Living Beyond Borders by Margarita Longoria
Living Beyond Borders by Margarita
Longoria
Longoria, M. (2022). Living
beyond borders: Growing up Mexican in America. Viking. ISBN 9780593204986
Living Beyond Borders is a collection of short stories, poems, personal essays, and comics that encompass different authors' lives as they live life as someone who is Mexican and American.
When reading Living Beyond Borders,
readers experience different writing styles as a direct result of Living
Beyond Borders being written by twenty different authors. Since there is such a wide range of works for the readers, there is at least one story you can connect with. One of my favorites was La Princesa Mileidy Dominguez by Ruben Degollado. This story features a young, fifteen-year-old girl who has moved cities and schools too many times to count, which means that she does not have the chance to build real relationships with others before being forced to move. She expects her new school to be the same, but little did she know that at this school, these new people, who are virtually strangers, would rally together to make sure she gets a Quince she deserves. In the Hispanic culture, a Quince is seen as a coming-of-age party as a young
girl turns into a young woman at the age of fifteen, so the school coming
together to have a night of Quinces to celebrate is a significant celebration. I was so happy when the main character had a large support system
who wanted to lift her up on her big day, even if she wasn’t as close as she
wanted to be with them. While not all
the stories were as hard-hitting as that one, readers will find a story they
enjoy while reading Living Beyond Borders.
Since multiple stories were being told in Living Beyond Borders, many aspects of the Hispanic culture were mentioned. Some examples range from the food being mentioned to the use of Spanglish, the overall sense of pride evident throughout all stories, the mention of different myths (such as La Llorana), customs like Quinces, and more. While I have read a few books by authors from my area (the Rio Grande Valley), it was interesting to see that two titles in Living Beyond Borders mentioned my hometown area. One story, specifically, The Body by the Canal by David Bowles, mentioned a street I drive by every day and the high school I graduated from, making the story even more interesting as I could personally connect with the settings and, thus, the characters.
What do readers think of Living Beyond
Borders? Kirkus Reviews agrees that “the variety of narrative styles
contributes to the broad appeal of this volume,” and it is “well worth reading;
a welcome addition to any bookshelf.”
After reading Living Beyond Borders, reflect on your life and culture and create a story to add to a collection. The story does not have to be a story, as seen with Living Beyond Borders; the story could range from a short story to a poem to even a comic. Just be sure to
write something authentic and meaningful to you. If you enjoyed reading Living Beyond Borders,
you may also enjoy Find Latinx: In Search of the Voices Redefining Latino
Identity by Paola Ramos.
Awards and Honors for Living Beyond
Borders:
- While no specific awards were found for Living Beyond Borders, the authors who contributed to the books have received various awards.
- Additionally, Margarita Longoria founded Border Book Bash, a book event in the Rio Grande Valley!
Longoria, M. (2022). Living
beyond borders: Growing up Mexican in America. Viking. ISBN 9780593204986
Margarita Longoria: Penguin
random house. Penguin Random House. (n.d.).
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/2213846/margarita-longoria/
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