So there I was thinking I`d quickly rattle off a breathless review of Jeanine Cummins American Dirt...."couldn`t put it down", "fast-paced thriller", "intense", "heart-stopping" etc etc when I was stopped in my tracks, for this novel is not only all of those things but also,apparently, controversial.
I might never have picked it up in the first place if I hadn`t heard an interview with the author on Simon Mayo`s Books of the Year podcast (recommended if only to hear Matt Williams laugh.....) Suffice to say I was hooked the moment I started, despite the brutality of the opening sequence. All the above adjectives apply: I had to resist the temptation on several occasions to check the last page to see what happened but at the same time found I didn`t want it to finish (which had a lot to do with the quality of the writing). I also felt I`d learnt a lot...though it turns out I may not have........
Having finally finished it I went back to the podcast and realised that I`d only half heard it. For it turns out that some people, authors and reviewers mostly from what I can see, objected to American Dirt on the grounds that Cummins wrote a book about Mexican migrants although she is neither Mexican nor a migrant. The ensuing debate got heated, especially once Oprah Winfrey had picked the novel for her book club.
There is plenty online so anyone interested can find out more (starting here is probably as good a place as any: https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/1/22/21075629/american-dirt-controversy-explained-jeanine-cummins-oprah-flatiron) and I recommend listening to the author on the podcast, discussing how she dealt with the storm that blew up around her and the book.
Some folk might take issue with the idea that it`s possible to learn anything from a book written by someone who hasn`t experienced what she`s describing, regardless of how much research was done, but I did find it, as one reviewer put it, "an eye-opener" as well as a page-turner.
So the recommendation stands but maybe read it before investigating the ensuing furore.
