Jeanine Cummins

Fiction 2019 | 380 pages

In Chapter one, a Mexican family in Acapulco is celebrating a quinceañera at a backyard barbecue at Sebastian and Lydia's home. In the first five pages of American Dirt, sixteen members of one family are murdered by a drug cartel.  Sebastian, who is managing the barbecue at his home, is a journalist who reports the truth about the drugs cartels that have overrun Acapulco.  Only his wife Lydia and their son Luca survive the bloodbath, as they were in the house.

This dramatic novel proceeds from there as we follow Lydia and eight-year-old Luca attempt to find safety, knowing they are being tracked by el jefe of the cartel.  We are with them as they make the long journey, traveling all the way up Mexico to reach el Norte.  They travel much of the time on the roofs of la bestia, which is a freight train.  They constantly are on the alert for, and numerous times encounter,  police, cartel members, law enforcement agents, ICE agents, border patrol. And yet, they travel as immigrants and find many people along the in small towns who help them with food and water, and occasionally a place to sleep.

This is all complicated by a friend Lydia made before the day of the killings.  Javier met her in the bookstore she owns in Acapulco.  As their friendship deepens, we learn that Javier is a jefe in the largest, most powerful cartel.  He was responsible for the deaths of Lydia's family. He tracks Lydia and Luca as they attempt to find safety, 

The writing is very clean, there is considerable suspense, and we get a view of life through a migrant's eyes,

Many literary reviewers panned the book for its lack of authenticity, arguing it capitalized on the suffering of migrants without demonstrating a genuine, nuanced understanding of Mexican culture or the sociopolitical landscape.  Ms. Cummins is a white woman of Puerto Rican descent.  Not knowing about this criticism, I took American Dirt at face value and found it to be well worth my time.  I did learn a lot about the courage and commitment it takes to arrive at our Southern border. I did also think it bogged down a bit in places, because the (literal) landscape never changes.

Besides our main characters, Lydia and her son Luca, we meet others traveling the same path.  Soledad and Rebeca are teenage sisters.  Their interaction and reaction to the travel is enlightening, often heartwarming.  Lydia takes them under her wing, and these four travel together for many miles and many days.

I recommend American Dirt.  It is an engaging and powerful read.

May 2026

Viola Davis and James Patterson

Fiction 2026 | 432 pages

A marvelous novel! Could hardly put it down.  This is the story of Judge Mary Stone, the first black woman circuit court judge elected to serve in the present-day town of Union Springs, Alabama, population 3314.

The collaboration between Viola Davis and James Patterson is, I believe, much better than other writing partnerships he has established.  The transition from author to author is smooth.  I could not tell who wrote what.

The primary legal and moral dilemma is the case against the local physician, Dr. Bria Gaines, who is charged with a felony for performing an abortion.  This mirrors the laws that exist today in many of the southeast states, especially since 2022 when the Supreme Court overturned the right to a safe and legal abortion. When Dr. Gaines is arrested for performing an illegal abortion on a 13-year-old girl, Judge Stone must preside over a trial that ignites a national firestorm. As the case draws intense media scrutiny, political pressure from the state’s highest offices, and escalating violence from white-supremacist groups, she is forced to confront her own traumatic past while fighting for justice in a community tearing itself apart.

While the legal manifestations are central to this novel, I particularly liked the manner in which Mary Stone was presented. We focus, yes, on the very visible legalities, but Mary Stone is not only shown as the role she sits in ... a black circuit court judge, but we also see her personality, context, background, values, philosophies, and current life circumstances.  She is written not just in the role she holds, but as a complete human being.  This perspective is utterly delightful.

There is no question ... you may be very interested in reading Judge Stone.  I recommend it wholeheartedly.

May 2026

Thomas Kohnstamm

Fiction 2025 | 388 pages

My local library has a wonderful program called A Novel Idea.  Each year since 2004 the library has chosen a book for us to read as a community.  The author comes to speak, and there are workshops that highlight salient aspects of the book.  It's the largest community reading event in Oregon.  I have enjoyed every single book, some more than others, over the last 20 plus years.

Until this one, that is.

How did a team of very well-meaning readers choose this book?  Clearly they were remiss in rejecting me when I applied to be a member of the reading team.  At that time, hey were looking for a young Hispanic person who lives in a small rural town in the county. Three strikes against me!

Anyway, the book is a series of stories, almost vignettes really.  We had 1897, in which we learned about the Duwamish tribe who occupied the land that later became Seattle.  This was the most interesting sub-plot.  Unfortunately,  it was also the shortest, only about 15-20 pages.  

There was 1971, probably our most complex subplot, which consists of Ruth and her mother Masako, and Ruth's love interest Larry, who works on the supersonic jet in development that inspires the title.

Finally, there is 2014 where we see Sami trying to save her local elementary school, along with the grudging help of her sister-in-law and the bumbling antics of druggie Loose Bruce.

About 75% of the characters are somewhere between despicable and unlikeable.  And they all seem to be mere caricatures and stereotypes of themselves.  The wealthy and ostentatious sister-in-law with cooks and cleaners and paid staff.  The drug-addled former hippie who can't get it together to open a cannabis business or make copies at a copy machine.  The underdeveloped immature low-self-confident woman who still lives with her mother at 25 and allows her mother to control the hours she keeps, the people she sees, the clothes she wears, the music she listens to, and her education. 

If this were not a community read, I would not have made it through.  It is disjointed, not well written, at times confusing.  What was the library thinking? I was glad to close the back cover. 

April 2026