Discussion Questions for American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
- Why do you think Cummins made the killings of Lydia’s family revenge for Javier’s daughter’s suicide, rather than for the article itself?
- NPR’s reviewer points out that “Cummins doesn’t spare her characters from the predatory dangers the road poses, among them kidnapping, violence and sexual brutality. But random acts of kindness also abound: an outstretched hand to steady one’s balance atop the freight car, the gift of an old knit cap to ward off cold.” Were you surprised by these acts of kindness? By the acts of violence? What surprised you most?
- A reviewer for The New York Times describes the novel as “apolitical”. What do you think he means by that? Do you agree?
- In her author’s note, Cummins discusses her motivations for making her main character a middle-class woman, as an attempt to “individuate” migrants and remind readers that “These people are people”. Was she successful in this goal?
- Did you notice that Cummins uses the word “American” only once in the novel. She talks about learning not to use the term “American” because of exasperation among other Western cultures that estadounidenses have co-opted the term. The single time she uses it is when the group reaches the border and Soledad spits through the fence, “[o]nly to leave a piece of herself there on American dirt.” Why do you think she chose to use it in this one place?
- The reviewer for The Atlantic asks: “Does the same reader capable of reading numerous news stories about family separation soften when a story is presented through the lens of Cummins’s fiction—and if so, whom does that internal change really benefit?” What is your answer to these questions?
- The reviewer for The Sunday Times (UK) opines that “Cummins cannot give her characters depth. They remain resolutely two-dimensional (the oddly adult Luca even less). Though Cummins explores grief well, Lydia and the two girls feel like vessels for those ‘stories about victims’ she talks about [in the Author’s Note].” Do you agree? Which characters do you feel had the most depth? The least?
- What did you think about Lorenzo? Was he really trying to get away from the cartel, or was he tracking Lydia for Javier?
- What did you think about Lydia and Javier’s relationship? Do you think Javier deliberately targeted her because he knew she was the wife of the journalist investigating him? Do you think that Lydia was on the verge of having an affair with Javier?
For more questions, check out the author’s website.