Solito by Javier Zamora

Amy      

memoir

In his memoir, Javier Zamora describes his 7-week 1999 immigration journey, as a 9-year old, from El Salvador to the United States. His parents had previously immigrated separately, fleeing from civil war and violence, but Zamora had remained behind with his grandparents and aunt who had been raising him for the past four years. He set off alone with a hired “coyote” smuggler on a treacherous journey with a group of five other people who had also paid the man to guide them to the U.S. His group, whom he called “The Six”, included three adult men, a woman, and her daughter who was slightly older than Zamora.

I had read American Dirt, which was a fictional account of a woman and her son attempting to escape drug cartel targeted violence in their native country so I had an idea of what was in store. However, since this was an actual firsthand account, it had a different impact on me. I was in its grips from the first moment. I could not believe his family felt a 9-year old should attempt the difficult, illegal, danger-loaded trek to his parents on his own. Wow.

Solito is written like a daily diary with dated sections. This made me wonder if he had kept a diary. However, from his comments at the end of the memoir, it’s apparent that was not the case. At times, the story dragged a bit during the long stretches when they were traveling through the desert in Mexico and Arizona. But I don’t disagree with Zamora’s choice to include as much detail as he could remember and to make the reader feel the passage of time along with the characters. The detail is what made the story so riveting. 

The first half of the novel described his life in El Salvador and followed his journey up to the US border. As I realized half the book still remained at that point, I became very concerned about what he’d have to face while attempting to cross. Compared to American Dirt, Zamora did not encounter the personal violence or most of the hardships that those characters survived. However, being a child dependent on non-familial, previously unknown adults—so, technically, alone (“solito”)—was an extreme hardship of its own. All the uncertainty, disappointment, sacrifices, discomfort, physical ailments, and mental anguish was so overwhelming. Zamora was truly strong-spirited and smart, although he was very shy, to have survived and I’m so glad he shared his story and that I read it. He rightly credits the two adults who served as his pretend parents during the journey with his survival and he was lucky to have been matched with them.

The author read the audiobook and I thought he did a terrific job and was extremely authentic. I enjoyed searching for images and videos of him online afterwards. I give him an A for his perfect retelling of what he endured.