... Hinojosa embraces her whole self to offer an evocative portrayal of her experiences as women of color in an industry where whiteness is still a factor in determining who gets first dibs on opportunities that pave the way to the top ... [a] distinctive narrative in tone and approach, ushering readers through time and space in situations where [Hinojosa] is often defined by her status as an immigrants and Latina ... Hinojosa’s book is as much a manifesto as it is a memoir.
Hinojosa offers a searing, clear-eyed account of growing up in America after she emigrated from Mexico as an infant. Weaving her own life story with key milestones in U.S. immigration history, she produces a brave examination of the United States’ shortcomings ... quite simply, beautiful. Written in Hinojosa’s honest, passionate voice, this memoir takes readers on a journey through one immigrant’s experience. Hinojosa was able to realize the American dream, but she urges us not to look away from all the others for whom America is a nightmare.
Hinojosa’s writing is often workmanlike (readers should not come to this book for the pretty prose) but her overall story is compelling, not only for its ability to convey her own life as a survivor of rape and one of the only Latinas in the room during her career, but also in its ability to humanize the history of immigration ... Her depictions of the treatment of undocumented individuals moved me to tears, proving her greatest asset is her ability to put a human face on the immigration crisis ... a testament to what great journalism can do—leverage privilege and power to tell the stories of those who are voiceless.
