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The Jaguar's Children
From the best-selling author of The Tiger and The Golden Spruce, this debut novel is a gripping survival story of a young man trapped, perhaps fatally, during a border crossing.
Hector is trapped. The water truck, sealed to hide its human cargo, has broken down. The coyotes have taken all the passengers’ money for a mechanic and have not returned. Those left behind have no choice but to wait.
Hector finds a name in his friend Cesar’s phone. AnniMac. A name with an American number. He must reach her, both for rescue and to pass along the message Cesar has come so far to deliver. But are his messages going through?
Over four days, as water and food run low, Hector tells how he came to this desperate place. His story takes us from Oaxaca — its rich culture, its rapid change — to the dangers of the border. It exposes the tangled ties between Mexico and El Norte — land of promise and opportunity, homewrecker and unreliable friend. And it reminds us of the power of storytelling and the power of hope, as Hector fights to ensure his message makes it out of the truck and into the world.
Both an outstanding suspense novel and an arresting window into the relationship between two great cultures, The Jaguar’s Children shows how deeply interconnected all of us, always, are.
Hector is trapped. The water truck, sealed to hide its human cargo, has broken down. The coyotes have taken all the passengers’ money for a mechanic and have not returned. Those left behind have no choice but to wait.
Hector finds a name in his friend Cesar’s phone. AnniMac. A name with an American number. He must reach her, both for rescue and to pass along the message Cesar has come so far to deliver. But are his messages going through?
Over four days, as water and food run low, Hector tells how he came to this desperate place. His story takes us from Oaxaca — its rich culture, its rapid change — to the dangers of the border. It exposes the tangled ties between Mexico and El Norte — land of promise and opportunity, homewrecker and unreliable friend. And it reminds us of the power of storytelling and the power of hope, as Hector fights to ensure his message makes it out of the truck and into the world.
Both an outstanding suspense novel and an arresting window into the relationship between two great cultures, The Jaguar’s Children shows how deeply interconnected all of us, always, are.
10 pages, Audio CD
First published January 6, 2015
142 people are currently reading
2964 people want to read
About the author
John Vaillant
23 books621 followersJohn Vaillant is an author and freelance writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, National Geographic, and the Guardian, among others. His first book, The Golden Spruce (Norton, 2005), was a bestseller and won several awards, including the Governor General's and Rogers Trust awards for non-fiction (Canada). His second nonfiction book, The Tiger (Knopf, 2010), was an international bestseller, and has been published in 16 languages. Film rights were optioned by Brad Pitt’s film company, Plan B. In 2014 Vaillant won the Windham-Campbell Prize, a global award for non-fiction. In 2015, he published his first work of fiction, The Jaguar's Children (Houghton Mifflin), which was long-listed for the Dublin IMPAC and Kirkus Fiction Prizes, and was a finalist for the Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize (Canada).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 374 reviews
February 26, 2017
I had high anticipation for this book. However I feel it fell short. I had to end up pushing myself to finish it.
The catch was a group of Mexicans trying to illegally cross the border and ending up in the belly of a tanker truck - stranded, after the truck became inoperable and the coyotes walked away, leaving the truck in the desert. Hector, our protagonist, uses the phone of his unconscious friend Cesar, and tries to reach an American number. The story - of the entrapment - revolves around the 4 days spent in the belly of the truck, steaming in the daylight and freezing at night, without food, light, or a means of escape, while Hector continues to try reaching someone on the outside to save them.
The portion of the story around the entrapment is good. However the back story that Hector starts telling - then starts hallucinating - becomes bogged down in detail and repetition. There are pages of corn pollination included in this portion. There is the underlying theme of the Jaguar - in a stone found years earlier by Hectors grandfather, by the replication of Jaguars on a religious statues alter, and the Jaguar that lead to the discovery of the truck. However the back story droned on and on and often without relevance. It also was filled with Spanish - some translated, some obvious, but often just becoming a distraction to the reader.
The premise of this novel was excellent, a "gripping survival story" but the method to get to the end was boring, distracting and often almost unreadable in its application.
The catch was a group of Mexicans trying to illegally cross the border and ending up in the belly of a tanker truck - stranded, after the truck became inoperable and the coyotes walked away, leaving the truck in the desert. Hector, our protagonist, uses the phone of his unconscious friend Cesar, and tries to reach an American number. The story - of the entrapment - revolves around the 4 days spent in the belly of the truck, steaming in the daylight and freezing at night, without food, light, or a means of escape, while Hector continues to try reaching someone on the outside to save them.
The portion of the story around the entrapment is good. However the back story that Hector starts telling - then starts hallucinating - becomes bogged down in detail and repetition. There are pages of corn pollination included in this portion. There is the underlying theme of the Jaguar - in a stone found years earlier by Hectors grandfather, by the replication of Jaguars on a religious statues alter, and the Jaguar that lead to the discovery of the truck. However the back story droned on and on and often without relevance. It also was filled with Spanish - some translated, some obvious, but often just becoming a distraction to the reader.
The premise of this novel was excellent, a "gripping survival story" but the method to get to the end was boring, distracting and often almost unreadable in its application.
September 5, 2015
Just give it to him, the damn Booker or Pulitzer or whatever.When you read a John Vaillant book it feels as if it is life speaking to you with all its paradoxes, melancholy, feeble hopes and prayers of salvation.His books have an excellent social and natural justice component which catches one by the throat and asks serious questions that are extremely hard to ignore or forget.The Jaguar's children, his first foray into fiction is no exception.
The entire book sounded like the ending part of a Greek tragedy where fate absolutely rules the roost and thrusts people into hopeless situations out of which it is impossible to either escape or come out unscathed.The insights into the Zapotec world were highly interesting and the conflict with the natural world was spine-chilling and sad, and really painful to think about. Mayaeolu goes straight into my list of all time favorite characters. An extremely claustrophobic tale with one of the most gripping endings imaginable.
The entire book sounded like the ending part of a Greek tragedy where fate absolutely rules the roost and thrusts people into hopeless situations out of which it is impossible to either escape or come out unscathed.The insights into the Zapotec world were highly interesting and the conflict with the natural world was spine-chilling and sad, and really painful to think about. Mayaeolu goes straight into my list of all time favorite characters. An extremely claustrophobic tale with one of the most gripping endings imaginable.
February 8, 2015
Oxaca.."a city of walls. Getting inside can take a lifetime or a ladder. Getting out takes a coyote or a miracle"
This poignant story should be part of any sociology course in the future. The story begins with 2 young men,Hector and Cesar, along with15 others,being sealed in a water tank that is illegally trying to cross the border from Mexico. Unfortunately the truck has broken down and the drivers have abandoned them with no way of escape.The text then ensues with Hector using a cell phone to create text messages and sound files trying desperately to reach someone.As the words unfold, we see a world of suffering,poverty,and corruption. Although this book is labeled as fiction, the realism abounds, as one can easily see how this could be taking place right now This novel is SO much more than this short review .Moving,harrowing and masterful-everyone should read this. My only quibble is I wish the author had included a spanish/ english dictionary.
