Completed: 12/31/2020
Recommendation: Recommended
Recommended By: National Book Award
Review:
The story, largely, of a boy with synesthesia who is abandoned by his birth-mother. His subsequent adoption was unsettling and his eventual search for his birth-mother dominates most of the book. His unsettled nature mimics his birth-mother's unsettled nature. The book does change perspective to that of his birth-mother at times and provides insight into her experiences.
I feel like I have now heard of the sense of deportation/immigration from every angle despite this being a clear novel with no effort to necessarily reflect the truth, but with a clear effort to embody the process of deportation. In that sense it was a hard read, but I have to say that the great similes and metaphors (I especially liked the sense of security being retracted like the cord into a vacuum cleaner) made the book enjoyable without regard for content. I think this kind of thing is what elevates a good book into a finalist for the National Book Award.
