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My Name Is Iris
Brando Skyhorse, the PEN/Hemingway Award—winning author of The Madonnas of Echo Park, returns with a riveting literary dystopian novel set in a near-future America where mandatory identification wristbands make second-generation immigrants into second-class citizens—a powerful family saga for readers of Mohsin Hamid's Exit West and Rumaan Alam's Leave the World Behind.
Iris Prince is starting over. After years of drifting apart, she and her husband are going through a surprisingly drama-free divorce. She's moved to a new house in a new neighborhood, and has plans for gardening, coffee clubs, and spending more time with her nine-year-old daughter Melanie. It feels like her life is finally exactly what she wants it to be.
Then, one beautiful morning, she looks outside her kitchen window—and sees that a wall has appeared in her front yard overnight. Where did it come from? What does it mean? And why does it seem to keep growing?
Meanwhile, a Silicon Valley startup has launched a high-tech wrist wearable called "the Band." Pitched as a convenient, eco-friendly tool to help track local utilities and replace driver's licenses and IDs, the Band is available only to those who can prove parental citizenship. Suddenly, Iris, a proud second-generation Mexican-American, is now of "unverifiable origin," unable to prove who she is, or where she, and her undocumented loved ones, belong. Amid a climate of fear and hate-fueled violence, Iris must confront how far she'll go to protect what matters to her most.
My Name Is Iris is an all-too-possible story about family, intolerance, and hope, offering a brilliant and timely look at one woman's journey to discover who she can't—and can—be.
Iris Prince is starting over. After years of drifting apart, she and her husband are going through a surprisingly drama-free divorce. She's moved to a new house in a new neighborhood, and has plans for gardening, coffee clubs, and spending more time with her nine-year-old daughter Melanie. It feels like her life is finally exactly what she wants it to be.
Then, one beautiful morning, she looks outside her kitchen window—and sees that a wall has appeared in her front yard overnight. Where did it come from? What does it mean? And why does it seem to keep growing?
Meanwhile, a Silicon Valley startup has launched a high-tech wrist wearable called "the Band." Pitched as a convenient, eco-friendly tool to help track local utilities and replace driver's licenses and IDs, the Band is available only to those who can prove parental citizenship. Suddenly, Iris, a proud second-generation Mexican-American, is now of "unverifiable origin," unable to prove who she is, or where she, and her undocumented loved ones, belong. Amid a climate of fear and hate-fueled violence, Iris must confront how far she'll go to protect what matters to her most.
My Name Is Iris is an all-too-possible story about family, intolerance, and hope, offering a brilliant and timely look at one woman's journey to discover who she can't—and can—be.
257 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 2023
128 people are currently reading
21159 people want to read
About the author
Brando Skyhorse
6 books238 followersBrando Skyhorse is the author of the memoir "Take This Man" to be published by Simon and Schuster on June 3rd, 2014.
Brando Skyhorse’s debut novel, The Madonnas of Echo Park, received the 2011 Pen/Hemingway Award and the Sue Kaufman Award for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. The book was also a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick. He has been awarded fellowships at Ucross and Can Serrat, Spain. Skyhorse is a graduate of Stanford University and the MFA Writers’ Workshop program at UC Irvine. He is the 2014 Jenny McKean Moore Writer-In-Washington at George Washington University.
Find out more at brandoskyhorse.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 231 reviews
September 3, 2023
My Name Is Iris by Brando Skyhorse is a Speculative and Dystopian Fiction Story with Touches of Magical Realism!
In the near-future United States, the government is launching a new wrist band to replace driver's licenses and IDs for all who can prove parental citizenship.
Iris Prince is newly separated from her husband, Alex and happily living the American dream life of a single mother to their nine-year-old daughter, Melanie. New life. New house. New dream.
Unfortunately Iris's parents are undocumented Mexican immigrants and as a second-generation Mexican-American, Iris is now considered to be of "unverifiable origin".
Iris's dream is quickly turning into the nightmare she never saw coming...
My Name Is Iris has an interesting premise. What doesn't work for me are certain aspects of both the writing style and the storytelling.
Character development is lacking enough that I feel disconnected from all the characters. Although Iris seems fully developed, she is not a likable character. Her thoughts don't stay on topic, instead she veers off into superfluous territory chapter after chapter. It's giving the story and writing a repetitive feel and that's never good.
The topic of this story is serious, yet the author creates a main character, such as Iris, who resembles a caricature. This seems like an intentional decision that is lost on me as a reader.
The amount of Spanish in this book, mainly in the form of dialogue, is cumbersome for someone who is not bilingual. I toughed it out using google to translate for a good long time. I stopped at the 70% mark because it was taking a ridiculous amount of time to read this 274 page book. Is twelve days too long, I ask you?
A key piece missing from this story is "emotion". There's angry dialogue between family members and rants from Iris but I was hoping for something more palpable. I was looking for the kind of "emotion" that erupts, glues you to the story, tears your insides out, and has you ripping through to the end. None of that is here.
I read a fair number of Speculative and Dystopia Fiction books and this story feels predictable to me, lacking originality overall. With that said, the "Wall" and the Magical Realism within this story is creative and my favorite part. Sadly, it's not enough to hold this story together for me.
I'm glad this author has a strong following with many positive reviews and high ratings for this book. I wanted to enjoy My Name Is Iris more and honestly, I was looking for something uniquely different and expected a more intense reading experience from this author than I had.
2.5⭐rounded up for the creative Magical Realism!
Thank you to Simon & Schuster, Avid Reader Press, and Brando Skyhorse for a physical ARC of this book through Shelf Awareness GLOW. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.
In the near-future United States, the government is launching a new wrist band to replace driver's licenses and IDs for all who can prove parental citizenship.
Iris Prince is newly separated from her husband, Alex and happily living the American dream life of a single mother to their nine-year-old daughter, Melanie. New life. New house. New dream.
Unfortunately Iris's parents are undocumented Mexican immigrants and as a second-generation Mexican-American, Iris is now considered to be of "unverifiable origin".
Iris's dream is quickly turning into the nightmare she never saw coming...
My Name Is Iris has an interesting premise. What doesn't work for me are certain aspects of both the writing style and the storytelling.
Character development is lacking enough that I feel disconnected from all the characters. Although Iris seems fully developed, she is not a likable character. Her thoughts don't stay on topic, instead she veers off into superfluous territory chapter after chapter. It's giving the story and writing a repetitive feel and that's never good.
The topic of this story is serious, yet the author creates a main character, such as Iris, who resembles a caricature. This seems like an intentional decision that is lost on me as a reader.
The amount of Spanish in this book, mainly in the form of dialogue, is cumbersome for someone who is not bilingual. I toughed it out using google to translate for a good long time. I stopped at the 70% mark because it was taking a ridiculous amount of time to read this 274 page book. Is twelve days too long, I ask you?
A key piece missing from this story is "emotion". There's angry dialogue between family members and rants from Iris but I was hoping for something more palpable. I was looking for the kind of "emotion" that erupts, glues you to the story, tears your insides out, and has you ripping through to the end. None of that is here.