This poignant story should be part of any sociology course in the future. The story begins with 2 young men,Hector and Cesar, along with15 others,being sealed in a water tank that is illegally trying to cross the border from Mexico. Unfortunately the truck has broken down and the drivers have abandoned them with no way of escape.The text then ensues with Hector using a cell phone to create text messages and sound files trying desperately to reach someone.As the words unfold, we see a world of suffering,poverty,and corruption. Although this book is labeled as fiction, the realism abounds, as one can easily see how this could be taking place right now This novel is SO much more than this short review .Moving,harrowing and masterful-everyone should read this. My only quibble is I wish the author had included a spanish/ english dictionary.
February 2, 2015
A very fine debut novel by a nonfiction writer, but I warn you, if you are looking for a feel-good story you may want to avoid this one, cause it will wring you out. Almost epistolary in delivery, the narrator, stuck in almost unimaginable conditions, communicated the story of his plight and that of his people, campesinos of Mexico who often travel to work in El Norte. It is about love, family, faith and persistence, but also much pain and inhumanity, that delves too into the history and society of Mexico. A really good piece of fiction, but hard to work through.
February 22, 2015
I wanted to like John Vaillant's The Jaguar's Children a lot more than I did. I wanted it to be *the* book for my seniors to read in my world lit class, the book that would introduce them in a thoughtful and human way to the immigration debate. While I try to include writers from outside the US as much as I can when I select books for that course, I was willing to overlook the fact that it was written by someone from the North. What I can't overlook, unfortunately, are structural missteps that I think take away from the drama of the immigrant story.
Let's start with a quick plot summary: Héctor is trapped in a water truck that breaks down as a pair of coyotes try to take him and a bunch of others in the tank across the border. The coyotes have abandoned the truck, making promises to come back with a mechanic, but time starts droning on and on, and it isn't clear that any help is coming. The premise is a powerful one, and sadly, it's also a case of art-imitating-life. The horrible fiction of this novel has been the awful reality for immigrants before.
So, the premise is powerful. Good start. But right away, the structure of the novel makes an unneeded misstep: the novel is supposed is told through a series of voice recordings that Héctor makes on a cellphone, a cellphone he desperately is hoping will get enough reception to send texts and these voice recordings. The conceit here is unnecessary. I think it invites readers to be like, "Really? A cell phone that can last for four days? While being used heavily? And you're going to send hours worth of recordings? Really??" I would be willing to overlook this silly setup if it was necessary -- but it's not. There are other ways to have narrated this story that would have worked just as well and not invited skepticism.
To be fair, though, the whole narration-through-voice-recordings isn't what disappointed me about the novel. I knew about that voice recording point before I went into the novel. What *did* disappoint me is the way in which the novel overlooks the drama inherent to the immigrant story. When people decide to leave their homes, their family, their friends, their heritage and move North for a chance at a better life -- well, there's a powerful story there waiting to be told there. It's inherently dramatic. But to be honest, The Jaguar's Children doesn't tap into that drama successfully. Instead, the decision to move North for our main character is made under these pressures that seem entirely contrived. His decision is whimsical. Unrealistic. Unnecessary. It isn't, I don't think, reflective of the pressures most immigrants face. Those pressures are secondary to our character's decision to move. To be clear, I'm not saying that novels need to be "realistic" to be good. I just think that for this novel, a novel that is ostensibly trying to humanize readers in the North to the plight of immigrants, to familiarize readers in the North with the struggles of those who cross illegally, to create renewed political consciousness based on our common humanity, it seems as if art *should* imitate life in a certain way. Why not reveal the very real drama of the everyday immigrant?
What we do get is a plot point that tries to connect GMO corn to the immigrant's tale. I get that issues of globalization need to be brought up in any discussion of Mexico-US relations. And in truth, I'm actually interested in the GMO issue, and also in the ways NAFTA has worked against Mexican farmers. What happens in this novel, though, is what happens to some of my dedicated sophomore students when they write in-class essays: in trying to show everything, they actually dilute their focus. In trying to accomplish a lot, they accomplish a little. So, when Vaillant tries to bring up the GMO issue and connect that to the immigrant tale, I can appreciate what he was trying to do, but I think there are smarter ways to manage this interconnection.
Maybe I'm being a bit unfair, though. Maybe I'm critiquing a novel not for what it is but on what I wanted it to be. There might be some truth to that. The Jaguar's Children is a solid novel, even if it's not what I wanted it to be. I enjoyed parts of it a lot, but other elements (some included above, some not) just didn't work for me. Would I recommend it to others, though? Probably not, especially when Luis Alberto Urrea's The Devil's Highway: A True Story, a nonfiction book that examines a horrifying border crossing attempt, is just so dang good.
Let's start with a quick plot summary: Héctor is trapped in a water truck that breaks down as a pair of coyotes try to take him and a bunch of others in the tank across the border. The coyotes have abandoned the truck, making promises to come back with a mechanic, but time starts droning on and on, and it isn't clear that any help is coming. The premise is a powerful one, and sadly, it's also a case of art-imitating-life. The horrible fiction of this novel has been the awful reality for immigrants before.
So, the premise is powerful. Good start. But right away, the structure of the novel makes an unneeded misstep: the novel is supposed is told through a series of voice recordings that Héctor makes on a cellphone, a cellphone he desperately is hoping will get enough reception to send texts and these voice recordings. The conceit here is unnecessary. I think it invites readers to be like, "Really? A cell phone that can last for four days? While being used heavily? And you're going to send hours worth of recordings? Really??" I would be willing to overlook this silly setup if it was necessary -- but it's not. There are other ways to have narrated this story that would have worked just as well and not invited skepticism.
To be fair, though, the whole narration-through-voice-recordings isn't what disappointed me about the novel. I knew about that voice recording point before I went into the novel. What *did* disappoint me is the way in which the novel overlooks the drama inherent to the immigrant story. When people decide to leave their homes, their family, their friends, their heritage and move North for a chance at a better life -- well, there's a powerful story there waiting to be told there. It's inherently dramatic. But to be honest, The Jaguar's Children doesn't tap into that drama successfully. Instead, the decision to move North for our main character is made under these pressures that seem entirely contrived. His decision is whimsical. Unrealistic. Unnecessary. It isn't, I don't think, reflective of the pressures most immigrants face. Those pressures are secondary to our character's decision to move. To be clear, I'm not saying that novels need to be "realistic" to be good. I just think that for this novel, a novel that is ostensibly trying to humanize readers in the North to the plight of immigrants, to familiarize readers in the North with the struggles of those who cross illegally, to create renewed political consciousness based on our common humanity, it seems as if art *should* imitate life in a certain way. Why not reveal the very real drama of the everyday immigrant?
What we do get is a plot point that tries to connect GMO corn to the immigrant's tale. I get that issues of globalization need to be brought up in any discussion of Mexico-US relations. And in truth, I'm actually interested in the GMO issue, and also in the ways NAFTA has worked against Mexican farmers. What happens in this novel, though, is what happens to some of my dedicated sophomore students when they write in-class essays: in trying to show everything, they actually dilute their focus. In trying to accomplish a lot, they accomplish a little. So, when Vaillant tries to bring up the GMO issue and connect that to the immigrant tale, I can appreciate what he was trying to do, but I think there are smarter ways to manage this interconnection.
