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Jeanine Cummins's American Dirt, the 1 New York Times bestseller and Oprah Book Club pick that has sold over three million copies Lydia lives in Acapulco. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while cracks are beginning to show in Acapulco because of the cartels, Lydia’s life is, by and large, fairly comfortable. But after her husband’s tell-all profile of the newest drug lord is published, none of their lives will ever be the same. Forced to flee, Lydia and Luca find themselves joining the countless people trying to reach the United States. Lydia soon sees that everyone is running from something. But what exactly are they running to? Read more
Publisher : Flatiron Books
Publication date : January 21, 2020
Edition : First Edition
Language : English
Print length : 400 pages
ISBN-10 : 1250209765
ISBN-13 : 64
Item Weight : 1.4 pounds
Dimensions : 6.5 x 1.25 x 9.5 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #40,032 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #7 in Hispanic American Literature & Fiction #108 in Women's Domestic Life Fiction #135 in Contemporary Women Fiction
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Top Amazon Reviews
Format: Kindle
American Dirt is a deep read full of tragedy and hardships, but also the power of love and hope. The writing is beautifully done, the plot was gut-wrenching with so many hurdles, and the characters were so easy to connect with. This book was emotional on so many levels and made me feel everything for each of the characters. Overall, an incredible story that stays with you!
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Reviewed in the United States on July 26, 2026 by Tay
Format: Kindle
This book was free through Kindle Unlimited and, because it was an Oprah book club choice, I uploaded it. From the opening paragraph, it grabbed me by my heart and soul. The story of a woman and her son on the run from a dangerous cartel boss who arranged the murders of her journalist husband and entire extended family came to vivid, wrenching life for me. As a writer myself, I was in awe of the perfect, beautiful, breathtaking, horrifying sentences. I couldn't stop reading as I joined the pair on their perilous journey from Aculpoco to the southern border. I kept wondering how I had not heard about this amazing book. I stopped reading and started researching the author and found out about the huge controversy that ensued surrounding Oprah's book club choice in early 2020 as COVID began to choke the planet. Concentrating on other things, I did not know about how many Latin American writers protested this white woman's book, which told the stories they were trying desperately to get the world to hear. While American publishing houses were barely considering their work, hers was elevated by the powers of Oprah and publishers who seemed to prefer this author's well-researched but not-lived version of the Latin reality. As an author myself, I am always aware that the prizes go to those who can tell the most compelling stories, period. "American Dirt," is one of the best-written, most horrifying, love-filled stories I've ever read. Certainly, Latinx writers should raise their voices against powerful publishing houses that don't welcome more diverse voices to their industry, but please give Jeanine Cummins her due for writing so masterfully about the human condition while illuminating the very desperate and real humanitarian crisis at America's southern border. I cared deeply about these characters. I worried about the people within the pages when I had to stop reading. The author used her substantial gifts to try and help us understand that at any moment, the security within any of our lives could be ripped away and we could become someone we might not recognize. Within her unforgettable story, Cummins wants us to see how alike we all are in our common desire to live safely and in peace among those we love; and yet how unique and precious each of us are. This book helps turn the kaleidoscope just a little bit towards a more richly colored image of our ever-changing world. It's inspirational and uplifting. I cannot wait for the movie.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 24, 2021 by Michele DeLuca
Format: Hardcover
Jeanine Cummins tells the story of a family that experiences a tremendous loss and are forced to become migrants running for their lives from a cartel in this epic tale. Imagine everything horrible that can happen to a migrant, based on the news stories that you’ve heard, and almost all of that happens to one of the characters in this novel. Lydia Perez, her husband Sebastian, and her 8-year-old son Luca live a simple but comfortable life in Acapulco, Mexico, when one terrible momentous day everything changes. Sebastian is a newspaper reporter, who writes a story about the cartel that both Sebastian and Lydia think is innocuous enough. Lydia is the business owner of a bookstore, but she also has a connection to Sebastian’s investigative reporting into the cartels. In short, they both judge wrongly that they are safe, and the price