a fast-paced novel about a mother-and-son pair of migrants on the run from murderous drug lords. She was talking about American Dirt, the first blockbuster novel of 2020 and her latest pick for her book club. You can cancel anytime. The novel was acquired by Flatiron Books in 2018 in a reported seven-figure deal and has been talked about in the publishing world ever since. A (mediocre) poet and a romantic, Cummins’ drug lord is sophisticated to the point of parody. Is that OK? Family Photo Books. She knows Acapulco inside and out and could probably pinpoint the location of El Rollo Aquatic Park. That cannot happen with characters whom immigrants themselves could never relate to. Over the past decade I have interviewed hundreds of immigrant women for Univision and other media outlets. Her existence is upended by an unspeakable act of violence that is, in itself, extreme—the killing of 16 members of a single family would be national news in Mexico. I also found the book’s very public aspirations interesting. Already being hailed as "a Grapes of Wrath for our times" and "a new American classic," Jeanine Cummins's American Dirt is a rare exploration into the inner hearts of people willing to sacrifice everything for a glimmer of hope. In a blurb for the book, Sandra Cisneros, the brilliant Mexican American novelist, called American Dirt “not simply the great American novel” but “the great novel of the Americas.” … American Dirt first landed on the desks of editors in the spring of 2018. It has been an enlightening experience. Although I find the lack of diversity in America’s publishing industry appalling, I couldn’t care less if Cummins is white, not Mexican, or not a first-generation immigrant herself. The book has a white jacket cover featuring blue birds, reminiscent of traditional Mexican Talavera tiles surrounded by barbed wire. American Dirt (Jeanine Cummins) – book review, Sign up for The What's On Weekly - enter email below, Leave the World Behind (Rumaan Alam) – book review, The Subjects (Sarah Hopkins) – book review, Small Mercies (Richard Anderson) – book review. In response to this, Macmillan US, the American publisher of American Dirt has recently announced a commitment to hiring more Latin American staff and to publishing and promoting more Latin American stories by Latin American writers. Let’s see Don Winslow stick a blurb on that. But along the way they will also encounter people who have already had lives in the United States, or those who cross regularly to do seasonal work. American Dirt opens with a scene that is as shocking as it is gripping. In this week’s episode of “Oprah’s Book Club” on Apple TV+, Winfrey gets to take on the “American Dirt” controversy and is joined by the book’s author, Jeanine Cummins. She knows her conchas, her fútbol, and her abuela. Many (including Sehgal, in her review) seized on the blurb that novelist Don Winslow had given American Dirt, which is splashed across the novel’s front … This and over 450 more book reviews can be found on his website Pile By the Bed. Not many in Mexico seem to really care that a woman named Jeanine Cummins has dared to write about, A Deposit of Bones Originally Discovered by a Ranch Hand, What Stories of Transition and Divorce Have in Common, How Teaching Writing Makes Jonathan Lethem’s Own Writing Better, The Deranged Tale of an Antifa Protester, a Lusty Liberal Congresswoman, and a Day I’ll Never Get Back, The Stories George Saunders Thinks Every Aspiring Writer Should Read. So while American Dirt may not be the literary fiction breakout that some are touting, it is an important work. Robert Goodman is a book reviewer, former Ned Kelly Awards judge and institutionalised public servant based in Sydney. American Dirt is a work of fiction, but it’s not fantasy; Cummins has a responsibility to accurately portray the context she places her characters in, especially since, as an author, she felt she had “the capacity to be a bridge.” Comments ( 0 ) Print as You Go. By Robert Goodman 10 months ago . It has received glowing praise … PREVIEW: ‘American Dirt’ is about Mexicans by an author who isn’t. According to the blurb, Cummins’ book has stirred up a lot of controversy. He is not an accurate representation of Mexico’s criminals. “American Dirt” sold more than 48,000 copies during its first week, even topping Delia Owens' blockbuster “Where the Crawdads Sing,” which sold just under 25,000 copies. Join Slate Plus to continue reading, and you’ll get unlimited access to all our work—and support Slate’s independent journalism. Lydia Quixano Perez runs a bookstore in the Mexican City of Acapulco until one violent day changes everything. 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