Maybe I'm being a bit unfair, though. Maybe I'm critiquing a novel not for what it is but on what I wanted it to be. There might be some truth to that. The Jaguar's Children is a solid novel, even if it's not what I wanted it to be. I enjoyed parts of it a lot, but other elements (some included above, some not) just didn't work for me. Would I recommend it to others, though? Probably not, especially when Luis Alberto Urrea's The Devil's Highway: A True Story, a nonfiction book that examines a horrifying border crossing attempt, is just so dang good.
June 17, 2015
John Vailant does not write fluffy beach books. He writes brilliant, important, socially relevant books, and makes them such easy and engaging reads! When he wrote about tigers The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival he gave us everything about the tigers, their history, their, present perilous situation, etc. In this novel we are introduced to Hector an Oaxacan who is trapped in an abandoned and sealed water truck somewhere in the desert. This is the story of how Hector found himself in this situation. It is also the story of many who risk their lives to cross illegally into the USA.
This book should be required reading for all High School students and definitely all USA politicians. It is not a difficult read, but it is a thoughtful, impactful one. It was very educational for me, as I thought the reason behind this difficult, often deadly journey was financial. That is part of the story for many, but there is so much more leading these people to risk everything; death, rape, life-long debt, loss of family and more, to head North.
Vaillant has Hector tell his story as he lies, alternately freezing and boiling, in the body of the truck, wondering if he will survive. He has his friend's cell phone with it's dying battery, and he is sending out his story to a contact in the phone, as his last hope, for rescue, or if that fails, at least for his story to be known.
The story goes as far back as Hector's grandfather and it includes many aspects of life in his home province of Oaxaca. We learn about the daily life, culture, education, and corruption in Oaxaca. We see how rapidly things are changing. There are themes that are relevant to everyone, issues that effect all of us, and we see them through his eyes.
There is a mystery within the story and there is obvious suspense. In this novel we have history, social relevance, moral issues, engaging characters, love stories, brilliant writing and yes, a jaguar. What more could you ask for?
This book should be required reading for all High School students and definitely all USA politicians. It is not a difficult read, but it is a thoughtful, impactful one. It was very educational for me, as I thought the reason behind this difficult, often deadly journey was financial. That is part of the story for many, but there is so much more leading these people to risk everything; death, rape, life-long debt, loss of family and more, to head North.
Vaillant has Hector tell his story as he lies, alternately freezing and boiling, in the body of the truck, wondering if he will survive. He has his friend's cell phone with it's dying battery, and he is sending out his story to a contact in the phone, as his last hope, for rescue, or if that fails, at least for his story to be known.
The story goes as far back as Hector's grandfather and it includes many aspects of life in his home province of Oaxaca. We learn about the daily life, culture, education, and corruption in Oaxaca. We see how rapidly things are changing. There are themes that are relevant to everyone, issues that effect all of us, and we see them through his eyes.
There is a mystery within the story and there is obvious suspense. In this novel we have history, social relevance, moral issues, engaging characters, love stories, brilliant writing and yes, a jaguar. What more could you ask for?
February 24, 2015
This book was a page turner. I was so tense and felt like I was suffocating while reading the story. Set over four days April 5-8, the protagonist Hector Gonzalez and his friend Dr. Cesar Ramirez, a plant biologist and researcher, leave Mexico by way of Coyote handlers by being welded into a water tanker along with fourteen others. The Coyotes abandon the truck leaving the human cargo behind. The story of how they got to the Coyote handlers, the scientific genetic secret Cesar discovered which involves the genetic manipulation (GMO) of corn and his ultimate need to flee from Mexico from SantaMaize and BioSeguridad, two corporations poised to make billions off the GMO corn, and the story of the jaguar are wrapped together in this thriller.
Hector is the grandson of Professor Payne, an American archeologist, digging through Aztec ruins in Latuxi, Puebla. He hires Abuelo to be a digger and he discovers the jade jaguar man statue. The Professor impregnates a woman, Zeferina, leaving her behind. Abuelo is in love with her and when her family casts her out, Abuelo marries her and raises her son, Hector's father, as his child. Hector's father takes him to America but they are eventually deported.
Hector describes the darkness, heat, thirst, suffocation, human stench and waning loss of hope as the four days unfold. Using Cesar's phone, Hector tells his story by sending text messages to Cesar's American girlfriend, Anne Macueley (AnniMac), but the messages are not deliverable. Two Arizona fish and game wardens discover the tanker as they are tracking a jaguar, Alvin, via a radio transmitter collar.
Very well done. It makes the reader think of the tangled balance and struggles between the U.S. and Mexican borders, the fragility of human life and the risks people will take to make better opportunities for themselves, and the horrific deaths many people experience as they attempt the crossing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/boo...
Hector is the grandson of Professor Payne, an American archeologist, digging through Aztec ruins in Latuxi, Puebla. He hires Abuelo to be a digger and he discovers the jade jaguar man statue. The Professor impregnates a woman, Zeferina, leaving her behind. Abuelo is in love with her and when her family casts her out, Abuelo marries her and raises her son, Hector's father, as his child. Hector's father takes him to America but they are eventually deported.
Hector describes the darkness, heat, thirst, suffocation, human stench and waning loss of hope as the four days unfold. Using Cesar's phone, Hector tells his story by sending text messages to Cesar's American girlfriend, Anne Macueley (AnniMac), but the messages are not deliverable. Two Arizona fish and game wardens discover the tanker as they are tracking a jaguar, Alvin, via a radio transmitter collar.
Very well done. It makes the reader think of the tangled balance and struggles between the U.S. and Mexican borders, the fragility of human life and the risks people will take to make better opportunities for themselves, and the horrific deaths many people experience as they attempt the crossing.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/boo...
March 11, 2015
Not for the Faint of Heart
A young man named Hector flees his native country. He’s from rural Oaxaca Mexico and largely of Indio heritage, people with firm traditions and the legends that surround them. They’re tied to the land where they grow corn on the hillside. It’s a place with an exploitive hierarchical structure and freedom in this so called democracy is relative. Hector is surrounded by a supportive loving family who want a better life for him…and that means going to America which is what Hector does. After a tragic night he and a friend search out a coyote and vamoose.
Then things get even worse when these unscrupulous and money hungry thieves abandon them to a horrible fate. Trapped in a sealed water truck with many other escapees they wait and pray for rescue. Hector’s lifeline is his phone. We learn his life story in snippets of voice mails he leaves on a stranger’s phone. He spills his hopes and dreams for his future and recounts his rich young past. We readers can only read on hoping for the best. “Jaguar” is a mix of richness contrasted with almost unimaginable desolation but it’s impossible to stop reading. Some of what you read will seem impossible but apparently it is based on a real occurrence! If you’re claustrophobic don’t open this book.
This review is based on an e-arc provided by the publisher.