that they pay is devastatingly high. Readers should be weary Cummins does not shy away from any of the atrocities that happen to migrants. There are themes of death, suicide, trauma, rape, and kidnap throughout. Sex trafficking is implied at points. If you are currently triggered by any of these, this may not be the season for you to read this book. Cummins concentrates her descriptive prose on the migrants in this novel, not the cartel. In the Author’s Note at the end of the novel Cummins states that she wanted to write about the migrant experience, not the cartel practices as other books have done, and I think she successfully accomplished it. Cummins describes the Perez’s in relatable ways, as a “regular” Mexican family, whose actions happen to impact a cartel member, which causes their lives to forever be changed. Readers can almost picture their own family as being just like the Perez family, the way Cummins describes their values and everyday lives before they have little choice but to become migrants. As the main characters start on their travel to “El Northe,” Lydia and Luca meet several other migrants. Some of them are nefarious criminals and should not be trusted, and some are innocent victims of circumstance just like themselves. Of course, Lydia and Luca cannot tell who is trustworthy and who is not, but the plot backs them into corners several times, and they must decide. Cummins adequately creates suspense in those moments when readers are also trying to discern if Lydia and Luca are going to be betrayed, robbed, or otherwise harmed. Most of the migrant travelers are men, so Lydia and Luca are especially vulnerable being a woman and young child. Some of the characters that Lydia and Luca decide to trust include a pair of sisters, and another young boy who is 10. It is these characters, as well as the main characters of Lydia and Luca, that Cummins spends the most time on. The way Cummins describes her characters background and motivation made it easy for me to feel invested in their safely crossing the border. I think most readers will find they care about the primary migrant characters, and that feeling intensifies the story. Another complication of Lydia and Luca’s escape is how abruptly they leave. This was not a well-planned journey they decided to take. It is a spur-of-the-moment fleeing, and not from their house but from someone else’s residence immediately after a violent attack. Because of this, Lydia has just moments to grab what she can and make life altering decisions about where to go and how to get to “El Northe.” This plot line gives Cummins liberty to have Lydia explore different methods that migrants use to get to the border of America and cross. At points, these portions read more like a social studies textbook than a literary novel and I felt my attention slip from the story, however temporary. The method that Lydia embarks on is to jump on top of a series of trains that are traveling north. Cummins has Lydia reason through why this is the best of the equally horrible methods of traveling north. Her descriptions of how the migrants board the train, what it is like to travel on them, how they get off the train and what the repercussions are of using the trains are superb. I was left wondering how she could describe this experience of traveling so well without having jumped on top of a train herself to experience it. Although portions of the novel felt like I was reading Cummins research for a non-fiction book, I feel like I learned a lot about the experience of migrants. I confess that before reading this book I did not much consider the reasons for people to try to cross America’s border, how they do it, or the perils of doing so. I have a great deal of compassion for migrants, but being in the Midwest of the U.S., honestly most weeks not a thought crosses my mind about America’s borders. Therefore, having much to learn, I finished Cummins book feeling like I accomplished a more in-depth understanding of the life-threatening danger and hardships that migrants endure. I am vaguely aware there was some controversy about this book when it released. I believe this centered around the fact that Cummins herself is not Latin American, nor has she been a migrant. Certainly, I would love to read a first-hand account of a crossing written by a migrant. Realistically, I can also understand the difficulties a migrant would have to overcome in order to write about that experience. In the absence of a first-hand account, I think American Dirt is Cummins’s attempt to be an ambassador for migrants by raising to attention some of the terrifying experiences they go through. In my opinion, there are no silent allies, therefore I deeply appreciate what I can only assume is her successful attempt to honor the migrant experience by describing a fair depiction. I am grateful for the deeper compassion for migrants that it afforded me.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 5, 2021 by Kimberly
Format: Paperback
A real eye opener based on real events. A sad story on the situation in Mexico. Human beings should not have to deal with this kind of violence.
