Enrique's Journey

By: Sonia Nazario

Narrated by: Catherine Byers

Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

In this astonishing true story, award-winning journalist Sonia Nazario recounts the unforgettable odyssey of a Honduran boy who braves unimaginable hardship and peril to reach his mother in the United States.

When Enrique is five years old, his mother, Lourdes, too poor to feed her children, leaves Honduras to work in the United States. The move allows her to send money back home to Enrique so he can eat better and go to school past the third grade.

Lourdes promises Enrique she will return quickly. But she struggles in America. Years pass. He begs for his mother to come back. Without her, he becomes lonely and troubled.

With gritty determination and a deep longing to be by his mother's side, Enrique travels through hostile, unknown worlds. Each step of the way through Mexico, he and other migrants, many of them children, are hunted like animals. Gangsters control the tops of the trains. Bandits rob and kill migrants up and down the tracks. Corrupt cops all along the route are out to fleece and deport them. To evade Mexican police and immigration authorities, they must jump onto and off the moving boxcars they call El Tren de la Muerte - the Train of Death.

Enrique pushes forward using his wit, courage, and hope - and the kindness of strangers. It is an epic journey, one thousands of immigrant children make each year to find their mothers in the United States.

Based on the Los Angeles Times newspaper series that won two Pulitzer Prizes, one for feature writing and another for feature photography, Enrique's Journey is the timeless story of families torn apart, the yearning to be together again, and a boy who will risk his life to find the mother he loves.

©2006 Sonia Nazario (P)2008 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The breadth and depth of Nazario's research into this phenomenon is astounding, and she has crafted her findings into a story that is at once moving and polemical." ( Publishers Weekly)

Eye opener

I was enlightened. A good book. A good narrator.

Great book...droning narrator

This is an important, well written book. The narrator however is monotone and sounds like she's reding stock quotes.

Brilliant

I struggled to finish this book because of how it relates to my own family who migrated from Mexico for a better life. Very emotional for me. Amazing coverage if the poverty and hardships lived in South America.

Humbling eye opening...heart wrenching

Struggled to stop listening, at some point I took the long way home just to finish a chapter.....this book has definately changed how i view immigration

Sad so sad....

We lived in Tucson for almost six years in the late 80's early 90's......this was a problem then. Today it's almost an epidemic. How bad must things be that a child is willing to take this route. Can't even imagine the thought of a child on this journey.

Why couldn’t they get a better reader?

How insulting that they could not find a Latino reader OR at least someone that can pronounce the words. How could they not correct her or how could she not confirm pronunciation of words ? It was cringe worthy ...several words were just mis pronounced, it was not simply an accent problem. Cringe. Too bad. Good book. Either read it or listen to it in the Spanish version.

I just wanted read and read

I wanted to know more and more great book...Took me 2 days to finished I was too focus on whats was going. The reality love it! to the end.

Excellent Story

This book was a great read. Make you really appreciate life in the United States.

Wise

This story helped me think of the pros and cons of Latin American migration into the united states in a more rounded way, as well as the psychological consequences of a broken family.

enlightening

The vice president of the United States says she is going to improve illegal immigration by finding the problem and helping them want to stay in their country. She should read this book. I gained many insights and compassion for their situation.