![]() There are gulfs they must traverse, geographical and sociological ones, but the novel also examines how the expanse of time moves through people, too. It’s the engrossing narrative of a young Colombian family trying to reunite even as they live apart, and how they keep an abiding faith in each other in spite of-or perhaps because of-abuses, failings, and setbacks. Starting in the years before 9/11, Infinite Country tells the story of Mauro and Elena and their three children. ![]() It’s an emotion familiar to the children of immigrants, known through their parents’ stated desire of eventual return, and Engel astutely captures its expression. As her protagonists contend with an immigration status that leaves them terribly vulnerable, and leads to a dreadful family separation-far from each other and from the places they still think of as home-the weight of loss is ever felt. ![]() In Patricia Engel’s new novel, Infinite Country (208 pages Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster), the acclaimed author of Vida and The Veins of the Ocean explores a desolating aspect of the immigrant experience in the United States: the bifurcation of the heart, split between yearning for a better future and longing for the towns and cities left behind. ![]()
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