A young man named Hector flees his native country. He’s from rural Oaxaca Mexico and largely of Indio heritage, people with firm traditions and the legends that surround them. They’re tied to the land where they grow corn on the hillside. It’s a place with an exploitive hierarchical structure and freedom in this so called democracy is relative. Hector is surrounded by a supportive loving family who want a better life for him…and that means going to America which is what Hector does. After a tragic night he and a friend search out a coyote and vamoose.
Then things get even worse when these unscrupulous and money hungry thieves abandon them to a horrible fate. Trapped in a sealed water truck with many other escapees they wait and pray for rescue. Hector’s lifeline is his phone. We learn his life story in snippets of voice mails he leaves on a stranger’s phone. He spills his hopes and dreams for his future and recounts his rich young past. We readers can only read on hoping for the best. “Jaguar” is a mix of richness contrasted with almost unimaginable desolation but it’s impossible to stop reading. Some of what you read will seem impossible but apparently it is based on a real occurrence! If you’re claustrophobic don’t open this book.
This review is based on an e-arc provided by the publisher.
October 5, 2015
When those Greeks were hiding in that horse they wanted to attack the city, and when the terrorists were hiding in those planes they wanted to attack the country, but when Mexicanos hide in a truck, what do they want to do? They want to pick the lettuce. And cut your grass.
While on vacation in Cancun, my husband and I went on an excursion to Chichén Itzá, and as we were walking along a shady path, two Mexican men approached us to display the hand carved items they were selling. I've always assumed that it's polite to use “Resort Spanish” when speaking with locals (No, gracias; Dos cervezas, por favor; ¿Dónde está el baño?) but it took me a couple of exchanges to understand that one of these men was rapidly and quietly replying “That is not our language” to every one of our hackneyed Spanish phrases – and I was suddenly confused and afraid that we had been offending them and we ended up buying a rather large wooden jaguar's head. After reading The Jaguar's Children, I realise just how ignorant I had been – I had no idea that there were indigenous Mexicans who have refused to learn the language of the Conquistadors for the past 500 years, and also didn't realise that the item I thought was the most aesthetically pleasing – the jaguar's head – was likely their most sacred item; just another stereotypically dumb tourist mistaking the hallowed for kitsch.
Author John Vaillant has made his mark as a nonfiction writer on social justice themes – I loved The Tiger because of all the disparate information he was able to weave into a cohesive and suspenseful narrative – but in this, his first novel, I think that it was precisely his past successes that have hobbled him: by trying to graft a bunch of social justice issues onto a credibility-stretching plot device, Vaillant has lost the straightforwardness of the nonfiction form while not quite succeeding in creating satisfying literature here. To be honest, The Jaguar's Children is a bit of a mess; just because there's suffering doesn't mean it's deep.
The credibility-stretching plot device: We immediately learn that the narrator Héctor, along with 11 other people, has been abandoned in the tank of a modified water truck that broke down just over the Mexican-American border. Although the “coyotes” who took the sum of their American money to return with a mechanic have been gone for only a few hours as the book begins, Héctor and the others are panicking and trying to reach friends and family on their cell phones. When Héctor realises that he can get only one bar of service on his friend César's cell (César was knocked unconscious when the truck abruptly stopped), Héctor begins recording a series of messages (detailing the entire history of his own family and his relationship to César), hoping that they will automatically send if service improves. As hours stretch to over four days, not only does César's phone battery never run out, but as people start dying of dehydration, Héctor has the voice and stamina to continue recording for hours at a time. This cellphone business was unnecessarily distracting.
The social justice issues: In describing three generations of Héctor's family, Vaillant seems to be advocating for Primitivism or the "Appeal to Nature" Fallacy, as though modernization has been nothing but the death of Mexico. Héctor's grandfather – with nothing more than a machete and a burro – was able to provide everything his family needed out of the earth alone. Turning his back on what he saw as a form of slavery, Héctor's father chose to move into town – happy with a concrete house after his father's dirty adobe, happy to pay off a pickup truck instead of spending his life staring at the rear end of a burro, happy to wear shoes instead of walking on bare feet as thick as truck tires, happy to put himself in debt to a gangster to scrabble his way up in the world – and he insisted on Héctor getting an education in order to someday make his way to el Norte. Although Vaillant mentions a couple of times that ever since NAFTA was implemented young Mexican men have had no choice but to sneak into the US, because it is a novel, he doesn't explain why this might be so. The issue of illegal Mexican immigration – and the desperate steps that some will take to make it across the border – is timely and worthy of examination, but in this book we never learn what circumstances turn people desperate; we only learn of Héctor's and César's motivations, and they're not typical. In another grafted on storyline, we learn that César was a biotech researcher who is on the run after trying to expose the evils of GMO corn (again, an appeal to nature fallacy as there is no science behind this anti-science storyline) and Héctor was simply swept up in the flight – neither of them ever wanted to go to America, so why are theirs the only stories we hear?
But what I know for sure is that the ritual of corn – the cycle of planting, harvesting, saving and planting again – that is the rosary of our existence, unbroken, every kernel a bead touched by someone's hand, and we are telling those beads, and they are telling us, who we are, over and over, season after season, year after year – not in a circle, Tito, but in a spiral, a double helix. Can you see that? One side is us and the other is the corn. In that DNA is the oldest manmade codex. I have read it myself and in every kernel is a message from the past to the future – the story of us, and that's what I'm trying to understand.
Vaillant's writing is fine but crippled by an ineffectual structure. I understand that he spent a year in the Oaxaca setting where he put Héctor's family, and his affection for the region and its people is apparent. The Jaguar's Children might have worked better as two separate novels– one about how modernization is changing the lives of Indo-Mexicans who had successfully held back the influence of Cortés for half a millennium, and another about those Mexicans who risk their lives to cross the American border (parts set in the truck as people are suffering were really engaging but there was not enough time devoted to these people and their histories as we had to learn about how Héctor's grandparents met) – or Vaillant might have been better off sticking to the nonfiction format that he does so well. I'd rate this 2.5 stars and am feeling generous in rounding up.
January 1, 2015
Original review can be found at http://kristineandterri.blogspot.ca/2...
3.5 stars
I won an advanced readers copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. The expected publication date is January 6, 2015.
This story starts out really strong. It is told through a bunch of text messages and sound files as Hector tells the story of how he and others ended up stuck inside a water truck. I was dying to know if they would get rescued and what their fate would be.
As the story unfolds, Hector digs deep into his past and the past of his ancestors to paint a larger picture of his culture and where he came from. Having visited different parts of Mexico on numerous occasions I found this quite interesting. I enjoyed learning about the way his family lived and all of the myths and legends they believed in.
When I was about 3/4 of the way through the book I did find that it started to lose a little steam and the original excitement that I had for it started to dwindle. At this point I was wanting to read more about Hector's current situation and a little less about his past. I was guilty of skimming a page or two at this point.
This book is not for everyone. It is sometimes tragic and devastating and there isn't a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. At times the story moves slowly and it is a little frustrating. If you can power through all these things there is a unique and somewhat powerful story that is unlike any I have read in a long time.
3.5 stars
I won an advanced readers copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. The expected publication date is January 6, 2015.
