An Important Book for Our Times

The Far Away Brothers, by Lauren Markham, isn’t a Michigan book, but it’s one I have chosen to stock and promote this season. The subtitle of the book is Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life. I read about it the New York Review of Books and was surprised and pleased to learn that it is already available in paperback. 

Ernesto and Raul (not their real names) are twins from El Salvador. At age 17, threatened by gang violence, they fled their country for the United States, having borrowed $14,000, which compounding interest had boosted to $16,000 by the time the boys reached their older brother in Los Angeles. Recovering from the horrors of a treacherous trip through Mexico, earning a new language, and working to pay down their debt, the boys must also navigate the U.S. law courts to establish legal residency.

Author Lauren Markham, while keeping her focus on the personal story of Ernesto and Raul, manages to weave in statistics on immigration and historical background of American involvement with El Salvador. 

This would be an excellent choice for book clubs this fall, 
so here are few suggested discussion questions to get your group talking after they read the book:

Do you believe the death threat against Ernesto endangered the life of his identical twin brother Raul, or did Raul simply not want to be left behind? What other factors might have influenced Raul’s decision?

Do young people fleeing gang violence in other countries bring increased violence to the U.S.? Explain.

Did you have any idea what what traumatic event Ernesto had experienced on his way north? Did learning what it was surprise you? What did it help explain?

If you have ever lived in a house with unrelated residents in addition to family, what was the situation, and why were you part of it? How were disputes resolved?

What aspects of poverty experienced by the Flores family, both in El Salvador and in the U.S., similar to poverty in general? What aspects were unique to their situations?

Did this book help you gain clarity on what a reasonable solution to immigration, legal and illegal, might look like? Having read the book, in what ways is your perspective now more or less clear, and how has your view changed — or does it remain unchanged? What other books, if any, have you read on the subject of immigration, and how does this book’s coverage of the subject compare to that of others? Would you recommend this book to others interested in the subject?

If you were a parent in a town like La Colonia, El Salvador, would you try to keep your children “down on the farm” or send them “north”? How would you make decisions for their future? How could the family life be different? What is within their power and what beyond their control?

The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants and the Making of an American Life

by Lauren Markham

NY: Broadway Books, 2017

Paper, 298pp w/ index, $16