Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villvicencio

This is the second book by this author that I have read--the first was The Undocumented Americans, a short memoir of the author's time working as a volunteer translator for unaccompanied minors who were applying for asylum. It, like this, is a short work that speaks volumes about what it is to be an undocumented immigrant. It was a finalist for The National Book Award for non-fiction, and this was long listed for the award for Fiction this year. Catalina immigrated to the United States from Ecuador as a child, grew up in Queens living with her undocumented grandparents, and the book covers a year of her attendance at Harvard. This in some ways parallels the author's own life, and is meant to highlight the plight of students who are smart, have real potential, but without proper documentation, none of that is of much help to them. This is not so much a book about campus life as it is about the ties that bind immigrants, how those ties are remarkably different than their fellow students, especially at these elite universities, and how that anchors and also limits them. The author is one to watch--she is a compelling story teller with a lot to say, and I would recommend this.