I read a fair number of Speculative and Dystopia Fiction books and this story feels predictable to me, lacking originality overall. With that said, the "Wall" and the Magical Realism within this story is creative and my favorite part. Sadly, it's not enough to hold this story together for me.
I'm glad this author has a strong following with many positive reviews and high ratings for this book. I wanted to enjoy My Name Is Iris more and honestly, I was looking for something uniquely different and expected a more intense reading experience from this author than I had.
2.5⭐rounded up for the creative Magical Realism!
Thank you to Simon & Schuster, Avid Reader Press, and Brando Skyhorse for a physical ARC of this book through Shelf Awareness GLOW. It has been an honor to give my honest and voluntary review.
July 25, 2023
The corrosive lies start right in the title of Brando Skyhorse’s new novel: “My Name Is Iris.”
“I was born Inés,” the narrator confesses, but a 7th-grade teacher kept stumbling over her name and finally gave her a new one.
“Now even my parents call me Iris, proud of the fact that someone in America was thoughtful enough to give me an American name.”
That’s not the most painful line in this ominous social satire, but it’s a good start.
On the rapidly expanding shelf of dystopian novels, “My Name Is Iris” offers a sharp vision of how racism gets imbibed by its victims like a sweet poison. In Skyhorse’s telling, America’s melting-pot myth is a narcotic that promises inclusion but induces self-harm.
That theme is clearly adjacent to Skyhorse’s 2014 memoir, “Take This Man.” As a child, Skyhorse’s Mexican mother convinced him they were Native Americans. By the time he became a teenager, he realized that wasn’t true. Years of reflection about who he really is followed.
With “My Name Is Iris,” Skyhorse takes the classic immigrant success story and ferments it in MAGA hysteria. His heroine has been raised in the United States by Mexican-born parents determined to give her every advantage of their adopted land. Iris is constantly admonished to work hard, follow the rules and never speak. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
“I was born Inés,” the narrator confesses, but a 7th-grade teacher kept stumbling over her name and finally gave her a new one.
“Now even my parents call me Iris, proud of the fact that someone in America was thoughtful enough to give me an American name.”
That’s not the most painful line in this ominous social satire, but it’s a good start.
On the rapidly expanding shelf of dystopian novels, “My Name Is Iris” offers a sharp vision of how racism gets imbibed by its victims like a sweet poison. In Skyhorse’s telling, America’s melting-pot myth is a narcotic that promises inclusion but induces self-harm.
That theme is clearly adjacent to Skyhorse’s 2014 memoir, “Take This Man.” As a child, Skyhorse’s Mexican mother convinced him they were Native Americans. By the time he became a teenager, he realized that wasn’t true. Years of reflection about who he really is followed.
With “My Name Is Iris,” Skyhorse takes the classic immigrant success story and ferments it in MAGA hysteria. His heroine has been raised in the United States by Mexican-born parents determined to give her every advantage of their adopted land. Iris is constantly admonished to work hard, follow the rules and never speak. . . .
To read the rest of this review, go to The Washington Post:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/...
May 10, 2023
This story begins in an America that is speculative and dystopian but chillingly familiar. Mexican Americans born here, but whose parents were undocumented immigrants, are now considered second class citizens, and soon won't be able to participate in most jobs, entertainment, housing, and the things that make a comfortable life accessible. I say familiar, because in the former guy’s administration, it was suggested that offspring of undocumented parents should be sent back to their parent’s native country (if it is a developing country). Brando Skyhorse depicts Iris, the protagonist, with astonishing credibility; his first-person narration deftly evokes the voice of a Latina woman born and raised in America, struggling to adapt to new policies. It could be anywhere USA, as the city is fictional (but resembles California). With vivid brushstrokes of magical realism, Skyhorse manifests the fears and fate of a strong and independent woman restricted from achieving her goals.
Iris is happily separated from her husband and aiming for a new life in a gentrified neighborhood with Melanie, her comely nine-year-old daughter. The government now demands that those eligible must attain a wristband that scans electronically to prove your citizenry. If your parents don’t have citizenship, you can’t receive a band. As the novel progresses, I felt more and more outraged and haunted by reminders of the past, what my relatives went through as Jews in Russia, Western Europe, and, to a lesser degree, in the United States. Moreover, it invokes how Black people were ostracized and separated from white folks before civil rights legislation. Wearing a signifier, or refused one by the government, sends a bigoted message, the opposite of what Lady Liberty espoused. Skyhorse doesn’t preach his story, he makes you think about the changing political climate within the framework of an exciting dystopian thriller.
As the story moves forward, it builds with terror and dread. A wall appears in front of Iris’ house, and continues to expand by the day. The wall composite alters over time, with peculiar and horrifying results. Iris is puzzled that others don’t seem to see it, other than her and Mel. In the meantime, Iris’ sister and parents are trying to adapt in different ways than Iris, but the outcome is potentially frightening for the entire family—to be ostracized from the country they call home. Day by day, their rights are squeezed from their lives. The government, as well as social media, are fueled with threats and hysteria mounted against the “unbanded.” The pace quickens and the story intensifies to a pulse-pounding nail-biter in the last 60 pages or so.
The prose also alternates to Spanish periodically, sometimes whole passages. My two years of Spanish at university came in handy, but some readers may need an app or Google to translate. I expect some folks to complain or get frustrated, but asking myself why Skyhorse wrote it this way led to a deeper understanding of the story’s themes. The question of belonging is pivotally examined; eventually, Iris grasps that safety is the highest concern for her loved ones. What matters most for a family under threat of exile (and violence) becomes urgent and decisive. The finale is ripe for discussion.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster and Avid Press for sending me an ARC to review.
Iris is happily separated from her husband and aiming for a new life in a gentrified neighborhood with Melanie, her comely nine-year-old daughter. The government now demands that those eligible must attain a wristband that scans electronically to prove your citizenry. If your parents don’t have citizenship, you can’t receive a band. As the novel progresses, I felt more and more outraged and haunted by reminders of the past, what my relatives went through as Jews in Russia, Western Europe, and, to a lesser degree, in the United States. Moreover, it invokes how Black people were ostracized and separated from white folks before civil rights legislation. Wearing a signifier, or refused one by the government, sends a bigoted message, the opposite of what Lady Liberty espoused. Skyhorse doesn’t preach his story, he makes you think about the changing political climate within the framework of an exciting dystopian thriller.
As the story moves forward, it builds with terror and dread. A wall appears in front of Iris’ house, and continues to expand by the day. The wall composite alters over time, with peculiar and horrifying results. Iris is puzzled that others don’t seem to see it, other than her and Mel. In the meantime, Iris’ sister and parents are trying to adapt in different ways than Iris, but the outcome is potentially frightening for the entire family—to be ostracized from the country they call home. Day by day, their rights are squeezed from their lives. The government, as well as social media, are fueled with threats and hysteria mounted against the “unbanded.” The pace quickens and the story intensifies to a pulse-pounding nail-biter in the last 60 pages or so.
