美国国家公共电台 NPR Latinx Critics Speak Out Against 'American Dirt'（在线收听）

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

A new novel by Jeanine Cummins has opened up a debate about white privilege, racism in publishing and the unintended consequences of telling a story that is not your own. The book is called "American Dirt," and the much-hyped new novel was released this week. It's the story of a Mexican woman named Lydia and her 8-year-old son Luca. Here's part of an interview I did with Cummins.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR BROADCAST)

JEANINE CUMMINS: The idea of this book for me was to remember the humanity of migrants. And I feel like so often the conversation in this country, when it comes to migration and immigration, turns around a very specific kind of stereotype. And I wanted to make sure that Lydia was a character who could turn that stereotype on its ear, you know, that she would be counter to our typical sort of notions of what a migrant looks like.

MARTIN: Lydia feels like she has no other choice but to flee. And the book is the story of their harrowing journey to the U.S.-Mexico border. It has been hailed as a "Grapes Of Wrath" for our times. In fact, that quote is on the cover of the book. And that's one of the many problems with "American Dirt," according to several critics. There have been tweet threads, essays all arguing that the book deploys harmful stereotypes. There's even a hashtag - #mylatinonovel - where people write their own parodies.

Elsewhere in the show, you'll hear my interview with Jeanine Cummins and her reaction to all the criticism. But there is so much more to say about these very difficult issues of race and identity in publishing and which voices are elevated in the broader culture. So we called up one of the most vocal critics of "American Dirt." Her name is Esmeralda Bermudez, and she's a writer with the LA Times

ESMERALDA BERMUDEZ: In 17 years of journalism, of interviewing thousands of immigrants, I've never come across anyone like "American Dirt's" main character. She's this middle-class, bookstore-owning woman who left Mexico with a small fortune in her pocket - like she was going to go to France or something - with inheritance money, with an ATM to her mom's life savings. And why did she leave? Because she was flirting with a drug lord who's now trying to kill her.

This is a wonderful, you know, melodramatic telenovela, something I would love watching, like, on a - just for cheap entertainment, like a narco-thriller on Netflix. But this should not be called by anyone the great immigrant novel, the story of our time, "The Grapes Of Wrath." Why? How did we get to a point in our industry, in the book industry, in society that this is the low standard that we have?

MARTIN: Bermudez, like many others speaking out against the book, says despite the author's intentions, it doesn't reflect the truth of the migrant experience.

BERMUDEZ: My grandfather, my aunt, my uncle were killed in El Salvador at a time of death squads - death squads sponsored by the U.S. I was separated from my mom. I didn't meet her until I was 5 because of all this violence. I wanted to see myself reflected in this book. It's painful that not only did I not see myself, but I found all these things that constantly make us feel small.

MARTIN: She understands Americans who are not migrants themselves or come from migrant families might walk away from this book with a completely different feeling.

BERMUDEZ: This book has left a lot of white readers with a very fuzzy feeling - like, oh, my God - about immigrants. And my skin is crawling. My skin is crawling.

MARTIN: Esmeralda Bermudez of the LA Times. Her piece on "American Dirt" appears in the paper today.