Print: 1/1/2004 (Little Brown, 272 pages, 9780316010801 ); Audio: 6/7/2011 (Hachette Book Group, 8 hrs. 51 min., 9781611136814) ;
Feature Film: No.

MAIN CHARACTERS:
Jesus Ramos-Coyote

SUMMARY:
The experience, and surrounding circumstances, of the “Y someuma 14” that expired in the Arizona desert and the other some 16 migrants in the same group who survived.

AUTHOR:
According to Amazon, Luis Alberto Urrea “. . . has won the Lannan Literary Award, an Edgar Award, and a 2017 American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, among many other honors. Born in Tijuana to a Mexican father and American mother, he lives outside of Chicago and teaches at the University of Illinois-Chicago.”

NARRATOR: Luis Alberto Urrea colorfully narrated this book.

GENRE:
Politics, Sociology, Non-Fiction

POLITICAL: Yes.

LOCATIONS:
Mexico, Arizona

SUBJECTS:
Desert, Death, Mexican immigrant entrants, border patrol, Cayote (person)

EVALUATION:
I selected this book because it is a reading assignment in one of WLAC's classes that I will be doing a Library Orientation for, and I was curious.
After recently purchasing a house in the Mojave Desert, it was enlightening to learn of the stages of death by heat stroke. I was also enlightened to hear that the U. S. border patrol agents are--- or at least were in this instance---kind, in comparison to Mexican officials. In the 70’s I worked at a restaurant with undocumented immigrants, and a conversation with one young man left me with the impression that our Border Patrol agents were violent.
I’d have liked some information about the posture the Mexican government takes toward their own citizens—why those families engaged in agriculture near the border are so destitute and stuck. Why is risking their lives and going to a place where they can’t communicate their needs more enticing or doable than moving farther into the interior of Mexico?
I like that I learned things about the situation, and what becomes—or at least at the time, became—of those who were caught but needed immediate medical attention, so were not instantly deported, and of the Coyotes (people) --in this instance at least they were held responsible for the deaths.
SAMPLE QUOTATION:
(I transcribed this from the audio version so please forgive the sentence structure and spelling if it isn’t quite right.)
“Five men stumbled out of the mountain pass so sun-struck they didn’t know their own names; couldn’t remember where they’d come from; had forgotten how long they’d been lost. One of them wandered back up a peak. One of them was barefoot. They were burned nearly black; their lips huge and cracking. What paltry drool still available to them spuming from their mouths in a salty foam as they walked. Their eyes were cloudy with dust, almost too dry to blink up a tear. Their hair was hard and stiffened by old sweat standing in crowns from their scalps. Old sweat because their bodies were no longer sweating. They were drunk from having their brains baked in the pan. They were seeing God and devils and they were dizzy from drinking their own urine. The poisons clogging their systems. They were beyond rational thought. Visions of home fluttered through their minds. Soft green bushes, waterfalls, children, music. Butterflies the size of your hand. Leaves and beans of coffee plants burning through the morning mist as if lit from within. Rivers. Not like this place where they’d gotten lost. Nothing soft here. This world of spikes and crags was as alien to them as if they’d suddenly awakened on Mars . . . ”

RATING:
I gave this a 3. I always love information, but it didn’t hold my attention.
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4.25 stars. this is a pretty incredible piece of reporting and missive of compassion. yes, even compassion for the border patrol officers. the way he handles this story and the reason behind the tragedy is exceptional. he tells the story of border crossings in a more general way, but also using this awful tragedy as an impetus to both tell personal stories of those who cross, but also to give an overview of what that crossing is like, how much it costs (physically, emotionally, financially, psychologically), who is involved on all sides of the story (the person crossing, the person taking them, the person trying to ensure they can't do it). it truly shows the humanity in a way i haven't seen before. and his writing is amazing. (wow, that section on the stages of hyperthermia, just wow.)

i'm impressed by this in how he handled all of it and expanded my mind so much as i was reading. ( )

Digital audiobook read by the author.

From the book jacket: In May 2001, a group of men attempted to cross the border into the desert of southern Arizona, through a place called the Devil’s Highway. They entered a desert so harsh and desolate that even the Border Patrol is afraid to travel through it. For hundreds of years, men have tried to conquer this land, and the desert has stolen their souls and swallowed their blood. Along the Devil’s Highway, days are so hot that dead bodies naturally mummify almost immediately. And that May, twenty-six men went in. Twelve came back out.

My reactions:
This was a horrifying episode and Urrea’s reporting of it in this book earned a nomination for a Pulitzer. He handles the details of the journey with competing emotions: hope, outrage, compassion, frustration, despair. He is honest about what happened and fair when reporting both the positions of “The 26” and of the Border Patrol agents.

Urrea has spent time in this landscape, and he writes poetically about the colors of the desert at dawn, the flora and fauna, the beauty of this incredibly dangerous place. I could feel the searing heat (just writing about it now, I keep reaching for my water bottle), the grit in my socks, the pain of a cactus spine in my finger. The author’s detailed descriptions of the affects of such heat on the human body are clinically accurate … and horrifying to imagine going through.

I found these two video interviews with the author:
(short video about Devil’s Highway) https://billmoyers.com/content/luis-alberto-urreas-change-of-heart/
Longer expansive interview with Urrea about his background and his work: https://billmoyers.com/segment/luis-alberto-urreas-border-crossing-journeys/

I listened to the audiobook, narrated by the author. I cannot imagine anyone else doing a better job of the narration. ( )

Reading this right after reading the Wager about a shipwreck really throws you into the extremes of the earth. Rather than being stranded on frozen rocky islands, these people are roasted alive in the deserts between the US and Mexico desperately trying to get to safety. Boarder patrol is such a paradoxical job, caring deeply about getting people out alive while trying to keep them away at the same time. There is a lot of casual racism and gallows humor on the job. This is harrowing and heartbreaking and really needs a solution. ( )

“Five men stumbled out of the mountain pass so sunstruck they didn’t know their own names, couldn’t remember where they’d come from, had forgotten how long they’d been lost… They were burned nearly black, their lips huge and cracking, what paltry drool still available to them spuming from their mouths in a salty foam as they walked. Their eyes were cloudy with dust, almost too dry to blink up a tear. Their hair was hard and stiffened by old sweat, standing in crowns from their scalps, old sweat because their bodies were no longer sweating. They were drunk from having their brains baked in the pan, they were seeing God and devils, and they were dizzy from drinking their own urine, the poisons clogging their systems. They were beyond rational thought.” – Luis Alberto Urrea, The Devil’s Highway

In 2001, a group of twenty-six Mexican men crossed into the southern Arizona at a location called “The Devil’s Highway.” After a few days lost in desert in 100-degree heat, with water running out, their guide abandoned them. The account starts with hope and optimism and ends in suffering and death from hyperthermia.

Urrea covers the event from many perspectives. He gives background on the lives of the Mexican men, showing how they lived and what they hoped to achieve. He provides information about the human smuggling operation, explaining how the organization preys on their targets by minimizing the risks and offering “loans” at high rates of interest to fund the journey. He examines the role of the Border Patrol agents, who perform dangerous work in extreme conditions. “If it was the Border Patrol’s job to apprehend lawbreakers, it was equally their duty to save the lost and the dying.”

Though he researches and documents this event as a journalist, Urrea has written a number of novels, and his style is that of a skilled storyteller. The author is a Mexican American with experience in living near the border. I found this book enlightening and recommend it to anyone that wants to gain more understanding of the many complexities of the U.S.-Mexico border situation.
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