The prose also alternates to Spanish periodically, sometimes whole passages. My two years of Spanish at university came in handy, but some readers may need an app or Google to translate. I expect some folks to complain or get frustrated, but asking myself why Skyhorse wrote it this way led to a deeper understanding of the story’s themes. The question of belonging is pivotally examined; eventually, Iris grasps that safety is the highest concern for her loved ones. What matters most for a family under threat of exile (and violence) becomes urgent and decisive. The finale is ripe for discussion.
Thank you to Simon and Schuster and Avid Press for sending me an ARC to review.
July 20, 2024
Happy PUB WEEK 🥳 August 1 2023!
Full review on my blog!
Thank you to the author Brando Skyhorse, Avid Reader Press and Simon and Schuster, and as always NetGalley, for an advance digital copy of MY NAME IS IRIS. Thank you also to TLC Book Tours for having me on this tour and arranging for my physical and digital copies. All opinions are mine.
This book is the story of Iris Prince. She attempts to pull her family, who immigrated to the US or who are second generation USians, together through their own struggles while resisting racism in their city to varying degrees of intensity, everywhere they go. These repeated experiences of exclusion seem to collect in force and lead up to the ending, which is equal in intensity and opposite in tone and internal logic to this long journey.
...
There are also the Bands, compulsory digital watches all US citizens must wear, which are violent and horrible, and again, show up out of the blue and impact the protagonist and other characters close to the protagonist in a brief and significant way.
The ending is magical realism at its symbolic finest. It perfectly ties off this braided story about family, racism, and belonging.
Rating: ⌚️⌚️⌚️⌚️ / 5 Bands
Recommend? Yes
Finished: July 17 2023
Format: Advance Digital Copy, NetGalley; Hardback, TLC Book Tours
Read this if you like:
🦄 Magical realism
🟰 Social justice
👨👩👧👧 Family stories
🛰 Dystopian
👧🏽 Strong female characters
Full review on my blog!
Thank you to the author Brando Skyhorse, Avid Reader Press and Simon and Schuster, and as always NetGalley, for an advance digital copy of MY NAME IS IRIS. Thank you also to TLC Book Tours for having me on this tour and arranging for my physical and digital copies. All opinions are mine.
This book is the story of Iris Prince. She attempts to pull her family, who immigrated to the US or who are second generation USians, together through their own struggles while resisting racism in their city to varying degrees of intensity, everywhere they go. These repeated experiences of exclusion seem to collect in force and lead up to the ending, which is equal in intensity and opposite in tone and internal logic to this long journey.
...
There are also the Bands, compulsory digital watches all US citizens must wear, which are violent and horrible, and again, show up out of the blue and impact the protagonist and other characters close to the protagonist in a brief and significant way.
The ending is magical realism at its symbolic finest. It perfectly ties off this braided story about family, racism, and belonging.
Rating: ⌚️⌚️⌚️⌚️ / 5 Bands
Recommend? Yes
Finished: July 17 2023
Format: Advance Digital Copy, NetGalley; Hardback, TLC Book Tours
Read this if you like:
🦄 Magical realism
🟰 Social justice
👨👩👧👧 Family stories
🛰 Dystopian
👧🏽 Strong female characters
July 8, 2023
there was a lot of potential for this book. i really enjoyed the general premise, but i think it could have been much better executed as either a short story or a more fleshed out version of what it currently is.
July 2, 2023
I would honestly recommend this book to anyone and everyone! It is original, engaging, complex, and very important. It delivers a biting but nuanced social commentary without being too heavy-handed. It is also rare to read a book written by a man that so authentically captures woman's voice and what it means to be a woman in America. My only critique is that I had hoped for a slightly more satisfying ending, but that really comes down to personal preference. The writing was great, really captivating visuals. It's a fast read but it definitely leaves an impact.
dnf
August 30, 2023DNF @ 35%
I want to clarify that I’m purely DNFing this momentarily until there is a solid amount of time for me to dedicate to truly understanding the story. There’s a lot of non-translated Spanish dialogue and I want to be respectful of the point it enforces and encourage myself to read this when I can put in a lot more effort into translating it. I also need to be in a stable enough emotional state to be able to digest all of the difficult truths this story communicates, which I currently am not.
I want to clarify that I’m purely DNFing this momentarily until there is a solid amount of time for me to dedicate to truly understanding the story. There’s a lot of non-translated Spanish dialogue and I want to be respectful of the point it enforces and encourage myself to read this when I can put in a lot more effort into translating it. I also need to be in a stable enough emotional state to be able to digest all of the difficult truths this story communicates, which I currently am not.
September 7, 2023
WHY ISN’T EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT THIS BOOK?!
Set in an all-too-real dystopian future in an unnamed border state, this absolutely chilling book explores the dark side of America and the horrific effects of racist immigration policies. Chilling because so many of the terrible events in this fictional book are very real.
Our main character Iris is a second-generation Mexican-American who has always prided herself on being a rule-follower. Even though her name is based on a lie, she uses it proudly:
“𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘐𝘯𝘦́𝘴,” she admits, but it was actually because a teacher couldn’t pronounce her name. “𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘐𝘳𝘪𝘴, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦.”
Iris and her young daughter Melanie move into a new home in a suburb where Iris marvels at the neat and orderly neighborhood. Except that soon a wall begins to rise around Iris’s home, gleaming yet covered in broken glass. And no one else can see it.
Soon, a new identification system provides all “legitimate” citizens with a handy wristband. The government touts it as protecting the environment in a propaganda campaign designed to instill fear and suspicion among Americans. This does not seem very far-fetched at all which makes this novel all the more terrifying. All of Iris’s past attempts to conform will not help her now.
This terrifying thriller blends elements of satire and magical realism into a story that is both heartbreaking and inspiring all at once. A must-read!
Set in an all-too-real dystopian future in an unnamed border state, this absolutely chilling book explores the dark side of America and the horrific effects of racist immigration policies. Chilling because so many of the terrible events in this fictional book are very real.
Our main character Iris is a second-generation Mexican-American who has always prided herself on being a rule-follower. Even though her name is based on a lie, she uses it proudly:
“𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘳𝘯 𝘐𝘯𝘦́𝘴,” she admits, but it was actually because a teacher couldn’t pronounce her name. “𝘕𝘰𝘸 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘐𝘳𝘪𝘴, 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦.”
Iris and her young daughter Melanie move into a new home in a suburb where Iris marvels at the neat and orderly neighborhood. Except that soon a wall begins to rise around Iris’s home, gleaming yet covered in broken glass. And no one else can see it.
Soon, a new identification system provides all “legitimate” citizens with a handy wristband. The government touts it as protecting the environment in a propaganda campaign designed to instill fear and suspicion among Americans. This does not seem very far-fetched at all which makes this novel all the more terrifying. All of Iris’s past attempts to conform will not help her now.
This terrifying thriller blends elements of satire and magical realism into a story that is both heartbreaking and inspiring all at once. A must-read!
Read
January 15, 2024Thanks so much to S&S for my finished copy! This was an interesting study on border, security, identity, and what I like to call the Latinos for Trump mentality. It bordered on satire at times, but it felt like all the ideas were set-up and either rushed or mainly left unresolved in a disatisfying way at the end.
