5.0 out of 5 stars MUST HAVE!!

J.C. · May 21, 2025

(function() { P.when('cr-A', 'ready').execute(function(A) { if(typeof A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel === 'function') { A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel('review_text_read_more', 'Read more of this review', 'Read less of this review'); } }); })(); .review-text-read-more-expander:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid #2162a1; outline-offset: 2px; border-radius: 5px; } From the start of the book, reading the prologue, I started to tear up. I knew from the beginning that it would be an emotional book. As a young girl growing up in Mexico and then moving to the United States, Reyna Grande's moving memoir, The Distance Between Us, stories her life. The book examines the psychological and physical effects of family separation, immigration, and resiliency and is set between Iguala, Mexico, and Los Angeles, California. It's a really intimate factual story that is written with honesty and sincerity.The way Reyna narrates her narrative through the perspective of her younger self is particularly effective since it makes the emotional impact genuine and unvarnished. The way she manages to live between two cultures without ever feeling like she belongs in either one was one theme that truly caught my attention. It got me thinking about how many people deal with this kind of difficulty in silence on a daily basis.From my understanding of immigration on a human level, not just via politics or headlines, but through actual suffering, aspirations, and development, was broadened by this book. I became more conscious, sympathetic, and appreciative of things I had previously taken for granted as a result.I would suggest it to others because, in addition to being apart from an immigrant family, it also teaches readers what it's truly like to struggle for a better life while bearing the burden of everything, especially everyone you have in your circle, you've left behind.

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-opening. A MUST READ.

A. · July 3, 2025

Absolutely loved this. Heartbreaking. Hopeful. Incredibly important to read. Ordering copies now for everyone I know and their upcoming birthdays, and will buy others Reyna Grande’s book for Christmas. This book should be required reading for high schoolers. I honestly did not fully understand just how difficult it is to be an immigrant in general, or how hard it is on families and on their relationships when migrating. This book has truly opened my eyes. On top of that, it is incredibly well-written.

