"Back then, all we wanted was the simplest things: to eat good food, to sleep at night, to smile, to laugh, to be well."
The opening line of the novel sets the stage for the tone, tenor and backstory of the narrative: it is wistful recollection of another time and place. Eventually, it will be revealed that this wistful recollection results from a major move stimulated by a tragically significant event. It is a story of real change—not just the perspective of change mandated by relatively superficial transformations of circumstance.
“There she was again. The person Arturo and I had been waiting for, the reason for all of this. And as I looked at her I saw that maybe she had been here all along. Not exactly the girl she used to be before the accident, which was the girl I thought I had been searching for, but my Maribel, brave and impetuous and kind.”
The “accident” referred to here is referenced several times throughout the novel. Narratively, it has occurred before the basic chronology of events which unfold. Thematically, it is pervasive: it is the reason for the wistful recollection of simpler times and the very fact that the present is more complicated than the past.
“This wasn’t how it was supposed to happen. We had followed the rules. We had said to ourselves, We won’t be like those people who pack up and [go] north without waiting for the proper authorization.”
If anything, the novel became more relevant in the years following its publication than it was when it first hit bookstores in 2014. The Rivera family—of which Alma is a member—have come to American from Panama. And the decision to uproot the simple enjoyment of the known world to deal with the all the myriad difficulties of the immigration process and attempting to assimilate into a foreign culture was not made for the purpose of stealing jobs or taking advantage of government assistance or even just to enjoy the better things life has to offer. The decision to uproot an entire family was stimulated by the “accident” and the irrefutable reality that dealing with the severe consequences of that accident could not be assured by remaining where they were.
“We’re the unknown Americans, the ones no one even wants to know, because they’ve been told they’re supposed to be scared of us and because maybe if they did take the time to get to know us, they might realize that we’re not that bad, maybe even that we’re a lot like them.”
And here is the quote which gives the novel its title. Micho Alvarez—like most of the characters—lives in the Redwood Apartments; a self-described “safe harbor” for Latin American immigrants. He is a photographer who uses his talent for the activist cause of immigration reform….reform to benefit immigrants, not build walls to make things even harder. The quote does not actually end there. The next line is the kick in the gut that speaks directly to those efforts to builds walls rather than bridges.
“And who would they hate then?”