July 2, 2023
I couldn't get into this book. I tried to get into it and I read almost 100 pages before I had to stop. I really struggle to get into books sometimes and this one felt very slow. It was a lot of background and an almost unnecessary build-up. The main character's inner monologue was dry and repetitive.
May 10, 2023
Very engaging novel that everyone can relate to in one way or another. The author told the story in a way that outlined issues common in today's world without the feeling of reading a documentary.
December 18, 2023
Wow this book was a fascinating concept, and also a very scary future of what our country could look like. This dystopian novel revolves around Iris a Mexican-American woman, and her navigating america as new technology begins to prohibit her from engaging in all areas of society. Overall a very scary picture of what america could look like one day.
September 21, 2024
I thought this would be a sci-fi dystopia first and literary fiction second, but it was very much a literary fiction book about race with a sprinkle of magical realism. It is still dystopia, but it takes forever to get there and the dystopian bits are mostly a way to reinforce the race discussion (translation: there's no action in this book) (which is great, but not what I expected, I guess, it was so slow).
I do want to comment that Skyhorse made the decision to add quite a bit of Spanish in this book and none of it is translated (I think maybe one sentence and one word are translated). This is obv fine to me, but I can see people who don't speak Spanish not enjoying it. It reminded me of How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang which did the same with Chinese.
Review to come later when I have the mental juice for it.
I do want to comment that Skyhorse made the decision to add quite a bit of Spanish in this book and none of it is translated (I think maybe one sentence and one word are translated). This is obv fine to me, but I can see people who don't speak Spanish not enjoying it. It reminded me of How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang which did the same with Chinese.
Review to come later when I have the mental juice for it.
May 23, 2023
Thanks to Simon & Schuster for the ARC!
Holy heavy-handed tropes! I got what the author wanted to get across, but did he need to slam my face into the ground with it?? The wall premise seemed cool, but the bands made no sense. Most of the characters came off as obnoxious, and I could not see any of this playing out in California in real life.
There was also so much Spanish mixed in without context clues, that I felt like I missed significant parts of the book. Unimpressed with this book beyond its cool cover art.
Holy heavy-handed tropes! I got what the author wanted to get across, but did he need to slam my face into the ground with it?? The wall premise seemed cool, but the bands made no sense. Most of the characters came off as obnoxious, and I could not see any of this playing out in California in real life.
There was also so much Spanish mixed in without context clues, that I felt like I missed significant parts of the book. Unimpressed with this book beyond its cool cover art.
August 30, 2023
✨𝗕𝗢𝗢𝗞 𝗦𝗣𝗢𝗧𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧 & 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 ✨
Brando Skyhorse’s novel 𝗠𝘆 𝗡𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗜𝘀 𝗜𝗿𝗶𝘀 questions not only the idea of identity and belonging, but perceptions, assumptions, and biases about identity that we attempt to hide from each other. What the author so slyly accomplishes here is that he sets up the novel in a dystopian future where second-generation citizens of “unverifiable origin or birth” or the undocumented are unable to prove that they are Americans during a time when present-day readers know all too well how MAGA-influenced rhetoric and violence promotes fear and hatred towards immigrants. The book doesn’t feel like fiction because the scenes played out are too familiar and eerily jarring and racist. However, there are other elements of science fiction in the novel that may keep the reader guessing. Nonetheless, the main character Iris Prince, a second-generation Mexican-American, finds out how quickly she becomes “othered” when she can’t receive a band.
Disguised as a way to make life easy for Americans, “The Band” is nothing more than a way to regulate who belongs in America. The government now demands that those eligible must attain a wristband that scans electronically to prove your citizenry. If your parents lack American citizenship, then you don’t qualify. The author shows us a near future that is working to exile a group of people and separate children from mothers without any regard. It is heartless and cruel. But we’ve seen this before in America. Skyhorse is critiquing a government that can make such policies permanent fixtures. Having the “Band” means order and structure for the government, but it also means order and structure without certain types of people, mainly Brown and Black undocumented. Iris knows that is breaking a rule and out of order.
What's so compelling for me is that I nearly forgot that Skyhorse was writing in a woman’s voice. Iris is on a journey to not only providing safety to her herself and daughter but also for her parents and sister. He creates a bold, independent, and fearless woman that welcomes a challenge in spite of everything that was thrown in her way: xenophobia, racism, bigotry, hatred, and profiling.
The MAGA-themed racism and violence, microagressions, and police infractions angered me, but I knew it was supposed to. If it doesn’t anger you, then it likely says more about your politics about immigrants and POC. I enjoyed the book and the way the women fought for their beliefs. I didn’t quite understand “the wall” metaphor that much.
Overall, I recommend the book and think it’s a good read. Thank you @tlcbooktours and @avidreaderpress for this gifted copy!
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Brando Skyhorse’s novel 𝗠𝘆 𝗡𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗜𝘀 𝗜𝗿𝗶𝘀 questions not only the idea of identity and belonging, but perceptions, assumptions, and biases about identity that we attempt to hide from each other. What the author so slyly accomplishes here is that he sets up the novel in a dystopian future where second-generation citizens of “unverifiable origin or birth” or the undocumented are unable to prove that they are Americans during a time when present-day readers know all too well how MAGA-influenced rhetoric and violence promotes fear and hatred towards immigrants. The book doesn’t feel like fiction because the scenes played out are too familiar and eerily jarring and racist. However, there are other elements of science fiction in the novel that may keep the reader guessing. Nonetheless, the main character Iris Prince, a second-generation Mexican-American, finds out how quickly she becomes “othered” when she can’t receive a band.
Disguised as a way to make life easy for Americans, “The Band” is nothing more than a way to regulate who belongs in America. The government now demands that those eligible must attain a wristband that scans electronically to prove your citizenry. If your parents lack American citizenship, then you don’t qualify. The author shows us a near future that is working to exile a group of people and separate children from mothers without any regard. It is heartless and cruel. But we’ve seen this before in America. Skyhorse is critiquing a government that can make such policies permanent fixtures. Having the “Band” means order and structure for the government, but it also means order and structure without certain types of people, mainly Brown and Black undocumented. Iris knows that is breaking a rule and out of order.
What's so compelling for me is that I nearly forgot that Skyhorse was writing in a woman’s voice. Iris is on a journey to not only providing safety to her herself and daughter but also for her parents and sister. He creates a bold, independent, and fearless woman that welcomes a challenge in spite of everything that was thrown in her way: xenophobia, racism, bigotry, hatred, and profiling.
The MAGA-themed racism and violence, microagressions, and police infractions angered me, but I knew it was supposed to. If it doesn’t anger you, then it likely says more about your politics about immigrants and POC. I enjoyed the book and the way the women fought for their beliefs. I didn’t quite understand “the wall” metaphor that much.
Overall, I recommend the book and think it’s a good read. Thank you @tlcbooktours and @avidreaderpress for this gifted copy!
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
July 20, 2023
An amazing book until the ending. 🤷🏽♂️
March 24, 2024
This book has complex points of views on motherhood during separation, being a first generation immigrant and not knowing how to fit in any of the worlds that you must navigate (the one your parents came from and the one where you were taught to assimilate), how to respond to a world where the rules don't make sense anymore because they're not helping those that they should be.
