The Far Away Brothers: Two Young Migrants And The Making Of An American Life
by Lauren Markham /
2017 / English / EPUB
1.3 MB Download
The deeply reported story of identical twin brothers who escape
El Salvador's violence to build new lives in California—fighting to
survive, to stay, and to belong.
The deeply reported story of identical twin brothers who escape
El Salvador's violence to build new lives in California—fighting to
survive, to stay, and to belong.
Growing up in rural El Salvador in the wake of the civil war,
Ernesto Flores had always had a fascination with the United States,
the distant land of skyscrapers and Nikes, while his identical
twin, Raul, never felt that northbound tug. But when Ernesto ends
up on the wrong side of the region's brutal gangs he is forced to
flee the country, and Raul, because he looks just like his brother,
follows close behind—away from one danger and toward the great
American unknown.
Growing up in rural El Salvador in the wake of the civil war,
Ernesto Flores had always had a fascination with the United States,
the distant land of skyscrapers and Nikes, while his identical
twin, Raul, never felt that northbound tug. But when Ernesto ends
up on the wrong side of the region's brutal gangs he is forced to
flee the country, and Raul, because he looks just like his brother,
follows close behind—away from one danger and toward the great
American unknown.
In this urgent chronicle of contemporary immigration, journalist
Lauren Markham follows the seventeen-year-old Flores twins as they
make their harrowing journey across the Rio Grande and the Texas
desert, into the hands of immigration authorities, and from there
to their estranged older brother's custody in Oakland, CA. Soon
these unaccompanied minors are navigating a new school in a new
language, working to pay down their mounting coyote debt, and
facing their day in immigration court, while also encountering the
triumphs and pitfalls of life as American teenagers—girls, grades,
Facebook—with only each other for support. With intimate access and
breathtaking range, Markham offers a coming of age tale that is
also a nuanced portrait of Central America's child exodus, an
investigation of U.S. immigration policy, and an unforgettable
testament to the migrant experience.
In this urgent chronicle of contemporary immigration, journalist
Lauren Markham follows the seventeen-year-old Flores twins as they
make their harrowing journey across the Rio Grande and the Texas
desert, into the hands of immigration authorities, and from there
to their estranged older brother's custody in Oakland, CA. Soon
these unaccompanied minors are navigating a new school in a new
language, working to pay down their mounting coyote debt, and
facing their day in immigration court, while also encountering the
triumphs and pitfalls of life as American teenagers—girls, grades,
Facebook—with only each other for support. With intimate access and
breathtaking range, Markham offers a coming of age tale that is
also a nuanced portrait of Central America's child exodus, an
investigation of U.S. immigration policy, and an unforgettable
testament to the migrant experience.