I received an ALC from Libro.fm in exchange for an honest review. To be entirely transparent I did a lot of further reading after listening to this book. When I first listened to it it was heartbreaking... but I wanted to be sure I was giving airtime to a credible source. While Jenny herself did not make the journey both of her parents are immigrants from Latin America. As the child of immigrant parents she herself felt as though she lived on the border of two worlds, never quite fitting in to either perfectly.
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Pulga, Chico, and Pequeña are fleeing Guatemala for their lives. They make the long arduous journey after Pulga & Chico witness a brutal murder by some local gang members and Pequeña gives birth to one of the same gang members baby. In order to have a better life and flee the local violence the three teenagers make the hard decision to walk, bus and jump onto La Bestia to get into the US.
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This book was so raw and full of sadness and tragedy, but also filled with hope and love and determination. Two huge themes are the power of friendship and continuing to follow their dreams in-spite of all of the challenges pushing against them. The narrator did a beautiful job bringing this story to life.

Thank you to LibroFM for an ALC in exchange for my honest review. This was a beautiful poetry collection. I love poetry and I was actually concerned how much I’d enjoy listening to it as opposed to reading it but let me tell you it was fantastic! It’s pretty difficult for me to pick apart someone’s poetry as it is so personal. I’ve chosen a few quotes from the book I just loved:
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Content warnings from the author: Sexual assault, molestation, loss of virginity, homophobia, racism, anti-blackness, use of the N word and F word.
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This book was created with interviews from numerous people who lived it, recordings, declassified documents, and phone calls. I listened to the audio which included a full cast and it was incredibly hard to listen to. You get this perspective from those in the towers, on the plane, in schools near ground zero, near the pentagon, etc... all these lives intersected and impacted by this attack. I will say this book was incredibly well written however I cannot stress enough how traumatic it was to listen to.
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So I read this book in April. And I stand by my original thoughts that Wendig wrote 2020. We are following a flock of sleepwalkers across the country as the rest of the population are suffering from a pandemic, extreme violence, racism, an ultra violent militia who is threatening to kill the sleepwalkers... the list goes on. At the time this book gave me such anxiety. Upon further reflection after finishing it, it still gives me anxiety.
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While this book was weird and very Sci Fi... it really looked at the Good Vs Evil in the world. How we as people interact with one another and make decisions when shits gone to hell. We focus on morality, sexuality, environmental issues, political issues, scientific issues, etc. I have content warnings on my last slide and I will say this book was very very VERY triggering. There was some really heavy content and some gruesome scenes and actions. I do not feel they were for shock value and that they did add to the plot but please be aware.
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