Iris was born Inez, but her teachers could not pronounce her name so they gave her a new one. Her mother, having come to America, has taught her that if she followed the rules and didn't stick her head up and got better grades than her classmates, then it would all turn out alright.
But society changes and rules do too. Once there as guidelines to protect us, tomorrow they can just as easily be used against us.
Iris aspires to bring up her daughter in a world where she doesn't have to worry about where she plays or who she plays with. She thinks that it will be easy to asimilate there because she is a law abiding citizen who has managed to slip past the invisible barriers that people like her usually have to face, by being non confrontational and faking it till she makes it. What her friends and family are trying to tell her is that she will never be accepted by those people so why try to be like them.
When she moves out of her husband's home and into a secluded neighbourhood, Iris thinks that she has finally found the piece of Heaven that she has been looking for, but not all is what it seems to be. A wall that appears out of nowhere and keeps growing and changing shape and that only she and her daughter can see, the memory of her childhood friend who died in a mass shooting, the changing laws that prevent immigrants from upholding them, navigating the consequences of having decided to separate from her husband while also being the responsible daughter who has to be there for the rest of the family - are all factors that contribute to the anxiety and paranoia which Iris has to live with throughout the story, as they slowly build in intensity.
The character feels real because she has many flaws, one of which I found increasingly irritating. Since she was brought up to be a goody two shoes, she somehow managed to make herself believe that she was not responsible for any of the things happening to her and that the blame ought to be placed somewhere else. Even when she is right, she refuses to believe that something horrible could and should happen to someone like her, who has done everything right her whole life, because she hasn't grown up among her own people, who know better, because they have been taught to face adversity from a very young age and they're not delusional about what the world has to offer them.
Even though I could never relate to the story in any way, I still found it interesting to navigate and even if at sometimes the storytelling seems to be exaggerated to make a point, I'm pretty sure that the story did not deviate that much from what's happening in the world out there. Take it with a grain of salt, but if you think that it could never happen to you or somebody you know, think again.
Iris was born Inez, but her teachers could not pronounce her name so they gave her a new one. Her mother, having come to America, has taught her that if she followed the rules and didn't stick her head up and got better grades than her classmates, then it would all turn out alright.
But society changes and rules do too. Once there as guidelines to protect us, tomorrow they can just as easily be used against us.
Iris aspires to bring up her daughter in a world where she doesn't have to worry about where she plays or who she plays with. She thinks that it will be easy to asimilate there because she is a law abiding citizen who has managed to slip past the invisible barriers that people like her usually have to face, by being non confrontational and faking it till she makes it. What her friends and family are trying to tell her is that she will never be accepted by those people so why try to be like them.
When she moves out of her husband's home and into a secluded neighbourhood, Iris thinks that she has finally found the piece of Heaven that she has been looking for, but not all is what it seems to be. A wall that appears out of nowhere and keeps growing and changing shape and that only she and her daughter can see, the memory of her childhood friend who died in a mass shooting, the changing laws that prevent immigrants from upholding them, navigating the consequences of having decided to separate from her husband while also being the responsible daughter who has to be there for the rest of the family - are all factors that contribute to the anxiety and paranoia which Iris has to live with throughout the story, as they slowly build in intensity.
The character feels real because she has many flaws, one of which I found increasingly irritating. Since she was brought up to be a goody two shoes, she somehow managed to make herself believe that she was not responsible for any of the things happening to her and that the blame ought to be placed somewhere else. Even when she is right, she refuses to believe that something horrible could and should happen to someone like her, who has done everything right her whole life, because she hasn't grown up among her own people, who know better, because they have been taught to face adversity from a very young age and they're not delusional about what the world has to offer them.
Even though I could never relate to the story in any way, I still found it interesting to navigate and even if at sometimes the storytelling seems to be exaggerated to make a point, I'm pretty sure that the story did not deviate that much from what's happening in the world out there. Take it with a grain of salt, but if you think that it could never happen to you or somebody you know, think again.
September 18, 2023
This is a book about identity, and it has a severe identity crisis. It's supposedly satire and speculative fiction. At varying times, it attempts to be a suburban tale of post-divorce survival, a Kafkaesque dystopian novel, a Jordan Peele horror story, and a political commentary.
I loved the premise at the core of the novel: What happens when a daughter of immigrants, having bought into a lifelong illusion that the privilege of whiteness can be earned by strict adherence to societal rules, all of a sudden finds the rules changed out from under her.
The book's biggest failing is the bolted-on magical realism of a wall. Like the black hole that follows the protagonist in Sarah Rose Etter's Ripe, the wall serves largely as a narrative mood ring. When bad things happen, it gets bigger. When things improve it shrinks. In both books, way too many paragraphs are wasted in describing the grotesqueness of said object.
The dystopian element is embodied in the use of electronic identity bands, which become essential passports to do just about anything in society from paying bills to dining out. Again, lots of ink is expended on describing the band's appearance and its feel as it is worn, mostly for setting mood.
As Iris' world starts to close in on her, the chapters become increasingly predictable. The expectation of a nice night out at the restaurant unfolds as a scene of discrimination. The police stop becomes a moment of public humiliation in front of her neighbors. A horrifying scene where undesirables are processed reads like news stories from the Trump-era zero tolerance immigration policies that separated parents from children
Skyhorse wastes an opportunity to explore serious questions about where brutal nativism leads by trotting out increasingly disturbing scenes played out with two-dimensional bureaucrats driven by an invisible, efficient, and invincible evil.
The rapid adoption of the bands suggests that the author's grasp of the mindset that he tries to portray is shallow. Central to ethnic cleansing movements is that the other bears the burden of compliance. It's the outsider who wears the markers of disgrace.
Moreover, the people most receptive to the idea of rounding up undesirables and shipping them off elsewhere have been steeped in decades of paranoid propaganda that brands the use of any kind of token to engage in commerce or participate in society at large is surely the harbinger of a satanic one-world government. After the experience of right wingers figuratively throwing themselves on the floor in response to being told to wear a mask to prevent the spread of disease, what makes the author believe they'd wear a glowing electronic band anywhere?
I attended a talk where the author spoke about this book. When asked how do we get past the problems presented in the novel. He said he didn't have an answer. In a way, this is a problem with the literary community today.
For better or for worse, humans are moved by stories. The most corrosive elements on the political right have been churning out lots of stories, mostly in the form of conspiracy theories, be it QAnon or whatever outrage of the day is being peddled by talk radio and cable news. The stories are awful and are thick with deception, but they plug into existing beliefs and pull their audience effectively into darkening circles of thought with frightening effectiveness. If the best that fiction writers can do is write about inevitable unravelings, then we are screwed. We need better rabbit holes back to reality. We need to explore possible pathways to better.
I loved the premise at the core of the novel: What happens when a daughter of immigrants, having bought into a lifelong illusion that the privilege of whiteness can be earned by strict adherence to societal rules, all of a sudden finds the rules changed out from under her.
The book's biggest failing is the bolted-on magical realism of a wall. Like the black hole that follows the protagonist in Sarah Rose Etter's Ripe, the wall serves largely as a narrative mood ring. When bad things happen, it gets bigger. When things improve it shrinks. In both books, way too many paragraphs are wasted in describing the grotesqueness of said object.
