In a Nutshell:

Luiselli is a Mexican writer/journalist, who currently lives in New York City. Tell me How it Ends is about Luiselli’s experiences working as a volunteer for the Federal Courts in NYC. She interviews unaccompanied migrant children, she then translates and transcribes their interviews.

A wonderful if sometimes harrowing read.

Observations:

This book is even more poignant given Trump’s policies against Mexican children (illegally) entering the USA I hope we will see changes during Biden’s time in office.

The title of the book comes from when Luiselli tells her daughter of the plight of illegal child migrants and her daughter asks when will it (the suffering) all end.

Themes:

Migration, immigration, emigration, empathy and identity.

A Quote:

This paragraph made me cry and left me feeling horrified at the current situation:

“Rapes: 80% of the women and girls who cross Mexico to get to the US Border are raped on the way. The situation is so common that most of them take contraceptive precautions as they begin the journey north.”

Stockists:

Want to read Tell Me How it Ends? Buy it here.

Tell me How it Ends 

Written by Valeria Luiselli

Translated from the Spanish by Lizzie Davis with Valeria Luiselli

05/10/2017, HarperCollins Publishers

ISBN: 9780008271923

#WITMonth for 2021 is curated by Jess Andoh-Thayre

I am 35, from London but currently living in Cambodia. I am married to a diplomat and we have been posted in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and now Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Prior to meeting my husband, I had also lived in La Serena, Chile and Madrid, Spain.

I am a French, Spanish and English teacher, translator, avid reader and now blogger. When I am not teaching, reading and blogging, I love catching a brilliant sunset, swimming, cycling and hanging out with my husband and son.

Author: Valeria Luiselli

Valeria Luiselli was born in Mexico City and grew up in South Korea, South Africa and India. She is a Writer in Residence at Bard College and lives in New York City.

An acclaimed writer of both fiction and nonfiction, she is the recipient of numerous prizes and accolades.

Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, Granta, and McSweeney’s, among other publications, and has been translated into more than twenty languages.

Translator: Lizzie Davis

Lizzie Davis is a writer, translator from Spanish and Italian to English. She co-translated Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions with the author.

She is also an editor at Coffee House Press. She acquires fiction, nonfiction, and translations for Coffee House.