This story starts out really strong. It is told through a bunch of text messages and sound files as Hector tells the story of how he and others ended up stuck inside a water truck. I was dying to know if they would get rescued and what their fate would be.
As the story unfolds, Hector digs deep into his past and the past of his ancestors to paint a larger picture of his culture and where he came from. Having visited different parts of Mexico on numerous occasions I found this quite interesting. I enjoyed learning about the way his family lived and all of the myths and legends they believed in.
When I was about 3/4 of the way through the book I did find that it started to lose a little steam and the original excitement that I had for it started to dwindle. At this point I was wanting to read more about Hector's current situation and a little less about his past. I was guilty of skimming a page or two at this point.
This book is not for everyone. It is sometimes tragic and devastating and there isn't a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. At times the story moves slowly and it is a little frustrating. If you can power through all these things there is a unique and somewhat powerful story that is unlike any I have read in a long time.
March 8, 2017
I know epistolary novels are deal breakers for some readers. I think when done well, they can be powerful and I always welcome a change of narrative form. Here, it works well and gives a distinct voice to Hector. The differences of tone, pace and normalcy of his voice as time goes on are heartbreaking.
Fleeing his home state of Oaxaca, Hector and his friend Cesar have paid coyotes to cross the border welded into a water tank. The truck breaks down in the desert, and the dozen or so people are trapped inside. Cesar is injured in the accident and Hector is using his cell phone to record voice messages to Cesar's only American contact, AnnieMac. The messages start with a plea for help, continue to tell the story of how they got in the truck, and eventually become dreamy and mythical as the water runs out.
The story of Hector and his grandfather was really moving, even with the addition of magical realism, which is often a deal breaker for me. Cesar's back story of GMO studies felt a little more contrived and unnecessary. Overall, I really enjoyed this. I was able to get into it right away, and couldn't put it down.
I have throughly enjoyed Vaillant's non-fiction, especially Tiger, and will probably commit to reading anything he writes from now on. This is his first fiction attempt, and I hope there is more to come. He is also interesting to follow on Twitter!
Fleeing his home state of Oaxaca, Hector and his friend Cesar have paid coyotes to cross the border welded into a water tank. The truck breaks down in the desert, and the dozen or so people are trapped inside. Cesar is injured in the accident and Hector is using his cell phone to record voice messages to Cesar's only American contact, AnnieMac. The messages start with a plea for help, continue to tell the story of how they got in the truck, and eventually become dreamy and mythical as the water runs out.
The story of Hector and his grandfather was really moving, even with the addition of magical realism, which is often a deal breaker for me. Cesar's back story of GMO studies felt a little more contrived and unnecessary. Overall, I really enjoyed this. I was able to get into it right away, and couldn't put it down.
I have throughly enjoyed Vaillant's non-fiction, especially Tiger, and will probably commit to reading anything he writes from now on. This is his first fiction attempt, and I hope there is more to come. He is also interesting to follow on Twitter!
February 6, 2015
The close ties between native people, the land they live on and other creatures inhabiting it are illustrated in this suspenseful novel narrated by a young man trapped in a broken down vehicle during an illegal border crossing.
As he did in his wonderful non-fiction book The Tiger, John Vaillant provides a multi-faceted and fascinating story of Hector’s struggle to survive while communicating the plight of he and the other migrantes to the only American contact on his injured companion’s cellphone.
In text messages and sound files Hector relates how he joined Cesar, fleeing from corrupt bureaucrats, and they fell victim to coyotes who abandoned the passengers sealed inside a tanker truck after the vehicle broke down in the desert.
In between messages about diminishing water and food supplies, fighting amongst the passengers, fear of being discovered by la Migra or (worse) the Minutemen, searing heat, debilitating cold and other horrors of their predicament, Hector relates episodes of his life as a despised Indio, an aspiring student and a person his father constantly pushes to go to el Norte. He provides insights into Zapotec culture, the reasons for and difficulties of migration, the predation of the coyotes and narcos, governmental failures and corruption of multinational corporations.
This novel is a harrowing ride, but one decidedly worthwhile. Don’t miss it.
As he did in his wonderful non-fiction book The Tiger, John Vaillant provides a multi-faceted and fascinating story of Hector’s struggle to survive while communicating the plight of he and the other migrantes to the only American contact on his injured companion’s cellphone.
In text messages and sound files Hector relates how he joined Cesar, fleeing from corrupt bureaucrats, and they fell victim to coyotes who abandoned the passengers sealed inside a tanker truck after the vehicle broke down in the desert.
In between messages about diminishing water and food supplies, fighting amongst the passengers, fear of being discovered by la Migra or (worse) the Minutemen, searing heat, debilitating cold and other horrors of their predicament, Hector relates episodes of his life as a despised Indio, an aspiring student and a person his father constantly pushes to go to el Norte. He provides insights into Zapotec culture, the reasons for and difficulties of migration, the predation of the coyotes and narcos, governmental failures and corruption of multinational corporations.
This novel is a harrowing ride, but one decidedly worthwhile. Don’t miss it.
December 17, 2014
Filled with intense emotions and desperation The Jaguar’s Children by John Vaillant is a deeply emotional and intense look at the life through the eyes of Héctor, one of thirteen illegals left for dead in a sealed water truck, the reader is told over a course of four days what brought Héctor from Oaxaca to the treacherous border crossing into El Norte. Héctor’s thoughts are transcribed into his friend César’s phone. The Jaguar’s Children is a deeply atmospheric, historically rich, and emotional suspense inspired by actual facts. Vaillant takes the reader deep into the history and culture of not only Mexico, but of those drawn to attempt the dangerous border crossing. The Jaguar’s Children explores the relationship of the two cultures, humanity, and the interconnectedness of everyone. I highly recommend this deeply suspenseful and riveting book to all readers, especially book discussion groups.
December 11, 2015
Until two weeks ago, I had never heard of this book or its author. Finishing this book tonight I am certain it's going to make my best of 2015 list. I don't know anything about the writers background and his connection to the immigrant migration from Latin America to the US but he tells Hector's story with such compassion, I was hooked from the start. I loved the woven in history of Mexico and the culture of its different regions has always been fascinating to me. I feel so much compassion towards the many Latinos who risk their lives to come to America for a better life and the danger and desperation that comes with signing your life over to a Coyote came across so vividly in this book. Absolutely loved it.
October 7, 2018
Good premise: a truck full of illegal migrants in the US breaks down. The coyotes leave the people locked inside (sadly, art imitates life here) and our protagonist, Hector, is leaving voice messages to the only American number on his injured friend's phone. Somehow he has enough coverage to do this, but not enough to call 911, or something. This is a bit strange, but we can let it go for the sake of the story. The part of the story that happens in the truck is very well done. The sadness, desperation and will to leave is very well put.
We have flashbacks to Hector's life in Oaxaca and the road that took him here. This is the mean the author uses to explore Oaxaca and its myths, traditions and realities, often around the mythical jaguar. It is also there where he stretches too much and tries to cram everything he knows about Oaxaca and Mexico. He forces himself to mention the teachers' protests a few years ago, somehow links the protagonist to Diego Rivera, tries to mention every tourist sight in the city, etc.