The dystopian element is embodied in the use of electronic identity bands, which become essential passports to do just about anything in society from paying bills to dining out. Again, lots of ink is expended on describing the band's appearance and its feel as it is worn, mostly for setting mood.
As Iris' world starts to close in on her, the chapters become increasingly predictable. The expectation of a nice night out at the restaurant unfolds as a scene of discrimination. The police stop becomes a moment of public humiliation in front of her neighbors. A horrifying scene where undesirables are processed reads like news stories from the Trump-era zero tolerance immigration policies that separated parents from children
Skyhorse wastes an opportunity to explore serious questions about where brutal nativism leads by trotting out increasingly disturbing scenes played out with two-dimensional bureaucrats driven by an invisible, efficient, and invincible evil.
The rapid adoption of the bands suggests that the author's grasp of the mindset that he tries to portray is shallow. Central to ethnic cleansing movements is that the other bears the burden of compliance. It's the outsider who wears the markers of disgrace.
Moreover, the people most receptive to the idea of rounding up undesirables and shipping them off elsewhere have been steeped in decades of paranoid propaganda that brands the use of any kind of token to engage in commerce or participate in society at large is surely the harbinger of a satanic one-world government. After the experience of right wingers figuratively throwing themselves on the floor in response to being told to wear a mask to prevent the spread of disease, what makes the author believe they'd wear a glowing electronic band anywhere?
I attended a talk where the author spoke about this book. When asked how do we get past the problems presented in the novel. He said he didn't have an answer. In a way, this is a problem with the literary community today.
For better or for worse, humans are moved by stories. The most corrosive elements on the political right have been churning out lots of stories, mostly in the form of conspiracy theories, be it QAnon or whatever outrage of the day is being peddled by talk radio and cable news. The stories are awful and are thick with deception, but they plug into existing beliefs and pull their audience effectively into darkening circles of thought with frightening effectiveness. If the best that fiction writers can do is write about inevitable unravelings, then we are screwed. We need better rabbit holes back to reality. We need to explore possible pathways to better.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 29, 2023
Enjoyed the overall concept of this dystopian storyline.
Good use of characters to explain situations that particularly were difficult for brown skinned people. I thought it was brilliant that main character was in fact that American citizen.
Pretty enjoyable book, especially for someone like me who does not like dystopia.
I recommend
Good use of characters to explain situations that particularly were difficult for brown skinned people. I thought it was brilliant that main character was in fact that American citizen.
Pretty enjoyable book, especially for someone like me who does not like dystopia.
I recommend
February 4, 2024
Interesting combination of satire, support for Latinos, and an exploration of dystopian-police state possibilities. I liked the Spanish conversations.
August 31, 2023
It's fine. A short book that could've been a lot shorter, stretched out with an unnecessary turn toward scary/thriller territory near the end. And I checked the other reviews and since I'm not alone, yeah, there was a lot of untranslated Spanish dialogue in this. Mostly you could breeze past it with context clues, but as someone who isn't bilingual, it can be a little irritating for a scene to suddenly slip into another language and then back out again. I get what the author was aiming for with those scenes, but it did not work at all and only served to act as a wall (hah) between the reader and the characters (who were barely fleshed-out enough to care about anyway).
I'll also say there's one child character who ends 95% of her dialogue with "Fun!" and I've never wanted to duct tape a child's mouth more.
I'll also say there's one child character who ends 95% of her dialogue with "Fun!" and I've never wanted to duct tape a child's mouth more.
June 10, 2023
4.5 stars. Beautifully written.
August 3, 2023
A lot of people will read this and label it as a dystopian future, but so much of this novel is happening NOW. The internalized racism, the crisis of identity, the colonization and use of Americanness to other and be intolerant, and the impact on future generations… ... powerful. Is it the “perfect” book? No. Is this a Mexican-American story? YES. Does it leave out some other marginalized identities in the storytelling? Yes. But it hits on something so core and heartbreaking in our own Mexican-American identity that this book is going to stay with me for a long time.
I listened on audio and the narrator did a FANTASTIC job of building suspense for the 'dystopian' politics . Alejandra (narrator) made Iris believable, vulnerable, frustrating, and relatable.
Also, I've seen some reviews discuss how much Spanish is in this novel without translation and as a second gen mixed Mexican-American who doesn’t speak Spanish all I can say is keep reading. It’s beautiful. I LOVED the addition of Spanish and Spanglish even when I couldn't always catch every bit of the meaning - it didn't change my understanding of the story at all. Totally okay if you want to stop and look up the translation, or, you could just let it flow.
“Nobody hates a Mexican more than a Mexican American.”
I listened on audio and the narrator did a FANTASTIC job of building suspense for the 'dystopian' politics . Alejandra (narrator) made Iris believable, vulnerable, frustrating, and relatable.
Also, I've seen some reviews discuss how much Spanish is in this novel without translation and as a second gen mixed Mexican-American who doesn’t speak Spanish all I can say is keep reading. It’s beautiful. I LOVED the addition of Spanish and Spanglish even when I couldn't always catch every bit of the meaning - it didn't change my understanding of the story at all. Totally okay if you want to stop and look up the translation, or, you could just let it flow.
January 28, 2025
4.5 stars Really interesting combination of speculative fiction and magical realism. The plot centers around a family with immigrant parents who and the way their world is upended when the US requires citizens to wear identity wrist bands, but only some people can get them. It brings out hard truths about people and how they treat their communities. It was a bit of a slow start and I felt that the ending might have been a little lazy, but overall I was captivated.
Update January 2025–this should be updated to 5 stars and it’s important reading for anyone who lives in America today with what’s going on as Trump threatens birthright citizenship.
Update January 2025–this should be updated to 5 stars and it’s important reading for anyone who lives in America today with what’s going on as Trump threatens birthright citizenship.
December 3, 2023
2.5 stars
the message itself was great but unfortunately a lot was too heavy-handed and unbelievable. the entire concept of the bands was interesting but filled with plot holes to the point that i couldn’t enjoy it (pretty much everything about the implementation of the bands didn't make sense). lots of untranslated spanish which was fine as i only had to look up a couple words but i can see how it would be confusing/annoying if you don't know any spanish.
characters: 2
plot: 2
writing: 3
the message itself was great but unfortunately a lot was too heavy-handed and unbelievable. the entire concept of the bands was interesting but filled with plot holes to the point that i couldn’t enjoy it (pretty much everything about the implementation of the bands didn't make sense). lots of untranslated spanish which was fine as i only had to look up a couple words but i can see how it would be confusing/annoying if you don't know any spanish.
characters: 2
plot: 2
writing: 3
October 19, 2023
[True story #1: One summer, the Facebook Group of Romanian immigrants in the Canadian city I was living exploded in anger when the Canadian government announced that it had granted visas to a record high number of immigrants. The group labeled these immigrants "lazy" and "likely fraudulent." I was one of those immigrants, working in a highly qualified job. Everyone in that group was an immigrant. Those new immigrants had done nothing wrong. Their abusers were other immigrants.]
