The Devil's Highway: A True Story
by Luis Alberto Urrea
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Book Summary Information
Author: Luis Alberto UrreaEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2005-09-19
ISBN: 0316010804
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780316010801
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Devil's Highway: A True Story
Book Review: "In the desert we are all illegal aliens."
Summary: 5 Stars
If hell really existed, it would likely look like the Devil's Highway in southern Arizona - an area so harsh and unforgiving that even the Border Patrol is afraid to travel through it.
In May 2001, 26 Mexican men attempted to cross the Mexican border after gifting the Coyotes - human smugglers - with just about every peso they have. And then their journey goes terribly wrong as a few missed turns and scorching conditions literally fry and mangle this woeful group. "They didn't carry enough water. Can there ever be enough water? Probably not. But the Popielas carried a couple of those little plastic twenty-ounce bottles with them, the kind you buy cold in the Coke cooler at the Circle K..."
Luis Alberto Urrea writes so powerfully that there is a sense of immediacy and tragic intimacy in just about every paragraph. Take this opening paragraph: "Five men stumbled out of the mountain pass so sunstruck they didn't know their own names, couldn't remember where they'd come from, had forgotten how long they'd been lost. One of them was barefoot. They were burned nearly black, their lips huge and cracking, what paltry drool still available to them spuming from their mouths in a salty foam...They were drunk from having their brains baked in the pan, they were seeing God and devils, and they were dizzy from drinking their own urine..."
Illegal immigration is an issue that has been used reductively - good versus evil - and Mr. Urrea refuses to fall into that trap. He is well aware that illegals make up 23 percent of unpaid bills in the Southwest's ER's and care centers for example, but this book is written to show Americans the face of the undocumented.
In an aftermath, Mr. Urrea writes, "It was a chance to introduce Americans to the Border Patrol agent - a law enforcement officer who is disrespected, insulted, and demeaned by both the right and the left. Finally, it was a chance to reveal the complexities of the international crime syndicates that are now selling human flesh as if it were bags of marijuana."
The entire book rings with the authenticity of an eyewitness; it is obvious that Luis Alberto Urrea has done massive research into this tragedy. The richness of language, the empathy, the tragedy of the horrific trek through the Sonora is sometimes elevated to sheer poetry. It is an epic book that illuminates the nature of men at their most desperate and it will likely haunt my dreams. Devil's Highway was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize. It is a tour de force.
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