Epitafio and Estela are victims of human trafficking who now traffic humans themselves. The novel is fierce and scenes are shocking and yet what drives the novel even so are the human relationships. Monge makes it difficult to sympathize with his characters, but allows us to forgive them because it's clear they aren't inherently cruel; their poverty and their lack of real choices traps them in a nightmare world. The style here is vivid and cinematic and relentless, with the unbearable leavened at unexpected times with dark humor. A challenging book to love, but worth the challenge in every way. ( )

There are times when I finish a book and wonder what the hell I just read---was it truly brilliant or merely crap adorned with random acts of brilliancy?

In the case of Among the Lost by Emiliano Monge, I can honestly say I'm not sure, but I liked it.

The stark narrative involves human trafficking and illegal immigration, a hot-button issue nowadays. Among the Lost does not go into the politics, rather it goes to the underbelly, the reality that mainstream media usually doesn't acknowledge. There are those wishing for a better life and willing to pay, only to find out their life is payment. There are the traffickers and their "employees" and a sadistic priest as well. Strangely enough, there is also a love story between two of those who "survived" and now find themselves wanting the same freedom that those they kidnap and trade wanted as well.

Surreal, disturbing, and dark. And I totally recommend. ( )

What a weird book. I requested an ARC of the English translation from a giveaway listed on Library Thing, but I probably should have skipped this one. The whole story, and all the characters were just too vague. I liked the idea of the premise, which was inspired by the Divine Comedy by Dante. But nothing was explained well enough that I fully understood what was going on. Every character was an utterly despicable specimen, and because I didn't understand who they were, or what led them to become who they were I didn't care what ended up happening to any of them.

I'm having a heck of time trying to describe this book, partly because I didn't care what happened in it, and partly because it was so oddly told. The gist of the story was a day in the life of a group of human traffickers. As in people who steal other people, then torture them into submission, then sell them for money. Oh, and rape all the women along the way as the mood strikes them. The setting is a kind of hazy mashup of many stereotypes of Central American settings. There's rocky deserts. A dense jungle. A lot of dust. Bad roads. People traveling in a northward direction seeking El Paraiso, but finding only El Infierno. I gather much of this story was inspired by true events, as throughout the story there are descriptions of the trials and tortures of people who are desperate to leave their Infiernos for even a glimmer of Paraisos. These were taken from interviews conducted by the author, Emiliano Monge who is a journalist in Mexico. It's possible that he was trying to give humanity to the captors of these people, but he didn't give enough of a backstory for it to matter.

I didn't hate reading this book, but it did feel like a chore to get through. I also probably wouldn't recommend this to people since it seems so inaccessible. The good thing about this book is that it pulls no punches with describing the horrors faced by those who we in the United States call "undocumented immigrants." If I thought it might a shine a real light on the things these people face I might force people to read it, but it just doesn't hit that note. ( )

Among the Lost was a unique story about modern day human trafficking. The interwoven love story between the two, anti-hero traffickers, however, fell flat for me. Although, their actions were despicable, I still should have been able to empathize with them on some level but I never did. In fact, I never connected with any of the characters except for Mauseleo. In addition, the climax didn't quite meet the level of build-up given beforehand; and the conclusion left a few unanswered questions. On a positive note, the action propelled the story at a good pace and I did appreciate the lyrical writing style. I would definitely read another book by Monge. ( )

This is a compelling story about the lives broken, twisted, and ended by the practice of human trafficking around the U.S./Mexico border. The two protagonists, Epitafio and Estela, were themselves trafficked as children. Given to an orphanage run by a corrupt Catholic priest, they were constantly abused and raised to continue the human trafficking trade.

The action of the story takes place over the course of a typical day. It begins with them intercepting a large group of migrants. They kill some and lock the rest into a few trailers and set out to sell them. Epitafio and Estela are in love, they have been in love their whole life, but the priest who raised them would not allow them to be together. Epitafio had been married to another woman that he did not love.

Estela herself has a secret. She knows that the priest is up to something. She's tried telling Epitafio but he's not ready to abandon the life they have. But Estela hopes to convince him tonight to run away with her. She is pregnant, but more importantly, she's knows that they are likely to be betrayed soon.

Still, neither of them realizes that tonight is the night everything will change. A plan is already underway to kill Estela and overthrow Epitafio. In this dark night, as they drive through the jungle and over the mountains with trailers full of suffering people, our two protagonists will lose their friends one by one.

This is a complex story interspersed with actual accounts of trafficked migrants and excerpts from Dante's Inferno. It's a powerful story of suffering and cruelty acted out in generational cycle. A dark book about the trauma humanity can inflict on itself. ( )