This is a novel that will probably not appeal to people who are not immigrants or do not have immigrant friends and relatives. It's a novel about being blind to your privileges, a novel about how the fear of standing out can make one hate their own relatives and culture. And it is so real. I had to read it slowly because of all the anxiety it gave me.
Because I'm an immigrant. Legal. Tax-payer. And since the mid 2010s I've been terrified every time I get close to a boarder patrol agent. Because it doesn't matter how lawful you are. It doesn't matter that you didn't break the law, or did anything wrong. As an immigrant you don't hold ANY power.
[True story #2: I applied for the American Green card after a boarder patrol agent nearly denied me entrance for a layover flight on a tourist visa; his reason--he thought it was suspicious that I had been married to an American for over 2 years and haven't applied for a Green Card already. We were not living in America at the time, so a Green Card was not necessary, nor can you hold one if you live outside the US for long intervals. I finally got the card, and I had 365 days to enter the country. Any day of the 365 was equally valid. I had 14 days left on the clock when I entered. I was yelled at by a new TSA agent, for not 'having it done sooner.' In both cases I had done nothing wrong. Both yellers were Black men.]
Immigrants to the US or Canada, or even people who just pass through the country have noticed the increased hostility we face at the entrance ports. The color of your skin is likely to protect you: my Mexican friends had a much harder time than I had for e.g. But everyone will participate in the game of putting the immigrant in check--law enforcement is diverse in skin color, but homogeneous in behavior. Power must be exhilarating.
This speculative novel manages to condense in very few words the constantly, aggressively shifting rules, the lack of regard for those rules. The lack of protections. It is terrifyingly close to present day. I hope, through works like these, that we can make other people see the wall that's constantly shading the ground on which immigrants walk. The fear they experience, for no reason. The abuse they experience, for no reason. The constant suspicions we have to lift (always politely), for no reason.
[True story #3: One of my friends, born and raised in Mexico, now a Canadian citizen fully fluent in English, was detained for 2 hours at the American border for having a valid Canadian passport. The agents insisted he must show his Mexican passport. There is no such rule. He was a Canadian citizen, legally crossing borders. His Canadian friends made a fuss and the agent finally let him go after saying in a threatening tone: "Don't do that again." He had done nothing wrong.]
This is a novel that will probably not appeal to people who are not immigrants or do not have immigrant friends and relatives. It's a novel about being blind to your privileges, a novel about how the fear of standing out can make one hate their own relatives and culture. And it is so real. I had to read it slowly because of all the anxiety it gave me.
Because I'm an immigrant. Legal. Tax-payer. And since the mid 2010s I've been terrified every time I get close to a boarder patrol agent. Because it doesn't matter how lawful you are. It doesn't matter that you didn't break the law, or did anything wrong. As an immigrant you don't hold ANY power.
[True story #2: I applied for the American Green card after a boarder patrol agent nearly denied me entrance for a layover flight on a tourist visa; his reason--he thought it was suspicious that I had been married to an American for over 2 years and haven't applied for a Green Card already. We were not living in America at the time, so a Green Card was not necessary, nor can you hold one if you live outside the US for long intervals. I finally got the card, and I had 365 days to enter the country. Any day of the 365 was equally valid. I had 14 days left on the clock when I entered. I was yelled at by a new TSA agent, for not 'having it done sooner.' In both cases I had done nothing wrong. Both yellers were Black men.]
Immigrants to the US or Canada, or even people who just pass through the country have noticed the increased hostility we face at the entrance ports. The color of your skin is likely to protect you: my Mexican friends had a much harder time than I had for e.g. But everyone will participate in the game of putting the immigrant in check--law enforcement is diverse in skin color, but homogeneous in behavior. Power must be exhilarating.
This speculative novel manages to condense in very few words the constantly, aggressively shifting rules, the lack of regard for those rules. The lack of protections. It is terrifyingly close to present day. I hope, through works like these, that we can make other people see the wall that's constantly shading the ground on which immigrants walk. The fear they experience, for no reason. The abuse they experience, for no reason. The constant suspicions we have to lift (always politely), for no reason.
[True story #3: One of my friends, born and raised in Mexico, now a Canadian citizen fully fluent in English, was detained for 2 hours at the American border for having a valid Canadian passport. The agents insisted he must show his Mexican passport. There is no such rule. He was a Canadian citizen, legally crossing borders. His Canadian friends made a fuss and the agent finally let him go after saying in a threatening tone: "Don't do that again." He had done nothing wrong.]
August 4, 2023
Thank you Avid Reader Press for an advance copy, all opinions are my own.
This book pulled me in by the synopsis - it really sounded like a Black Mirror episode. A technology gets introduced into the world that is supposed to make life easier, but instead creates discourse and really creates problems for the minority. In this instance, immigrants and first generation Americans are the ones at a disadvantage, and the "band" just gave people an out to be incredibly racist and rude.
There is also a little sci-fi element to this as well, with a wall appearing in Iris's yard, which changed shape and color but was only seen by her and her kid. That was such a mystery too, I kept waiting for her to do something and have it go away - but instead it just kept getting worse. It really added an eerie feeling to this book, I thought at one point it would enclose her whole house like a dome.
The book even ended like a Black Mirror episode - some vague things happen and then the story just ends, with no real sense of closure or a happy ending. It just is. You can only hope that they will be okay in the end.
Race, racial identity, and racism are huge parts of this book. Iris spent her whole life obeying the rules, thinking if she does nothing wrong she can pass as an American. As being one of two Mexican American women in her workplace, she was often mistaken for her coworker (or they were called the same name, an amalgam of their two names together). In the beginning, before the band, she struggled with "not white enough to be American" but also "not brown enough to be Mexican." And, having a kid with skin lighter than hers, she was constantly asked "where is her real mom."
Outside the main story of the band, the author does talk a lot about being an immigrant, being a first generation American. It is definitely not all sunshine and rainbows! And having the band introduced, where you have to have one American born parent to get, really upped the "otherness" factor that people of color already have. This makes for a very unsettling and scary book, doubly so because this is something people deal with even without a piece of technology really pointing it all.
All in all, this book delivered on exactly what I thought it would be. The story is complex and there is a lot going on, and the author makes it hard to look away. There is an eerie sense throughout the whole book, and the atmosphere was really top notch. This book is more than just a "technology gone wrong" story, there is also talk about racial identity and racism, and fitting in as an "American" in a country that will always see you as other. The story is well written, and I would definitely be interested in reading more of this authors work.
Content warnings: racism, xenophobia, gun violence, child death, mass shootings (mention), divorce, eating disorder
This book pulled me in by the synopsis - it really sounded like a Black Mirror episode. A technology gets introduced into the world that is supposed to make life easier, but instead creates discourse and really creates problems for the minority. In this instance, immigrants and first generation Americans are the ones at a disadvantage, and the "band" just gave people an out to be incredibly racist and rude.
There is also a little sci-fi element to this as well, with a wall appearing in Iris's yard, which changed shape and color but was only seen by her and her kid. That was such a mystery too, I kept waiting for her to do something and have it go away - but instead it just kept getting worse. It really added an eerie feeling to this book, I thought at one point it would enclose her whole house like a dome.
