Cristina Henriquez's 2014 novel The Book of Unknown Americans tells the love story of two teenagers: a Mexican girl and Panamanian boy - Mayor and Maribel. Maribel and her family emigrated to America from Mexico in order to send her to a special needs school after sustaining a head injury. After moving to America, the family has trouble adjusting to life in America, learning English, and fitting in general. The narrative covers themes of fitting in, romance, assimilation, acculturation, and finding ones identity.
Upon release, The Book of Unknown Americans was met with solid reviews. On Amazon, it holds a very respectable rating of 4.2 out of 5 stars. On book review aggregator Goodreads.com, it holds a solid, albeit unspectacular rating of 3.87 out of 5 stars. Writes the Los Angeles Review of Books: "[the book] is as disturbing as it is beautiful, a testament to the mixed blessings our country offers immigrants, who struggle against bigotry and economic hardship while maintaining just enough hope to keep striving for something better...a narrative mosaic that moves toward a heartrending conclusion." The Daily Beast called this the novel of the year.
