From the capital, they travel by commuter train to Huehuetoca, where Luca witnesses the aftermath of a sexual assault at a migrant facility. She and Luca flee Acapulco by bus, stopping in Chilpancingo to avoid roadblocks before pressing on to Mexico City. The next morning, Lydia receives a gift from the jefe with a thinly veiled threat. Despite her precautions, a clerk recognizes her and informs Javier. Lydia gathers necessities from her mother’s house and takes Luca to a hotel using several buses to throw off Los Jardineros. Lydia and Luca spend the rest of the novel running from Javier’s men, encountering a diverse cast of migrants along the road to the US. Javier’s murderous rage stems not from the article itself, but from the impact it has on his daughter, Marta, who commits suicide when she learns of her father’s true identity. Javier Crespo Fuentes, Lydia’s close friend and the jefe of Los Jardineros, ordered the hit in retaliation for an exposé written by Lydia’s husband, a journalist named Sebastián Pérez Delgado. The perpetrators are three sicarios, killers for Los Jardineros, a violent local cartel. Lydia Quixano Pérez, a bookstore owner in Acapulco, saves her son Luca from a massacre that wipes out their entire family at a quinceañera cookout. Its moral voice unequivocally lands on the side of migrants, while its simple language creates a sense of immediacy and conveys the terror of the migrant experience. The book is written in alternating third-person viewpoints. A vitriolic debate centering on who can tell which stories emerged in the press and on social media, prompting the publisher to cancel Cummins’s book tour. While many critics initially praised the book for its propulsive plot and poignant treatment of an underrepresented group, others objected to its portrayal of Mexicans characterizing the novel as stereotypical, opportunistic, and parasitical while also accusing Cummins of cultural appropriation. The title refers to the land comprising the geopolitical entity that is the United States of America, and to the contempt undocumented migrants face both before and after crossing the US-Mexico border. The controversial, cross-genre novel combines elements of a commercial thriller, literary fiction, suspense, and romance. This guide refers to the first US edition. American Dirt is a work of fiction by Jeanine Cummins published in 2020 by MacMillan Press.

Jeanine cummings