The Affairs Of The Falcons
by Melissa Rivero
Nominations: Aspen Words Longlist 2020, Center For Fiction Longlist 277, PEN/Hemingway Longlist 2020
Date Read: January 12, 2023
The Affairs Of The Falcons is such an intense and exhausting book that I’m almost glad it’s over. Almost. Rivero so masterfully conveys the desperation, impossible choices and hopefulness of those living in the U.S. as illegal immigrants and how that status causes life to be so uncertain and unfair. When the worst of the “illegal” blaming goes on in politics, I cannot help but think how much bravery it must take to leave the comfort of the known to uprooting yourself and your family to face an uncertain future and to live like a fugitive in a country that doesn’t want you. I get so disgusted at the lack of compassion and the lack of understanding that “… there by the grace of God go I.”
Ana has been reviled from her very first encounter with the Falcons. Her skin is too dark, her roots too rural and her background much too humble. Add to this her first relationship was with Carlos, who ultimately left for Spain, followed by marrying his brother, Lucho, when she became pregnant with their first child. For the entirety of their marriage, Lucho’s family will throw this in her face. And she will accept this in her deepest heart as truth, believing herself unworthy of Lucho’s love.
This family is struggling to survive. Having lost his job, the Falcons had no other choice but to move in with his cousin, Valeria and her husband Ruben. Ana still has her sweatshop job but can’t support the family on her own. Eventually, Lucho is able to drive a cab at nights, while Ana and their kids sleep, but Lucho and Ana become ships passing in the night. Lucho’s cousin is a vindictive bitch who is hell-bent on taking the pain of her life out on those around her.
Through hard work and tenacity, they are able to put a deposit down on an apartment but just as this reprieve occurs, Ana and Lucho’s marriage takes a massive hit as the choices they’ve made in the past come back to haunt them – Ana’s infidelity in exchange for money, an abortion she felt was the only way forward, her determination to remain in the U.S. despite Lucho being educated and capable of so much more than menial jobs. The list is endless. They are sacrificing all of this for their children and their future.
This novel is truly a dedication to those who believe in the American dream from afar and are determined to achieve it for themselves. But no one has ever clued them in to the fact that the American dream is largely myth, offering up rare exceptions as the rule. I would hope that anyone reading this novel that didn’t previously hold compassion for illegal immigrants would realize how precarious their lives are, which is still a better reality than what they left behind.
Comments
Post a Comment