After author Jeanine Cummins ignited a firestorm with her portrayal of Mexican migrants, “American Dirt” publisher Flatiron Books defends the novel.
Why is she fleeing? Because while her husband, a journalist, was investigating a druglord, Lydia was flirting with that same narco. in one of the few negative reviews of the book. Her characters are “berry-brown” or “tan as childhood.” There is also a reference to “skinny brown children.”When two of her leading characters, sisters migrating from Honduras named Rebeca and Soledad, hug, “Rebeca breathes deeply into Soledad’s neck, and her tears wet the soft brown curve of her sister’s skin.
So we are left with this flawed book as our model, these damaging depictions at a time when there’s already so much demonizing of immigrants.She was born in Spain and raised in Maryland. A few years agoin the New York Times as “white,” though in the book she plays up her Latina side, making reference to a grandmother from Puerto Rico. Her publisher publicized the book by promoting Cummins as the “the wife of a formerly undocumented immigrant.
Jeanine Cummins reportedly signed a seven-figure deal with Flatiron Books for her book “American Dirt.”The industry ate it up. In a rare three-day bidding war, Flatiron Books reportedly won Cummins’ book for aThe number astounded many writers. It fell with a blunt force on Latinos, who are constantly shut out of the book industry.
That part of the left where the angrier and more offended the voice, the more right they must be.
I can't think of any good reason to keep following your newspaper. Later.