There was also a side plot about GMOs and terminator seeds, a concept I was not aware of and that, while very interesting, has no place in the overall story. Again, it is the author forcing something he likes into the narrative.
Despite his evident story-telling abilities, I couldn't get over those things and I was about to stop reading, but I wanted to see what happened with the people in the truck.
2.5 starts, which I will put down as 3.
We have flashbacks to Hector's life in Oaxaca and the road that took him here. This is the mean the author uses to explore Oaxaca and its myths, traditions and realities, often around the mythical jaguar. It is also there where he stretches too much and tries to cram everything he knows about Oaxaca and Mexico. He forces himself to mention the teachers' protests a few years ago, somehow links the protagonist to Diego Rivera, tries to mention every tourist sight in the city, etc.
There was also a side plot about GMOs and terminator seeds, a concept I was not aware of and that, while very interesting, has no place in the overall story. Again, it is the author forcing something he likes into the narrative.
Despite his evident story-telling abilities, I couldn't get over those things and I was about to stop reading, but I wanted to see what happened with the people in the truck.
2.5 starts, which I will put down as 3.
April 7, 2025
I've read several of Vaillant's nonfiction works and he brings the same skill at placing the reader in the moment to his fiction. In The Jaguar's Children, Hector and his friend Cesar have paid a coyote to get them across the border. Hector is looking for work and a path to the future, Cesar is on the run from something. They aren't close friends, more acquaintances, but a chance event puts them together at this moment in time. The group they are crossing with have been sealed into an empty water tanker to cross the border. The truck breaks down and the immigrants are left sealed in the tanker in the desert. The majority of the novel are texts for help and flashbacks to an American contact in Cesar's phone. This is relentlessly grim - they have essentially no water, no help, and really no hope. The storytelling is powerful, the desperation is palpable. Near the end, we find out what Cesar was running from and it felt more like a side note but it would have been worthy of a novel on it's own .
May 24, 2015
*2.5 STARS???*
- I am a big fan of Vaillant's non-fiction. Reading THE TIGER made me want to save Siberian tigers and travel to Siberia all at once.
- Sufficed to say I was quite eager to read this book - His first foray into fiction, which is something I love far more than non-fiction. So expectations were high from the start.
- Though Vaillant never seems to shy away from important social or environment topics, I feel he failed us here.
- First of all, the premise is ridiculous. A young Mexican trying to cross the US border illegally is left to die inside a water tank and he uses his injured friend's cell phone to dictate his life story to some mysterious person he found in this contact book called "AnniMac"? Errrr...NO. Even suspension of disbelief only gets us so far.
- And although Vaillant vividly and painfully illustrates the cultural, economical and political struggle of native Mexicans trying to find their way inside their corrupt & beleaguered country, I find the entire narrative arc confusing and disjointed.
- Exhibit A: Hector's old school friend, Cesar, who becomes an unwitting companion in this mess and is also trapped inside this water tank, abandoned by heartless "coyotes" they paid to smuggle the across the border. He is brilliant young scientist who uncovers a corporate/governmental/American plot to contaminate their native species of corn plants with a terminator gene that would essentially make Mexicans reliant on them for food & unable to grow their own corn. This topic is EXTREMELY FASCINATING, but made no sense at all in the story. (As per the NYT's review, who agrees with my assessment - http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/boo...)
- EXHIBIT B: The backstory about Hector's abuelo and his discovery of the rare "Jaguar Man" while he worked as a labourer for an archaeologist conjures a deep sense of historical mythology and culture...Again, all of this endlessly fascinating, but what does it have to do with GMO's or corn DNA or human smuggling???? The answer: NONE.
THE VERDICT: Although I deeply admire Vaillant's willingness to tackle tough social, environmental and political issues, I think he may need to stick to non-fiction writing instead.
- I am a big fan of Vaillant's non-fiction. Reading THE TIGER made me want to save Siberian tigers and travel to Siberia all at once.
- Sufficed to say I was quite eager to read this book - His first foray into fiction, which is something I love far more than non-fiction. So expectations were high from the start.
- Though Vaillant never seems to shy away from important social or environment topics, I feel he failed us here.
- First of all, the premise is ridiculous. A young Mexican trying to cross the US border illegally is left to die inside a water tank and he uses his injured friend's cell phone to dictate his life story to some mysterious person he found in this contact book called "AnniMac"? Errrr...NO. Even suspension of disbelief only gets us so far.
- And although Vaillant vividly and painfully illustrates the cultural, economical and political struggle of native Mexicans trying to find their way inside their corrupt & beleaguered country, I find the entire narrative arc confusing and disjointed.
- Exhibit A: Hector's old school friend, Cesar, who becomes an unwitting companion in this mess and is also trapped inside this water tank, abandoned by heartless "coyotes" they paid to smuggle the across the border. He is brilliant young scientist who uncovers a corporate/governmental/American plot to contaminate their native species of corn plants with a terminator gene that would essentially make Mexicans reliant on them for food & unable to grow their own corn. This topic is EXTREMELY FASCINATING, but made no sense at all in the story. (As per the NYT's review, who agrees with my assessment - http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/15/boo...)
- EXHIBIT B: The backstory about Hector's abuelo and his discovery of the rare "Jaguar Man" while he worked as a labourer for an archaeologist conjures a deep sense of historical mythology and culture...Again, all of this endlessly fascinating, but what does it have to do with GMO's or corn DNA or human smuggling???? The answer: NONE.
THE VERDICT: Although I deeply admire Vaillant's willingness to tackle tough social, environmental and political issues, I think he may need to stick to non-fiction writing instead.
September 4, 2015
2.5 stars. I really enjoyed Vaillant’s previous two books (especially the Golden Spruce), and I live in the same city as him, so I wanted to read this book + support a local author, etc. Parts of the book were really well written, and I was especially interested to read about Oaxacan culture and history, as well as the backstory with the narrator’s grandparents.
However:
1) How is anybody supposed to read the book unless they speak fluent Spanish? It’s one thing to slip in phrases like “hola, amigo”, but something entirely different to assume that your readers understand Mexican slang, or sexual terms (OK, maybe after reading the words 50 times, readers will figure out what pinche means, or conchita/coño). On a side note, I hope I never read or hear the phrase “getting conchita” again.
2) I’m a graduate student studying plant genetics, and the character César does not talk about GMOs like any plant biologist that I’ve ever met.
Both GMO and non-GMO crops are grown in monoculture, so the concerns raised about loss of genetic diversity should be seen more as a critique of monoculture than of GMOs. Also, concerns about cross-pollination are exaggerated (look up Monsanto Canada v. Percy Schmeiser). I am not an expert on the ethics or legality of patenting seeds/genes, but I do think that the GMO issue could be discussed in a less hysterical way. A good example is Dr. Pamela Ronald’s and Raoul Adamchak’s book, Tomorrow’s Table, which addresses common concerns/questions about GMOs in a nuanced way, although her writing style is a bit annoying (the authors are a plant biologist and organic farmer who are married to each other).
