Solito: A Memoir
Javier Zamora
(Author)
Description
New York Times Bestseller - Read With Jenna Book Club Pick as seen on Today - Winner of the Los Angeles Times Christopher Isherwood Prize for Autobiography - Winner of the American Library Association Alex Award A young poet tells the inspiring story of his migration from El Salvador to the United States at the age of nine in this "gripping memoir" (NPR) of bravery, hope, and finding family. Finalist for the PEN/John Kenneth Galbraith Award for Nonfiction - One of the New York Public Library's Ten Best Books of the Year Longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence and the PEN/Open Book Award "I read Solito with my heart in my throat and did not burst into tears until the last sentence. What a person, what a writer, what a book."--Emma Straub"A riveting tale of perseverance and the lengths humans will go to help each other in times of struggle."--Dave Eggers ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Vulture, She Reads, Kirkus Reviews Trip. My parents started using that word about a year ago--"one day, you'll take a trip to be with us. Like an adventure." Javier Zamora's adventure is a three-thousand-mile journey from his small town in El Salvador, through Guatemala and Mexico, and across the U.S. border. He will leave behind his beloved aunt and grandparents to reunite with a mother who left four years ago and a father he barely remembers. Traveling alone amid a group of strangers and a "coyote" hired to lead them to safety, Javier expects his trip to last two short weeks. At nine years old, all Javier can imagine is rushing into his parents' arms, snuggling in bed between them, and living under the same roof again. He cannot foresee the perilous boat trips, relentless desert treks, pointed guns, arrests and deceptions that await him; nor can he know that those two weeks will expand into two life-altering months alongside fellow migrants who will come to encircle him like an unexpected family. A memoir as gripping as it is moving, Solito provides an immediate and intimate account not only of a treacherous and near-impossible journey, but also of the miraculous kindness and love delivered at the most unexpected moments. Solito is Javier Zamora's story, but it's also the story of millions of others who had no choice but to leave home.
Product Details
Price
$28.00
$26.04
Publisher
Hogarth Press
Publish Date
September 06, 2022
Pages
400
Dimensions
6.44 X 9.48 X 1.34 inches | 1.46 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9780593498064
BISAC Categories:
Earn by promoting books
Earn money by sharing your favorite books through our Affiliate program.
Become an affiliate
About the Author
Javier Zamora was born in El Salvador in 1990. His father fled the country when he was one, and his mother when he was about to turn five. Both parents' migrations were caused by the U.S.-funded Salvadoran Civil War. When he was nine Javier migrated through Guatemala, Mexico, and the Sonoran Desert. His debut poetry collection, Unaccompanied, explores the impact of the war and immigration on his family. Zamora has been a Stegner Fellow at Stanford and a Radcliffe Fellow at Harvard and holds fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Poetry Foundation.
Reviews
"Zamora, a poet, recounts in absorbing detail the dangerous, weekslong journey he took from El Salvador to reunite with his parents in the United States when he was just 9."--The New York Times (One of September's Most Anticipated Books) "The magic of this book lies not only in the beguiling voice of young Javier, or the harrowing journey and immense bravery of the migrants, or in the built-in hero's journey of this narrative. The magic comes from the deep humanity with which Zamora tells the story. . . . It's hard to reconcile the fact that this book hasn't always been with us. How can something so essential and fundamental to the American story not already be part of our canon?"--San Francisco Chronicle "Zamora's storytelling is crafted with stunning intimacy, and you'll feel so close to the boy he was then that you'll think about him long after the book is done. It's impossible not to feel both immersed in and changed by this extraordinary book."--Los Angeles Times "Solito is a stone-cold masterpiece, an absolute masterpiece. I know I used that word twice. That's how you know I mean it."--Emma Straub, author of the #1 bestseller This Time Tomorrow "A riveting tale of perseverance and the lengths humans will go to help each other in times of struggle. With this book, Javier Zamora arrives to the forefront of essential American voices."--Dave Eggers, author of The Circle
"What Javier Zamora has accomplished in Solito feels miraculous. This is a pitch-perfect recapturing of the voice, consciousness, and emotions of his nine-year-old self sent on what at times feels like a child hero's fantastic adventure into the brutal adult world."--Francisco Goldman, author of Monkey Boy
"An instant classic, not only of the United States of America, but of all the Americas . . . Javier Zamora has elevated the 'child migrant story' to new literary heights."--Jose Antonio Vargas, author of Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen
"A harrowing but beautiful book that perfectly distills this moment in time; if there's any justice, it will someday be considered a classic."--Rumaan Alam, author of Leave the World Behind
"In luminous prose, in harrowing and fierce detail, with tenderness and searing honesty Zamora writes, for the first time, a Salvadoran account of what it takes to reach the border, cross it on foot, and survive. I cannot recommend this book enough, nor overstate its accomplishment."--Carolyn Forche, author of What You Have Heard Is True "Solito is a revelation."--Daniel Alarcón, author of The King Is Always Above the People
"[A] beautifully wrought work that renders the migrant experience into a vivid, immediately accessible portrayal."--Kirkus Review (starred review) "A stirring portrait of the power of human connection . . . an immensely moving story."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"What Javier Zamora has accomplished in Solito feels miraculous. This is a pitch-perfect recapturing of the voice, consciousness, and emotions of his nine-year-old self sent on what at times feels like a child hero's fantastic adventure into the brutal adult world."--Francisco Goldman, author of Monkey Boy
"An instant classic, not only of the United States of America, but of all the Americas . . . Javier Zamora has elevated the 'child migrant story' to new literary heights."--Jose Antonio Vargas, author of Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen
"A harrowing but beautiful book that perfectly distills this moment in time; if there's any justice, it will someday be considered a classic."--Rumaan Alam, author of Leave the World Behind
"In luminous prose, in harrowing and fierce detail, with tenderness and searing honesty Zamora writes, for the first time, a Salvadoran account of what it takes to reach the border, cross it on foot, and survive. I cannot recommend this book enough, nor overstate its accomplishment."--Carolyn Forche, author of What You Have Heard Is True "Solito is a revelation."--Daniel Alarcón, author of The King Is Always Above the People
"[A] beautifully wrought work that renders the migrant experience into a vivid, immediately accessible portrayal."--Kirkus Review (starred review) "A stirring portrait of the power of human connection . . . an immensely moving story."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)
