Looking for Esperanza: The story of a mother, a child lost, and why they matter to us

by Adriana Paramo

Inspired by a story about an immigrant mother who walked the desert from Mexico to the USA with the dead body of her baby strapped to her own, Adriana Páramo immersed herself in the underground world of undocumented women toiling in the Florida fields. This fieldwork and the anonymous voices of the women she encountered while looking for the mother in the story are captured in Looking for Esperanza, winner of the 2011 Social Justice and Equity Award in creative nonfiction.

Genres: Book Club

142 pages, Paperback

First published September 26, 2012

Reviews

[Corey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am so glad I had the chance to read this wonderful book.

I am sitting at work, in the library, tearing up as I finish the last page. I seriously LOVE this book. I've already emailed my family, and many of my friends, and pretty heavily insisted they buy this book and read it immediately. As a resident of Florida, reading Looking for Esperanza made me realize there is a whole world around me I didn't know about. I just can't believe it.

I am so glad Paramo wrote this, and told the stories of these women. She does such an amazing job of pushing the boundaries of nonfiction, too. I'm especially in awe of the ABC chapter, as well as "The Wetbacks are Coming: A Manifesto." The way the author weaves in her own story, sparingly, in this chapter, is so beautiful and chilling,and creates snapshot after snapshot of the plight of these workers, juxtaposed with the concerns most residents of Florida experience on a day-to-day basis as we go about our routines, oblivious to those who work so hard and thanklessly to provide us with basic products we so often take for granted, like tomatoes and strawberries.

I love this book so much. I can't say that enough. Why everyone isn't talking about this I can't figure out.

Go read it. Now. Seriously.

[Le Roy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Looking for Esperanza is an outstanding work of literature, and a sincere invitation to a policy discussion. It doesn't offer easy solutions, and it expertly captures the complexities of the immigration issue in very human terms. One of the goals of our press is to galvanize support for social justice issues while inviting people on the fence to commit to action. We have NEVER seen a better portrait of those goals than this book.

[John Fleming · Rating 5 out of 5]

We hear a lot about the "illegals" sneaking across our border and stealing our jobs, blah blah blah. If you want to know something about these people--who they are, why they're here, what they have to go through to get here, what they have to go through once they arrive--then read Adriana Paramo's beautifully written and heartbreaking book. It's a personal story, not a polemic, and it's a great read.

[Wendy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A stunning book that manages to blend memoir, non-fiction, poetic writing and biting social commentary. Adriana Paramo's descriptions and imagery are haunting, and all the more compelling because they reflect the awful realities of migrant orders, of illegal immigrants, of women who dream for a better future, but live in appalling poverty despite having crossed the border. Paramo's is a book that touches what it means to be human, the raw realities and the softness inside.

[Marcia Aldrich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful first book that combines compelling storytelling with sociological significance. Adriana is able to create real characters that carry or embody the issues. This is a far remove from acedmic writing.

[Virginia Victorio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everybody in America should read this book. As an immigrant myself, I was moved with the stories of these amazing, unbreakable women.

[Talya Boerner · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Páramo heard about a woman named Esperanza who left Mexico with her children and walked through the desert with her dead baby strapped to her, she set out to find her and tell her story. In the author’s journey of searching for Esperanza, she met other women with equally harrowing stories. I met Adriana Páramo last year in Iceland. We were members of the same small writer group. From the first time I read her writing, I knew she was a powerful, passionate writer. I believe that one-thousand fold after having read Looking for Esperanza. Páramo, who is Columbian, gives real names and faces to undocumented immigrants often scooped into a blurry group, dismissed as less than human, accused of being job stealers unwilling to learn our language. Páramo illuminates the migrant plight in a raw, real way that will definitely make you feel something and perhaps even make you rethink your stance. This may very well be the most important book you’ve never heard of. Until now.

This book made me: devastated for these women whose transgressions stem wholly from situation of place.

My favorite line(s): Take a look at them toiling in the field on the outskirts of your town. They have no shame. They arrive barefoot and hungry and within hours they are already working in farms across the country… Know that they will have touched everything you put in your mouths. Fruits and vegetables, everything bulbous, everything that sprouts and nourishes, everything with peels and seeds and sheaths and edible flesh.

[Betsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

bought this book because i read an article by adriana in the sun. i think she may be the best writer of her generation. whatever she writes, i want to read. i just ordered another of her books.

this book is about her search for a "wetback" woman who carried her child who died on the journey. the story touched her and so she went searching in the places where poor undocumented immigrants are doomed to work and dwell.

the story makes you both grateful and ashamed. it is eye opening, emotional, and, hopefully we can rectify some wrongs with more voices and laws. thank you adriana.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully written book about life as an Illegal Immigrant in Florida. The overwhelming shock and deprivation these women go through daily to "make ends meet". Stealing an orange or a tomato that they have been picking all day because they are hungry can cost them their job or a whipping or worse! Finishing the book leaves you with the feeling you need to do something about it. Spreading the word through reading the book is a start. I will never hold fruit in my hands without thinking where it really came from and what's its story?