Book Review: Just Another Story by Ernesto Saade

Publisher’s description

“This is the story of Carlos and Elena, the story of thousands, the story of my country . . . This is just another story.”

When Carlos was nineteen years old, his mother decided to leave her life in El Salvador for a new start in the United States. Reluctant to follow, but unwilling to let his mother go without him, Carlos joined her on the journey north. During their trip through Mexico and into the US, they experienced the risks and fears countless people from Central American countries have faced while migrating to different lands. Ten years later, Carlos shared these memories with his cousin, cartoonist Ernesto Saade. The result of their conversation is Just Another Story: A Graphic Migration Account. This stirring and thoughtful graphic work goes beyond headlines and statistics to provide a powerful individual account of migration.

“Until now, the story of Carlos was diluted between thousands and thousands of similar stories (or infinitely worse ones). However, this doesn’t detract from his story or anyone else’s. They’re not numbers or statistics but individuals whose lives are a reflection of serious problems in the region. This is the story of Carlos and Elena, the story of thousands, the story of my country . . . This is just another story.”

Amanda’s thoughts

I like my job. Outside of how germ-ridden little kids are, which I obviously was fully aware of going in, I don’t have any complaints. So if I’m reading a good book on my break and just really am annoyed at all the noises of learning going on in the background and all around me or am annoyed to have to put my book away and break up my reading, I know it’s a good book. And this was a good book.

The brilliance here is that Carlos’s story is, of course, just one of the countless stories of migration out there. It is just another story in the almost impossible to imagine number of stories that there are of the harrowing journey people take to come to the United States. And every story is different. And every story is important. And the reason that Carlos says, as he tells Ernesto about the journey he and his mother took from El Salvador to the US, that no one would want to read about this trek, that it’s just another story, is that this story of migration is commonplace. To him it felt sort of unremarkable. And it’s in keeping in mind how this is just one of many, many stories like that this that adds a layer of significance to this powerful memoir.

The story is told to Saade as he and his cousin Carlos travel from the Los Angeles airport to Carlos’s home a few hours away. Saade, fresh off the plane from El Salvador, remarks how comfortable the trip was, which made him wonder about the trip Carlos and his mother had to take to get here. Carlos has never really talked about it much. Teenage Carlos and his mother, Elena, paid coyotes to help them cross into the United States. They were told that the trip would be kind of like a vacation. As you might guess, it was nothing at all like a vacation. In fact, as you again might guess, it was a pretty awful journey.

We go back and forth in time, seeing Ernesto and Carlos traveling together to Carlos’s home in California, meeting up with family, sitting at the table together as this memory unfolds. The bulk of the story is of the trek from El Salvador to their new home. The great illustrations add so much depth to Carlos’s story and convey the emotions he and his mother went through as they traveled. A powerful and important read.

Review copy (ARC) courtesy of the publisher

ISBN-13: 9798765623367
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Publication date: 04/02/2024
Age Range: 13-18

Filed under: Book Reviews