What are some of the different lengths characters go to in this novel in order to protect their families? Did you agree with the choices that they made?

What are some of the different lengths characters go to in this novel in order to protect their families? Did you agree with the choices that they made?

I wish this had been explored more in the book. I would have liked to know more about Daniela's family and how they hid their status as undocumented, how that affected them, etc. This is one of the big flaws of this book to me - there's a lot of potential to dig into these topics, but the author didn't go there, which was disappointing.

The characters hid portraying undocumented in two major ways first and foremost not talking about it even among themselves and second by changing their names and then completely absorbing themselves into the community and gaining respect by owning a hardware store for example. I thought the author did an excellent job in their fears and accomplishments in this absorbing read,

I felt that the author did as good a job with this element as she could have while telling the story from Cadie's perspective. Had she written it from Daniela's perspective I would have expected a higher level of detail of the psychological ramifications of hiding the fact that your family is undocumented, but I do think she did a good job in portraying Cadie's gradual realization of Daniela's family's hardships.

The answer to this question could actually go on for pages and would require remembering more details of the book than I frankly do. Cadie kept much of her teenage activity from her parents, like many teenagers do, in part because she was using a boat that wasn’t hers; she was picking blueberries and selling them, which her parents didn’t know; and she was keeping Daniela’s heavy secret. She especially didn’t want them to know about the Summer Kid because she thought anything she said might put him in danger from his uncle. As an adult, Cadie probably didn’t want her parents to know about her work because she had trespassed on Federal land and put her job at risk. Daniela did whatever she could to keep her family’s background from her daughter so that Sal wouldn’t have that heavy load on her mind. Raul kept a deep, dark secret about his past from as many people as he could, not only because of what he’d lose in the United States as an undocumented person, but also because of his past at home. I can’t imagine how anxious Dolores’s and Raul’s daily lives were, keeping the secret that they were undocumented and could lose everything, including their daughter and granddaughter, if discovered. In related secret-keeping, Dolores went to great lengths to cover over Juan’s murder for fear that they would be blamed, discovered as undocumented, and either sent back or imprisoned. Burying a body is not anything I can even imagine. Garrett, the Summer Kid, became a respected law enforcement officer in part to cover his own crime. I know I’m missing so much more.

Even though I didn't agree with her actions, I felt sorry for Dolores because of the predicament she found herself in, but it was unfair of her to place the burden of that secret upon Cadie, which affected her her whole life and destroyed her friendship with Daniela. However, I understand Dolores' need to protect her family.