EvCC Reads!: American Dirt and Beyond

Jeanine Cummins' novel American Dirt s the story of a mother and son who must quickly flee their home in Acapulco due to drug cartel violence. The author received a substantial advance and Oprah Winfrey selected it for an upcoming book club. Since its release in mid January, it has been harshly criticized and a planned national book tour was canceled subsequently. National Public Radio summarized the controversy succinctly by saying that, "critics have called the book inaccurate and full of harmful stereotypes, and questioned whether Cummins was the right person to tell that story."  

It is the opinion of EvCC Reads that American Dirt, as an easy-to-read page-turner, has the ability (like it or not) to engage a larger audience than more worthy works. As such, it is a place to start and the controversy is causing much needed conversation about a lot of things. When was the last time you remember a novel in the news? There are, without a doubt, stronger literary works of fiction that have more fully developed characters and greater complexity of plot. Those are also written by Latinx authors and the issues around "who gets published" are very real. Read American Dirt or not but read something. Pick up a more challenging book and dig deeper. Read non-fiction and memoir for details and insights that only actual experience can provide. Read on!

Oprah Book Club announcement on January 21st