Good Reads / Community Library Notes
The Book of Unknown Americans
Cristina Henriquez
Review by Priscilla Comen

The Book of Unknown Americans, by Cristina Henriquez, is the story of many immigrants who live in one apartment complex. Alma and Arturo Rivera are from Mexico and have brought their daughter Maribel to the United States to go to a special school for brain-damaged children. She had fallen off a ladder her mother had been holding as Arturo fixed the roof. Rafael Toro and Celia, from Panama, live with their son Mayor who is attracted to Maribel. His brother Enrique is away at college. Quisqueya Solis is a single woman and a gossip, from Venezuela. Gustavo and Isabel  Milhojas traveled from Guatemala, but Isabel died early in their trip and Gustavo works at cleaning theaters. Adolfo Fito Angelino is from Paraguay and he owns the building where they live. Nelia Zafon is from Puerto Rico, a dancer, and has formed a theater company called The Parish Theater. Benny Quinto, from Nicaragua, works at Burger King. Micho Alvarez is a photographer from Mexico. He says he’s an “unknown American.” He fights for what he believes in. All these immigrants get along with one another at the apartment house, 
            Author Henriquez captures the essence of being in a strange land. Arturo tells Alma to forgive herself. Maribel’s fall off the ladder was not her fault. Arturo picks mushrooms with other Spanish speaking workers and has no chance to learn English. Classes are mostly during the day when he is working or at night when he must be home with Alma. Henriquez puts us into the characters’ shoes with magic moments. When the heat was off at Christmas, all the families got together in one apartment and warmed the atmosphere with their bodies. They cooked their special dishes to remind themselves of home.
            Garret Miller, who doesn't live there, is the only “gringo” in the story. Alma catches him as he tries to rape Maribel and chases him away with a kitchen knife. We know he is trouble and foreshadows more trouble. Is the author using him as a metaphor for the problems that face immigrants to this country? The reader learns how immigrants actually feel when coming to a strange land. 
            One day when it is snowing, Mayor brings Maribel to the ocean and the snow. She is improving at her school and feels free to talk and be with Mayor. The snow on the ocean and in the sky is like magic to her. She is gone from home for a long time and her parents worry. Alma goes to Garret’s house, thinking she might be there. She isn’t. But when she is gone overnight, her father goes again to Garret’s and is confronted by Garret’s father. They live in a different section of Delaware in a section of town with fancy houses and Christmas decorations still up. 
            This is a story about the importance of community. What happens when Maribel’s father goes to confront Garret? Does the Hispanic community come to the aid of Alma and Maribel? Do Maribel and Mayor remain friends? Find this tender story on the fiction shelf of your Mendocino Community Library.