I am an immigrant. My family fled El Salvador with death pounding on our door. The terror, the loss, the injustice of this experience shaped everything about me. I see no part of myself reflected in #AmericanDirt, a book white critics are hailing as the great immigrant novel.
What I do see: A book industry that’s so out of touch — that so rarely supports immigrants to tell our own stories — eager to make money off of our suffering with a cheap, stereotypical thrill. #ImNotAmericanDirt. Neither is any immigrant I’ve known in 17 years of journalism.
You don’t have to be Latino/an immigrant or write about immigrants. I’ve had white mentors who I respect because they’ve worked hard to see past their limitations, to understand the community. The problem is the book arena is ruled by white writers, agents, critics, gatekeepers. 
In an industry where Latinos make up only a tiny percent, our stories are often rejected, shrank down, manipulated, misunderstood, stolen, appropriated, exploited, sanitized, repackaged for easy consumption by white audiences. Most of all, our stories are silenced — invisible.
American Dirt has left us with a textbook example of nearly everything we should avoid when writing about immigrants. It’s hollow, harmful; an adrenaline-packed cartoon. Still, reviewers, with one eye blind & the other missing, are calling THIS👇🏽the “Grapes of Wrath for our time”
Critics/book dealers: Ask yourself how ur standards of the immigrant experience got to be so low. What do u know about Latino immigrants beyond the headlines? When is the last time u spoke to one of us, had one of us over 4 dinner? If u give a damn, stop & learn from this moment
Those who bother reading this book, do yourself favor. Next time u see a Latino immigrant, don’t assume u know anything about us because u read this novel. You’ll be no different than people who think they know LA because they once saw the city in a cheesy Hollywood movie
I could say more, but other Latino writers have already said it better: @lesbrains
google.com/amp/s/tropicso…
google.com/amp/s/tropicso…
There’s also this from @nytimes @parul_sehgal, one of the few critical reviews out there. It focuses on the author’s abilities as a writer. In that sense, American Dirt “flounders and fails.”
Gracias a ti por levantar tu voz. It is shameful that @MsMagazine silenced you because you are “not known enough” to have a critical opinion of this damaging book.
Note: A more recent study of these figures is expected to be released by @LEEandLOW in a few weeks.
So what should you read to get a true & thoughtful sense of the Latino immigrant experience? I will post a list of books with a Central American focus this evening. Meanwhile, here’s a thread with Mexican American recommendations by @lesbrains
Books that have taught me what my Salvadoran family couldn’t b/c poverty (little education) & trauma erased much of our history. Most are about Central America, written by Central Americans. They speak of immigration, history, the diaspora & all the forces that drove us to the US
Books that have taught me what my Salvadoran family couldn’t b/c poverty (little education) & trauma erased much of our history. Most are about Central America, written by Central Americans. They speak of immigration, history, the diaspora & all the forces that drove us to the US
What about u? I'd love 2 hear what books u appreciated re: the Latino immigrant experience. Here's a few more titles:
The Wandering Song
The Salvadoran Americans
Enrique's Journey
Barbarian Diaries
La Bestia
Tattooed Soldier
Dividing the Isthmus
The Devil's Highway
The Wandering Song
The Salvadoran Americans
Enrique's Journey
Barbarian Diaries
La Bestia
Tattooed Soldier
Dividing the Isthmus
The Devil's Highway
The book industry is spending an incredible amount of money to promote the myth of #AmericanDirt worldwide — in U.S., the U.K., Ireland, Latin America, etc. @Flatironbooks paid SEVEN figures for this book in a 9-auction house spanning 3 days, according to @PublishersWkly. Why?
Also coming soon: #AmericanDirt, the movie 🤯🤦🏽♀️ Imperative Entertainment, the production banner behind the Clint Eastwood hit The Mule acquired the rights. Who’s writing the adaptation? The guy who wrote Blood Diamond. google.com/amp/s/www.holl…
Rather than respond to legitimate concerns about how harmful and careless #AmericanDirt is in its portrayal of immigrants, author @jeaninecummins (who used to follow my work) has now blocked me. Because tuning out Latinos is really going to make this mess she created go away.
