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“By bringing such a mix of characters together, Yamashita’s trying to show similarities between them. For example, many characters are immigrants. One of the most striking examples she gives us is a 12-year-old girl from mainland China who arrives on board a ship in Mexico. This character then has to cross the border between Mexico and the United States undocumented, just as many folks from the south do. So her story shows that it’s not just people of Mexican descent or Mexican nationals that are coming to the United States undocumented, but it’s a variety of people from different backgrounds, including people from China. The conditions under which these various people arrive and the reason they come are very similar.” Read more...
Claudia Sadowski-Smith, Literary Scholar