4.0 out of 5 stars Buy The Hardcover or Paperback Version

v.r. · April 24, 2013

I bought this in the kindle version. The photographs were fairly well reproduced. However, it is cumbersome to flip back to prior photos when one wishes to do so while reading the novel. This was a book club selection, and it will be difficult to review the photos in this edition. I recommend one of the book formats instead of the kindle format.I really liked the book's content. Reyna Grande put a human face on the tragedies associated with illegal immigration from Latin American countries to the U.S. She tells the tale of her own dysfunctional, neglectful, and abusive parents and grandmother Evila in their yearnings for a better life for themselves and their children. Papi originally went to "El Otro Lado", the U.S., to earn money for his dream house. However, this dream house was merely a three room house made of brick or stucco with an indoor bathroom and perhaps running water and electricity. His family was living in a shack made of bamboo, cardboard, tar and aluminum. It could not protect them from heavy rains or floods. They barely earned enough to eat and sometimes they went hungry. Yet Mami in her lifetime goes on to give birth to a total of five children. The two born in the U.S. are eligible for and receive welfare. Poor Mexican families do not appear to understand the relationship between poverty and the lack of family planning inherant in their culture. The Mexican government should be giving out birth control for free. It should give out incentives to people willing to permanently end their pro-creativity or to use reliable methods of birth control that do not require participant compliance. The Norplant comes to mind. In any case Papi leaves his three children behind and sends small amounts of money to help his wife support their children. He banks the rest to save for his dream house. The children feel abandoned by their father for whom they have fond memories. His framed photograph occupies a central space in their house. Finally, he sends for Mami and she joins him in the U.S. Papi instructs Mami to leave the children in the care of his mother, Evila. But like her name she is evil. She favors their cousin, her first grandchild by her daughter who has also gone north. Papi and Mami send money for the food and clothing of their children. However, Evila spends most of it on herself, her unmarried daughter and the older cousin. The children are literally starving. They suffer constantly from hunger, lice, and other health problems. They are dressed in rags. The townspeople and other children make fun of them calling them orphans. When the parents phone for a few minutes monthly, Evila stands next to the children to make sure they do not tell their parents how hungry they are. Meanwhile, Papi is sending money to Iguala to build his dream house. Construction is begun and the children help with the building. They believe that as soon as the house is finished they will get their family back. Chinta, Mami's mother lives in a horrible shack made of bamboo while Evila's house is made of adobe. Chinta, a widow, also lives with her unmedicated schizophrenic alcoholic son. So Papi was uncomfortable leaving the children in her care even though she is kindly and loving toward her grandchildren. Mami returns when her husband leaves her for another woman. They fight over their 4th child, Betty, born in the U.S. and Papi shoots at her but misses. This is the first we see that the childrens' idealized image of Papi is unrealistic. When Mami returns with Betty and a few toys and clothing for the children she takes them from Evila's house and moves in with her mother. She works selling sandwiches to train passengers and odds and ends to attendees at fancy parties at the one luxurious venue by Iguala standards in their town. Papi is not sending the family any money. The children are literally starving. Mami finally gets a job at a record store and a second job during her time off. Still it is not enough to feed and cloth four children. Further, she continues to abandon them first for one man and then for another. The children never overcome their feelings of abandonment. Mago, the oldest child, has become the defacto mother.Finally, Papi visits Iguala. Upon seeing his starving, dirty, and raggedy children, he vows to take them to the U.S. with him. He spends all his money on coyote fees for himself and three of the children. Still Mami won't allow Betty who has a U.S. passport to fly with Papi's new woman back to the states. Mami selfishly keeps Betty. The three children move into their father's one bedroom apartment that he shares with Mila. both Mila and Papi work in a nursing home in Los Angelos. Meanwhile Papi has acquired a fourplex building, but because he must repay all his debts to the coyote, he can't afford to move his family into a bigger unit. The three children sleep in the living room. Still it is an improvement over Chinta's house where they all slept in one room. Here they have indoor plumbing, running water, and electricity. They attend school which is an improvement over their school in Mexico. Most of their supplies and all their books are provided for them. Papi dreams that his children will graduate from college. His father made him quit school when he was nine, and he always resented his father for doing that. He impressed upon his children that they must do well in school, and they did. Mago was the first in the family to graduate from high school and go on to college. Carlos followed. Still Papi regularly beat his children with his belt leaving welts and bruises. He later explains by way of seeking some forgiveness that corporal punishment was the only method of discipline his own father ever used. He had by now become an alcoholic. The beatings arose to child abuse and endangerment. He bloodied Reyna's nose on more than one occasion. I do not want to spoil the story so I will limit my facts to this: Reyna does graduate from college in spite of all the obstacles he places before her. He wants her to go to school, but he makes it almost impossible for her to do so. He is a mean spiteful, and angry man. Meanwhile Mami has traveled north with her much younger boyfriend. They live in one tiny room with their two children, and they share the bathroom and kitchen with other tenants. It appears that as much as Mami says she loves her children, she lacks the concern, empathy and compassion she should have for them. This is not a five star book because the language usage doesn't rise to that level. One must recall that English is Reyna's second laanguage.

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully Written

d. · August 18, 2025

A story everyone should read; BEAUTIFULLY written!!!

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this book

K.V. · July 4, 2025

This book was both heartbreaking and a page turner. I finished it in one day because the writing was so captivating. The author did a great job of putting the reader in her shoes and into the life of an immigrant. One of the best memoirs I have read.

I can’t stop reading it!

S. · September 12, 2025

(function() { P.when('cr-A', 'ready').execute(function(A) { if(typeof A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel === 'function') { A.toggleExpanderAriaLabel('review_text_read_more', 'Read more of this review', 'Read less of this review'); } }); })(); .review-text-read-more-expander:focus-visible { outline: 2px solid #2162a1; outline-offset: 2px; border-radius: 5px; } I am addicted to this book my favourite book in a very long time! This is a real story, but the way she writes everything connects you with the characters and makes you feel inside the book! A must read.

Hermosa lectura!!!

P.S.V. · April 16, 2025

Que libro!!! Fue verdaderamente una montaña rusa de emociones y un bellísimo finalSin duda le doy un 10! :’)

Conmovedora historia

F. · June 4, 2020

La primera parte del libro describe la vida de la autora en el pequeño y muy pobre poblado de su Mexico natal, la segunda su llegada a EEUU a los nueve años y su vida hasta los 20. Una historia triste y conmovedora contada de manera esperanzadora. Es la historia de millones de mexicanos que se ven en la necesidad de emigrar para sobrevivir. Muy recomendable, estoy deseando leer la segunda parte de sus memorias, que cubren sus estudios en la universidad y vida posterior.

Mirabel

M. · February 15, 2020

Parfait

Very moving story

E. · September 28, 2021

Emotional and raw. This book will give you a perspective you may not have had into the lives of those who seek a better life for themselves and those left behind.