Book Review: The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande

The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande was a very traumatic book to read. To note here, I read the Young Readers Edition, not the original memoir which I'm sure was filled with much more detailed information about her life.

Let's get a few things out of the way before I delve into my thoughts. This is going to be filled with spoilers. There is a lot of physical abuse in this book. There is a lot of emotional abuse in this book. This is not a book to read lightly. It will make you angry, upset, and the amount of emotions you have might be a little overwhelming. This also makes you want to scream BIRTH CONTROL. 

This book makes me so angry at the current Presidential administration. It also makes me realize how ignorant and narcissistic Americans are. I have so many thoughts and so many of them just race through my head before I can finish and then move on to the next thought. 

So, I guess I'll just jump in head first - Reyna's father first leaves the family and illegally immigrates to the US on the pretense that he makes enough money to build a house for the family and move back to Mexico, eventually he sends money for the mother to join him. The children see physical evidence (the building of the house) to know the parents are sending money. Then the parents have an American baby. The parents separate, the father gets a new wife. 

In the meantime, Reyna and her two other siblings stay with their extremely abusive paternal grandmother along with a cousin whose mother left her to go to America too.

As a mother, I can't imagine leaving my children for YEARS at a time. The mother pretty much only uses the children to get money from the father and uses the children to say mean things to the father. I am absolutely appalled at the way the parents mistreat these children and abandon them. Reading the Young Readers Edition I think upsets me even more because there aren't as many details that as adults we can handle, process, and understand better. I want more information that this edition doesn't have. The kids get tapeworms, cavities, they're malnourished.

This book makes me so angry with governments that don't want to help their people - by making birth control free and readily accessible (along with abortions), by making sure healthcare is accessible and free or low cost. Jesus Fucking Christ, no wonder why immigrants want to throw themselves across the border at any cost, it's because the opportunities are HERE.

So that's my take. READ IT.