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The Distance Between Us: A Memoir by Reyna Grande

Publisher: Atria Books
Release Date:August 28, 2012
Pages: 336
Source: Publisher

The Distance Between us is the memoir of author Reyna Grande. The book starts in 1980: Reyna is 4 years old and living with parents, her younger brother Carlos and elder sister Mago. It is even then a very difficult economic time in Mexico and like many people the Grande family is living in extreme poverty. Reyna's father?has left?a few years ago, when Reyna was two years old?for El Otro Lado which means The Other Side of the Mexican-American border, to find work. He finds it there and soon Reyna's mother also makes the dangerous border crossing to join him and find work to support the family. It takes eight years before she sees him back, and she only knows him from a photo, the reason why she refers to him as The man behind the glass.

Reyna, Mago and Carlos have to stay with their abusive grandmother while their parents are away. Mago is the eldest of the three childrens so she is kind of a little mother for her younger brother and sister.Their parents come back now and then, but the distance between them and the children is growing bigger, and overall the children don't know their parents in their most important years of growing up, and they only have each other to rely on.

When Reyna is ten years old, and their father, who has problems with alcohol has returned for a longer period, the children themselves are going to make the crossing to the US. Then a whole new world of diffcult challenges opens up to them, as they are illegaly in the United States and don't speak English. But now Reyna has the chance to study, and she becomes the first in her family to graduate from collegeand they get the chance to become legal US residents. Now Reyna Grande is an award winning author, She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Creative Writing and Film and Video from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Antioch University. She is a sought-after speaker at middle/high schools, colleges and universities across the nation, and teaches creative writing workshops in Los Angeles. Her first book, Across a Hundred Mountains, came out in 2006, and tells the story of a Mexican teen who makes the dangerous border crossing into the USA. Her second novel, Dancing with Butterflies, came out in 2009.

This is by far one of the most impressing memoirs I have read. Reyna Grande gives a raw and real look in the life of immigrants. This book reflects the struggle they have to face, on both sides of the border: the extreme poverty and hardships in Mexico, of leaving your country and facing a different world with new difficulties and, as an undocumented immigrant, the chance and fear of being sent back. Altough Reyna and her family where poor during this difficult time, they all have so much courage! That was a hidden red line in the book; never give up. It was heartbreaking to read how the immigration and dream for a better life can break?a family apart, and how?a distance can grow between children and their parents.?It is just amazing to read how Reyna has accomplished so many fantastic things just by doing and by not giving up and pulling trough. I think many people can learn from this impressing memoir and take it as a positive example. I highly recommend The Distance Between Us!

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Source: http://marjoleinbookblog.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-distance-between-us-memoir-by-reyna.html

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