Also, one of my professors (Dr. Haughn) was credited in the acknowledgments section as having advised Vaillant on the subject of GMOs. He told me that he didn’t remember being interviewed; he said that he might have gotten an e-mail asking him to explain how GMOs are made, but that he gets these e-mails all the time. Being pro-GMO, he was both amused + slightly horrified to learn that he’d been credited.
However:
1) How is anybody supposed to read the book unless they speak fluent Spanish? It’s one thing to slip in phrases like “hola, amigo”, but something entirely different to assume that your readers understand Mexican slang, or sexual terms (OK, maybe after reading the words 50 times, readers will figure out what pinche means, or conchita/coño). On a side note, I hope I never read or hear the phrase “getting conchita” again.
2) I’m a graduate student studying plant genetics, and the character César does not talk about GMOs like any plant biologist that I’ve ever met.
Both GMO and non-GMO crops are grown in monoculture, so the concerns raised about loss of genetic diversity should be seen more as a critique of monoculture than of GMOs. Also, concerns about cross-pollination are exaggerated (look up Monsanto Canada v. Percy Schmeiser). I am not an expert on the ethics or legality of patenting seeds/genes, but I do think that the GMO issue could be discussed in a less hysterical way. A good example is Dr. Pamela Ronald’s and Raoul Adamchak’s book, Tomorrow’s Table, which addresses common concerns/questions about GMOs in a nuanced way, although her writing style is a bit annoying (the authors are a plant biologist and organic farmer who are married to each other).
Also, one of my professors (Dr. Haughn) was credited in the acknowledgments section as having advised Vaillant on the subject of GMOs. He told me that he didn’t remember being interviewed; he said that he might have gotten an e-mail asking him to explain how GMOs are made, but that he gets these e-mails all the time. Being pro-GMO, he was both amused + slightly horrified to learn that he’d been credited.
January 19, 2015
You've read the newspaper stories, seen accounts and shows on the news and television - the desperate attempts of those from other countries attempting to cross the border into the United States - illegally. John Vaillant's new book (and his first work of fiction), The Jaguar's Children, starts with that as the premise, but then goes in a direction I hadn't expected.
Hector, his friend Cesar and some others leave Mexico sealed into the tank of a water truck. But when the truck breaks down, the 'coyotes' promise they'll return soon with a mechanic and leave the group sealed inside.....
Hector finds an American number on Cesar's phone and texts it, but there is no reply. When the signal dies, he instead begins to record a series of messages - perhaps to send if the signal comes back.....or if the coyotes don't return, someone will know their story.
Oh boy, it was disturbing to imagine being trapped in a metal tank, somewhere in the sun, with limited food and water - and a load of desperate people. And this is what I thought Vaillant's story would be about - but it was so much more.
Vaillant takes the novel beyond the confines of the tanker. The Jaguar's Children is amazing storytelling on so many levels - the nail biting tension of those trapped in the truck, the story of the Hector's life and his people - both immediate and on a larger scale as the vibrant history and legacy of the Zapotec are woven into his recordings. There's much food for thought as GMOs also figure into another plot thread.
It's impossible to read this book without examining and questioning the relationship between cultures, countries and politics. The Jaguar's Children is all the more compelling and intimate told in Hector's single narrative.
And throughout it all, the reader wonders if they will be rescued......A compelling, thought provoking, richly written read.
Hector, his friend Cesar and some others leave Mexico sealed into the tank of a water truck. But when the truck breaks down, the 'coyotes' promise they'll return soon with a mechanic and leave the group sealed inside.....
Hector finds an American number on Cesar's phone and texts it, but there is no reply. When the signal dies, he instead begins to record a series of messages - perhaps to send if the signal comes back.....or if the coyotes don't return, someone will know their story.
Oh boy, it was disturbing to imagine being trapped in a metal tank, somewhere in the sun, with limited food and water - and a load of desperate people. And this is what I thought Vaillant's story would be about - but it was so much more.
Vaillant takes the novel beyond the confines of the tanker. The Jaguar's Children is amazing storytelling on so many levels - the nail biting tension of those trapped in the truck, the story of the Hector's life and his people - both immediate and on a larger scale as the vibrant history and legacy of the Zapotec are woven into his recordings. There's much food for thought as GMOs also figure into another plot thread.
It's impossible to read this book without examining and questioning the relationship between cultures, countries and politics. The Jaguar's Children is all the more compelling and intimate told in Hector's single narrative.
And throughout it all, the reader wonders if they will be rescued......A compelling, thought provoking, richly written read.
January 30, 2015
Based on events which have actually occurred, a group of Mexican illegal migrants are hidden and sealed inside a water truck in an attempt to get into the United States. Having read and enjoyed Vaillant's two previous non-fiction books, I was anticipating his first fiction novel.
The story is told through Hector, one of 13 people abandoned inside the truck after the 'coyotes' take their money and possessions and do not return. The people are slowly dying from heat and thirst and the suspense is unbearable. Hector finds a hidden phone belonging to his injured and dying friend. Cell reception is poor, and he finds the name of an American on the phone whom he tries to contact for help. He transcribes stories of his village in Mexico, the customs and folklore into the phone as he waits for a strong enough signal to send his pleas for help.He carries a small figurine of a jaguar, an animal that is important in their mythology and plays a part in the resolution of the story. Time is running out as the migrants are in a desperate situation and some have already perished.
My problem with the book was that so many of the words and phrases were in Spanish. Their inclusion may have been aimed at adding to the realism of the story. For me, they were a distraction. I had to either stop to look for a translation or guess their meanings from context.
The story is told through Hector, one of 13 people abandoned inside the truck after the 'coyotes' take their money and possessions and do not return. The people are slowly dying from heat and thirst and the suspense is unbearable. Hector finds a hidden phone belonging to his injured and dying friend. Cell reception is poor, and he finds the name of an American on the phone whom he tries to contact for help. He transcribes stories of his village in Mexico, the customs and folklore into the phone as he waits for a strong enough signal to send his pleas for help.He carries a small figurine of a jaguar, an animal that is important in their mythology and plays a part in the resolution of the story. Time is running out as the migrants are in a desperate situation and some have already perished.
My problem with the book was that so many of the words and phrases were in Spanish. Their inclusion may have been aimed at adding to the realism of the story. For me, they were a distraction. I had to either stop to look for a translation or guess their meanings from context.
November 9, 2016
Vaillant is best known for his non-fiction work and both The Golden Spruce and The Tiger have entered my TBR orbit. But my introduction is his first work of fiction. I felt unclear as to why Vaillant chose this route given that there would have been no shortage of experiences to fashion a compelling non-fiction narrative.
Instead we get a story that is unrelentingly grim and horrible. Trying to escape into America, Hector and Cesar climb into an empty water tank truck along with 13 other migrants. The occupants have been sealed inside, the doors welded shut. Things go south and it’s as appalling as you might imagine. The writing is evocative and there’s so much potential to be explored.
Instead we get Hector telling us the story of his family and his introduction to the United States through an improbable conceit of recording sound-files into his friends dying cell phone over the course of several days. There’s also political thriller storyline surrounding Hector and genetically modified corn which felt misplaced here. Thrown together the elements didn’t quite gel for me and I found myself wishing Vaillant was instead constrained to the truth, to tell a non-fiction story of migrants trying to escape into the US.