The book even ended like a Black Mirror episode - some vague things happen and then the story just ends, with no real sense of closure or a happy ending. It just is. You can only hope that they will be okay in the end.
Race, racial identity, and racism are huge parts of this book. Iris spent her whole life obeying the rules, thinking if she does nothing wrong she can pass as an American. As being one of two Mexican American women in her workplace, she was often mistaken for her coworker (or they were called the same name, an amalgam of their two names together). In the beginning, before the band, she struggled with "not white enough to be American" but also "not brown enough to be Mexican." And, having a kid with skin lighter than hers, she was constantly asked "where is her real mom."
Outside the main story of the band, the author does talk a lot about being an immigrant, being a first generation American. It is definitely not all sunshine and rainbows! And having the band introduced, where you have to have one American born parent to get, really upped the "otherness" factor that people of color already have. This makes for a very unsettling and scary book, doubly so because this is something people deal with even without a piece of technology really pointing it all.
All in all, this book delivered on exactly what I thought it would be. The story is complex and there is a lot going on, and the author makes it hard to look away. There is an eerie sense throughout the whole book, and the atmosphere was really top notch. This book is more than just a "technology gone wrong" story, there is also talk about racial identity and racism, and fitting in as an "American" in a country that will always see you as other. The story is well written, and I would definitely be interested in reading more of this authors work.
Content warnings: racism, xenophobia, gun violence, child death, mass shootings (mention), divorce, eating disorder
June 30, 2024
It's rare for me to remember the books that I read a year or so after the fact. Brando Skyhorse's The Madonnas of Echo Park, though, made such an impression on me that I've never forgotten it, & have looked up his name every few months since 2011 to see if he was publishing anything new. I lost it last year when I saw he was releasing a dystopian novel, one of my favorite types of book to read!
At first, this was a little hard for me to get into. It took me several days before I felt like I'd made much progress at all. Eventually, though, I found a flow with it & by the second half, I could hardly put it down. Brando Skyhorse is a wonderful writer & I love his prose. I generally can't stand men writing women & usually avoid it, but in this case it was absolutely fine. There's some magical realism here & I'm by no means a fan of that, usually, but here it was used fairly sparingly & wasn't too distracting. There's really no way to get into the plot without giving too much away. This is a chilling & timely novel that covers a myriad of different experiences with empathy & love. My Name is Iris is an utterly unique book & I promise you've probably never read anything like it.
Finally, to everyone who complained about the amount of Spanish in this book, absolute way to prove the book's point. I'm amazed that people rated a book written by a Mexican American man about the experience of a Mexican American family poorly because it contained a few sentences of Spanish on every other page (if that, even), as though only novels published wholly in English should be 4 or 5 stars? What about other readers who can read Spanish -- shouldn't there be books for those folks, too? As someone who almost failed three semesters of Spanish in college (yes, I suck!), it wasn't that challenging to pick up what was happening based on context. The Spanish dialog was significant to the novel, anyway, as it provided insight into the characters, especially Iris, & when they felt they needed to try to "fit in" with different groups, whether Spanish-speaking or English-speaking. Masking was a big part of Iris's character & it was important to see that in action. As things escalate in the story, she turns to Spanish more & more, & it's clear that's no accident. This would not have been the same story had everything been written in English, sorry.
At first, this was a little hard for me to get into. It took me several days before I felt like I'd made much progress at all. Eventually, though, I found a flow with it & by the second half, I could hardly put it down. Brando Skyhorse is a wonderful writer & I love his prose. I generally can't stand men writing women & usually avoid it, but in this case it was absolutely fine. There's some magical realism here & I'm by no means a fan of that, usually, but here it was used fairly sparingly & wasn't too distracting. There's really no way to get into the plot without giving too much away. This is a chilling & timely novel that covers a myriad of different experiences with empathy & love. My Name is Iris is an utterly unique book & I promise you've probably never read anything like it.
Finally, to everyone who complained about the amount of Spanish in this book, absolute way to prove the book's point. I'm amazed that people rated a book written by a Mexican American man about the experience of a Mexican American family poorly because it contained a few sentences of Spanish on every other page (if that, even), as though only novels published wholly in English should be 4 or 5 stars? What about other readers who can read Spanish -- shouldn't there be books for those folks, too? As someone who almost failed three semesters of Spanish in college (yes, I suck!), it wasn't that challenging to pick up what was happening based on context. The Spanish dialog was significant to the novel, anyway, as it provided insight into the characters, especially Iris, & when they felt they needed to try to "fit in" with different groups, whether Spanish-speaking or English-speaking. Masking was a big part of Iris's character & it was important to see that in action. As things escalate in the story, she turns to Spanish more & more, & it's clear that's no accident. This would not have been the same story had everything been written in English, sorry.
January 18, 2024
I'm a bit conflicted on this. Part of me really loved this. The entire book is a fantastic exploration of an alternative reality US where citizen children of undocumented parents are facing a very targeted social stigmatization. This story of first generation children was turned on its head in a very "MAGA" toned way. It was a really compelling story.
My biggest problem is with the MC. She is simultaneously likeable and sympathetic and exceptionally unlikeable, and weirdly hostile yet contrite. I found her voice to be really complex but almost predictably vexing. She wasn't unlikeable enough, nor did her story arc provide enough growth and resolution for me to understand the unlikeability.
I do think this was a powerful story. The blending of speculative elements was well done. This was pitched to fans of Exit West. I would 100% agree with that.
My biggest problem is with the MC. She is simultaneously likeable and sympathetic and exceptionally unlikeable, and weirdly hostile yet contrite. I found her voice to be really complex but almost predictably vexing. She wasn't unlikeable enough, nor did her story arc provide enough growth and resolution for me to understand the unlikeability.
I do think this was a powerful story. The blending of speculative elements was well done. This was pitched to fans of Exit West. I would 100% agree with that.
March 1, 2025
2.5 stars
I'm immediately had to review this book after listening to the audio book. I legit cried out, "That's just bullshit" over and over again.
Wtf was that ending?
I had to listen to it twice to make sure I didn't misunderstand anything. I know Spanish. I feel bad for the non-speaking Spanish people because there wasn't any translation.
The author did a cop out ending.
I'm not really giving spoilers. At least I don't think so.
Anyways...
I was enjoying the book due to our recent political climate. I've met Latinos similar to Iris and her ex-husband. They are the Latinos who vote for Trump and FAFO when policies start to affect them. Insert surprise Pikachu face.
That's why I'm not rating the book lower.
I'm immediately had to review this book after listening to the audio book. I legit cried out, "That's just bullshit" over and over again.
Wtf was that ending?
I had to listen to it twice to make sure I didn't misunderstand anything. I know Spanish. I feel bad for the non-speaking Spanish people because there wasn't any translation.
The author did a cop out ending.
I'm not really giving spoilers. At least I don't think so.
Anyways...
I was enjoying the book due to our recent political climate. I've met Latinos similar to Iris and her ex-husband. They are the Latinos who vote for Trump and FAFO when policies start to affect them. Insert surprise Pikachu face.
That's why I'm not rating the book lower.
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