Make Your Home Among Strangers by Jennine Capo Crucet

Make Your Home Among Strangers by Jennine Capo Crucet

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

This is the story about Lizet Ramirez, and young Cuban-American who leaves Miami to attend a prestigious college in the northeast. During her first semester, a young boy, Arial Hernandez, arrives on the shore of Miami in an inner tube after a harrowing trip from Cuba. (Arial is heavily based on Elián Gonzalez.) At the end of the book is an interview with the author and she describes the book as being "about people landing in places and having no clue who they are as a result." That's a good description.

There are parts of the book I really liked a lot...Lizet's fish-out-of-water story and her troubled relationship with her family. There were other parts that left me a little flat, particular that of Lizet's mother, Lourdes, and her obsession with Arial. I wish the author had delved more into where that was coming from, but then that would probably be a completely different book, wouldn't it? I couldn't relate to Lourdes and was left guessing about her motives.

Of course I'll never forget that photo of young Elián with a military rifle in his face.  But I didn't remember a lot of details about the situation.  I did some googling after I finished the book and saw it was a 5-month ordeal.  There are videos of vigils and protests being held outside the home where Elián was staying, and the author did a great job of describing those scenes in the book. 

Ms. Crucet is a good writer and I look forward to more from her.