Narrated by Ladydi, this is an incredibly vivid portrayal of life in a small village in Mexico. Where some of the other books in this genre illustrate their culture with food and music, life in Prayers by the Stolen seems defined by the physical landscape, the bugs, the jungle. There’s a lovely scene where Ladydi is thinking about the African children she sees on television, with flies eating the children’s tears and thinks about how a mother’s job is to brush the flies away from her children’s tears.
How this relates to immigration is that Ladydi’s father left for “over there” and that is all they refer to it as. It’s an everyday part of their lives, but not seen as a great accomplishment. Their community is mostly women, because the men have all gone “over there”--some who visit and send money home, some who acquire whole new families (such as Ladydi’s father).
It’s a fascinating story--beautifully and sparely told. Plus, I also love that the cover and the images are designed by Hispanic women artists. Yay! Jennifer Clement was born in Connecticut but moved to Mexico when she was just one. She lives in Mexico City and is the president of PEN Mexico.