Reviewed in the United States on July 31, 2026 by katdu
Format: Kindle
I started reading books at a fairly steady clip at the beginning of this year. I would swap an easy detective book with something heavier, a book that leaves something in my soul. This is one of those heavy books. A book that gives insight into a life I will never know with writing that makes the experience feel rich and with a depth that will stay with me. American Dirt gives a human perspective to an experience so many have gone through but has somehow become so dehumanized by a group of people across the globe. While this story takes place between Mexico and the United States, this journey is taken by people looking to flee danger situations, attempting to find a ‘better’ life. I appreciate American Dirt for everything it taught me, and for everything it made me realize I was ignoring.
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Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2026 by Jessica Haag
Format: Kindle
It was compared to Grapes of Wrath but this novel so far surpasses that text I am still amazed. This is great American literature, feminist literature, survival literature. The characters, real, the fall of Mexico, made understood, the grief of losing family, real, and the essence of hope!
Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2026 by v5
Format: Hardcover
There’s no doubt in my mind that Jeanine Cummins is greatly disturbed over the controversy surrounding her new novel, “American Dirt.” The main point of contention is, I believe, that a white woman could write such an invasive opinion piece about Latino immigrants when she has no actual experience in their actual hardships. For the most part, from what I read, is that Latin American critics are the most vociferous. They seem to feel underrepresented in the literary publishing field. Having a white woman with no background in their plight gather so much positive attention seems to be galling and, as a result, they are speaking out against Cummins’ honest attempt at bringing the current situation to light. Cummins, of course, doesn’t agree with all this BS, and continues to cash her checks Her story goes that Lydia Quixano Perez owns a bookstore in in the Mexican City of Acapulco (even the author’s choice of a name for her lead character gets scoffs). Her life is mostly successful and profitable. A new customer, Javier, a highly educated young man, immediately charms Lydia, with his love for books, especially those that are also favorites of hers. His visits are more and more frequent, their talks about the books over coffee become more intimate, and it soon become apparent there is a romantic spark developing. Eventually Lydia discovers that Javier is the chief of a vicious local drug cartel that has taken over the entire city. Lydia’s husband, a prominent investigative journalist also learns of the cartel involvement and writes a tell-all news piece that greatly upsets the drug lord, who promptly initiates a kill order to be performed at an outdoor party on Lydia’s family and 21 of her closest relatives, including her mother and father, husband some siblings and grandparents, aunts and uncles. Lydia and 8-year-old son Luca are the only survivors and, knowing that Javier intends to kill them also, the paire are transformed into migrants heading for “el norte” and safety. Their hasty departure and desperate flight forces them to join thousands of others also running from something, that journey forming the main content of Cummins’ story. I believed it is an honest attempt at trying to acquaint the reader with today’s news accounts of the immigration rush to America’s borders. I thought it was well-written, well-researched and accurately depicted and that’s where I found myself at odds with more famous critics. That’s where you, as a reader, come into the picture. You will have to be the final word in this controversy. As it’s going now, the readers seem to be in favor of Cummins’ version of her story. That’s probably the correct view. Writers can write about anything they want. The final work is the most significant indicator as to how well they did or didn’t do. Personally, I feel that the author was very successful at producing what she intended. Her research filled in the blanks where her intimate knowledge faltered and for those of us who know no differently, it was an entertaining and riveting read. The lapses being criticized are too esoteric for most of us. So, my recommendation is to buy and read this book, enjoy it for the story it tells, and don’t try to read too much into the “unqualified writer” brouhaha. The story is riveting. Schuyler T Wallace Author of TIN LIZARD TALES
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Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2020 by Schuyler T Wallace
Format: Kindle
Jeanine Cummins has woven a heart wrenching story of love and loss. She has created a window for humanity to experience the devastation, the risks, the choices migrants face when traveling towards a safer future.
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2026 by Kathryn Whitman