In  SSR time in class I’m reading  Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario it’s  a story  about a boy who he and his family live in Honduras. Main character is Enrique who’s mom is Lourdes who left  an unfaithful husband and migrated to the  U.S when Enrique was around 3  and she was telling him to not forget to go to church. Lourdes promises Enrique that she’ll return without being able to face him she left. Lourdes left 2 children in Honduras. Enrique who lives with his grandmother and Belky who lives with her aunt, her moms sister. Lourdes came to the U.S to be able to give her children  a better living in Honduras. Sending them clothes and toys. In which she explains if wouldn’t had left her children wouldn’t had anything  to eat or wear. Lourdes got a job in Beverly Hills with a good payment of around $700 as a care taker but she retires because she got grief every time she gave the girl food, it reminded her of Enrique. Enrique is missing his mothers love, “Enrique’s bewilderment turns to confusion and then adolescent anger”(pg.34). The idea that I got was that as Enrique gets older now 7yrs. old he is building anger  toward his mom  because she didn’t return, but I don’t think he hates her I believe he still loves her no matter what. Lourdes in California gets pregnant  by her boyfriend who seems not to care and decides to go celebrate in a bar while Lourdes gives birth to her baby girl Diana. Back in Honduras Enrique feels lonely like nobody loves him, he misses his moms presence. Although he realizes  that if she were there with him he would of been looking for food in the dump like the other children Enrique sees. Lourdes moves from California to North Carolina because she’s not getting any job in California since there’s a lot of people migrating.

Enrique’s grandmother kicks him out for not wanting to obey the rules and for being a trouble maker. I feel like Enrique is doing all these bad things because his lost and needs someone to guide him and be there with him, to show him love. I feel like someone should realize that and show him that his not alone. Enrique moves in with his uncle Marco which Enrique connects close to and starts to feel loved and appreciated. His Uncle Marco treats him  and loves him the same as his children or even a little more. He goes with his uncle everywhere. Marco changes money in the border.  He goes one day telling himself it will be the last time and he end up dead, robbers riddle his car with bullets. Enrique goes back to where he began to his grandmothers house. Enrique find a girlfriend named Maria Isabel. She’s not just a way to make him stem the loneliness. They understand each other they connect. By what I’ve read they both seem to have gone through the same because Maria mom also left her to come to the North, and since then she’s been shuffling  homes. Enrique starts to inhale glue and coughs black phlegm. Now 16 all he wants is to be with his mom. It think his feeling of rejected  and missing his mom is the reason he’s doing drugs to get high and forget about his problem. He ends up  owing his drug suppliers 6000 lempiras around $400.

Enrique decides to come to the U.S with one of his friends they plan the day and time. He tells himself that he’ll spend 1 year trying and if he doesn’t make it in one year he’ll return home. I predict that he is going to make it but its going to be long  journey facing many barriers along his way to reunite with his mom. Throughout his odyssey the author explains in details everything Enrique has faced  from immigration agents, crooked police, street gangsters and bandits to what people and himself are experiencing. Explaining what the carry such as very little water, people getting their leg cut of by the train while trying to get on the train. Holding tight to their faith on the train carrying the rosary or a photo of their beloved ones they left at home. Numbers written inside the waste of their jeans or on paper of the family member they’re planning to reunite with in the North. This is why I love this book because I can empathize and feel like Im in the story throughout his journey experiencing what he’s going through and seeing along the way.  The author makes me want to go on a pilgrimage and experience what all the children and people are experiencing. All the struggle and tragedy their going through to reunite with their family member, for a better living future.