American Dirt Starts an Important Conversation but Not the One Author Intendedby Hector Acosta
Stephen King called it an “Extraordinary piece of work.” Don Winslow compared it to The Grapes of Wrath. Sandra Cisneros deemed it “... the great novel of las Americas.”
The focus of all this effervescent praise is Jeanine Cummins’ American Dirt, a novel released this January that follows a Mexican mother and her son, who both flee their Acapulco home and make their way to the United States after the rest of their family is murdered by a drug cartel. The novel, which garnered Cummins a seven-figure deal, has been propped up to be one of the biggest novels of the year. Aside from appearing in countless “2020 Must Read” lists, it was also chosen by Oprah Winfrey as part of her book club, and a mo
