A memoir that tells the story of a young Colombian immigrant who discovers the power of books.

Fernandez writes of how he went from being a poor kid in one of the most dangerous regions of Colombia to an Ivy League–educated heart surgeon in the United States. When the author was 4 years old, his father went off to work in America for years, undocumented and working factory jobs for little money, while his mother took care of him and his brother. From an early age, he says, his mother taught him how important reading was for his success. But in a gang-ridden town, a love of reading wasn’t enough to keep Fernandez on the right track. When his mother moved to America to reunite with her husband, the author and his brother were left in Colombia with his two grandmothers, and Fernandez began hanging out with a dangerous crowd. Things began to change once he and his sibling reunited with his parents in America in 1978, although the author and his family members faced the constant threat of deportation as undocumented immigrants. His love of books returned, and he began to focus on his studies in earnest and was eventually accepted into Princeton University. Over the course of this memoir, Fernandez lays out an inspiring story of a person who overcame, with sheer determination, some of the difficulties of being undocumented in America to achieve big dreams. However, as encouraging as it is, the execution of this narrative sometimes comes across as saccharine and clichéd. For example, many chapters begin with epigraphs, often written by the author himself, which include such bromides as “Some of life’s obstacles may seem unfair. In the long run, they will make you stronger.” As a result, the book may be best suited to younger readers.

An often inspirational story about a young man’s journey to success that’s occasionally hampered by platitudes.

A debut memoir detailing the remarkable life of a heart surgeon who came to the United States as an undocumented immigrant.

“I was living in the bubble of a dream that could explode at any minute,” writes Fernandez of his early years in the United States. Precarity, as it turns out, was a feature of his life long before he became a heart surgeon. In 1969, Fernandez’s father traveled from Colombia to New York City in search of employment, later followed by his wife. The author and his younger brother remained in Barrio Antioquia, a Medellín neighborhood marked by violence. After years of familial distance, the teenage Fernandez and his sibling risked a harrowing journey through the Bahamas, North Bimini, and the coast of Florida to Newark International Airport. The town of West New York, New Jersey, where their parents lived, provided the setting for Fernandez’s rags-to-riches experience in America. In succinct, efficient prose worthy of a pragmatic surgeon, the author details his search for cultural footing, his challenges with a new language, and his eventual commitment to achievement through education. At Memorial High School, he showed himself to be an excellent athlete, and he applied similarly rigorous discipline to his academic studies and pursuit of Eagle Scout recognition. In 1985, Fernandez entered Princeton University as a freshman, and he eloquently recounts in this book how he coped with impostor syndrome at an elite university. After graduation, he attended Harvard Medical School and undertook a grueling surgical internship at New York University Medical Center. The memoir’s only notable weakness—its excessive valorization of a Horatio Alger-like work ethic—is offset by its transparency and skillful moments of poignancy. Over the course of the book, Fernandez recalls the luxury of a fresh apple, his close calls with immigration police, the death of a young friend in an apartment fire, how he helped his own family in another blaze, young love, and the agony of being separated from family members. He provokes emotion not so much through lyricism but through a frank invitation to witness his life’s challenges.

A strikingly sincere rendering of one man’s pursuit of the American dream.