THE EVERYTHING I HAVE LOST

In short vignettes, Julia details her rocky adolescence as she and her family migrate across the Juárez–El Paso border.

Poetic diary entries chronicle her transformation from sheltered preteen to cynical teen. The unevenly paced narrative takes place against the backdrop of family drama, missing girls, and her father’s criminal dealings. The work is peppered with secondary characters who are not as fleshed out as Julia but who anchor the young woman as she slowly realizes the source of her father’s recent windfall. The protagonists who live in the U.S.—Bis, the strong-willed great-grandmother who is possibly dealing with dementia; Tía, the religious aunt who takes the siblings in when tragedy strikes and their neglectful artist mother stays behind in Juárez; and Jonás, an older, Americanized cousin—represent stability and freedom for Julia. In El Paso, they don’t have to worry about shootings, ransoms, and narcos. However, Texas carries its own troubles, including learning English, making new friends, and La Migra. Odd jumps in time and rushed plot twists confuse, and the main character’s overly naïve voice in the first half will turn off older teens, but her sexual curiosity and expletive-filled second half might overwhelm more sensitive readers. Rudimentary line drawings in the early entries distract rather than add nuance to the tale.

A contemporary border story that hovers between too earnest and too nostalgic, never quite capturing an authentic teen voice.