Instead we get a story that is unrelentingly grim and horrible. Trying to escape into America, Hector and Cesar climb into an empty water tank truck along with 13 other migrants. The occupants have been sealed inside, the doors welded shut. Things go south and it’s as appalling as you might imagine. The writing is evocative and there’s so much potential to be explored.
Instead we get Hector telling us the story of his family and his introduction to the United States through an improbable conceit of recording sound-files into his friends dying cell phone over the course of several days. There’s also political thriller storyline surrounding Hector and genetically modified corn which felt misplaced here. Thrown together the elements didn’t quite gel for me and I found myself wishing Vaillant was instead constrained to the truth, to tell a non-fiction story of migrants trying to escape into the US.
February 10, 2015
Book Review & Giveaway: John Vaillant is a bestselling and award-winning non-fiction author who I’m pleased to say has finally turned his sights toward fiction. His interests include stories that explore collisions between human ambition and the natural world, and that is definitely part of the story he brings us in The Jaguar’s Children. The subtitles for his non-fiction novels include the words myth, greed, and survival, all of which run throughout this novel along with the need for connection. The Jaguar’s Children has already been made a Library Editors BEA (Book Expo America) Pick and an Indie Next Title for February 2015. In fact, one newspaper said it should be required reading for every civics class in the U.S. If you liked The Life of Pi, you need to check this one out. And definitely enter our giveaway to win a copy at http://popcornreads.com/?p=8113.
September 8, 2015
Good book: really a page-turner - I couldn't put it down! Told mostly in flashbacks, this book describes the circumstances leading up to how the narrator ends up stuck inside the belly of a water truck crossing the Mexico-US border. The story unfolds as Hector records messages that he hopes to send when he gets better reception. Scenes in the water truck filled with undocumented immigrants are graphic and disturbing; this book isn't for the feint of heart. I liked the highlighting of GMO crops and NAFTA deals endangering farmer's livelihood. I wish there was little more exploration of the immigrant experience, what drives people to leave everything they know for el Norte. I also would like to know where Cesar got his phone from: that's unbelievable battery performance, 4+ days with heavy use voice recording!
July 9, 2016
I heard great things about this book, but for me, ultimately, it kind of sucked. The plot is about a group of Mexicans hiding in a truck where they are about to be driven across the border. However, the truck's tire goes flat and the people transporting them basically rob them of their money and never come back. So, I was interested in how these people were going to survive in the truck without food and water, but the main character delves into his past and growing up, and it was pretty boring. A lot of useless information that didn't seem relevant. In addition, it seemed like there was suppose to be some kind of lesson for the reader, but I didn't get it.
February 21, 2015
A great listen. The narrator has a Mexican accent and speaks in Spanglish which I could mostly understand. This immigration story is one of the best I've read. I don't want to say too much because going into this book I knew nothing and was glad that I didn't know what the story was about but this book will take you down several Mexican immigrant stories that are difficult to hear.
February 4, 2016
Brilliant writing, John Vaillant! Front page of Arizona Daily Star today, February 4th, has a feature article about a jaguar sighting in the exact area this "novel" is set! I was near the end of the book. The significance of that fact will be a spoiler for those who have not yet read this amazing book.
December 11, 2023
A very powerful book that I found difficult to read due to the subject matter. About Mexico, the drug cartel, and the length that migrants go to to get into the United States.
September 24, 2021
The Jaguar's Children starts out a story of 13 immigrants crossing into Arizona from Mexico who end up trapped in a sealed water tank trunk. Their coyotes (guides) abandon them in the desert after the truck breaks down. The main character, Hector, is the narrator. He tries to get help using his friend Cesar's cell phone by sending text messages to AnniMac, a person he believes to be Cesar's girlfriend. Then he starts recording on the phone telling not only the plight of the trapped victims in the water truck but also stories of his own past and secrets Cesar was trying to escape with.
It is definitely a very grim story involving the victims. The author is pretty graphic in his depiction of their sufferings---especially from thirst. At times it was hard for me to keep reading because it was so hard to read about what was happening to the people.
Hector's stories about his past portray what life is like for the common person in Mexico--especially for the poor people, the peasants. They also provide many details into the culture and traditions of the Zapotec people to which he belongs. I found that part fascinating which helped me to continue through the narration of the victims' sufferings.
As a few other reviewers mentioned, it definitely wasn't plausible that a cell phone battery would continue to last 4 days with it being used for long recordings. However, that didn't bother me. There were also several Spanish words used but most of them I could figure out by the context and if not, I looked them up in the Google dictionary. This novel was a slow read for me because I didn't want to miss any words---there was no skimming over sections.
Unfortunately, this story of the plight of these migrants is very realistic. Just last year a truck was discovered in San Antonio with immigrants trapped inside. I wish all the people who are so against the Mexican immigrants would read this book to better understand the desperation of these people.
It is definitely a very grim story involving the victims. The author is pretty graphic in his depiction of their sufferings---especially from thirst. At times it was hard for me to keep reading because it was so hard to read about what was happening to the people.
Hector's stories about his past portray what life is like for the common person in Mexico--especially for the poor people, the peasants. They also provide many details into the culture and traditions of the Zapotec people to which he belongs. I found that part fascinating which helped me to continue through the narration of the victims' sufferings.
As a few other reviewers mentioned, it definitely wasn't plausible that a cell phone battery would continue to last 4 days with it being used for long recordings. However, that didn't bother me. There were also several Spanish words used but most of them I could figure out by the context and if not, I looked them up in the Google dictionary. This novel was a slow read for me because I didn't want to miss any words---there was no skimming over sections.
Unfortunately, this story of the plight of these migrants is very realistic. Just last year a truck was discovered in San Antonio with immigrants trapped inside. I wish all the people who are so against the Mexican immigrants would read this book to better understand the desperation of these people.
June 18, 2017
More like 2.5 stars for me.
Audiobook. Reader okay.
While the main premise was intriguing-illegal immigrants trapped in sealed tank truck not knowing someone would come to help, the subsidiary premise recording their plight via the cell phone that would not die was bit unrealistic.
The realities of border crossing are grim. This story could have been one of many where desperate people seeking work and a better life are exploited in their attempt to cross, it just didn't work as well as it could have.
Audiobook. Reader okay.
While the main premise was intriguing-illegal immigrants trapped in sealed tank truck not knowing someone would come to help, the subsidiary premise recording their plight via the cell phone that would not die was bit unrealistic.
The realities of border crossing are grim. This story could have been one of many where desperate people seeking work and a better life are exploited in their attempt to cross, it just didn't work as well as it could have.
June 19, 2017
it was great in parts...I loved how real the enclosed space and despair felt. I loved the stories with his father's and grandparents.
But...there were a lot of points where the story stalled and got very repetitive. Also...the long story regarding GMOs felt really forced and preachy. This novel didn't feel like the right medium for that arc.
But...there were a lot of points where the story stalled and got very repetitive. Also...the long story regarding GMOs felt really forced and preachy. This novel didn't feel like the right medium for that arc.
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