​Solito, A Memoir: book review by Doreen Van Leeuwen, Pastoral Care Coordinator

Imagine being a 9-year-old child again. Pause, close your eyes and take a minute to think about it: Who did you live with? Where were you living? Who were the most important people in your life? What did you enjoy doing? And your favorite foods and beverages? Were there any small or big transitions happening then? Seriously, pause and remember your life as a 9-year-old.

We’ve all been there, right?

Now, enter the world of 9-year-old Javier, an El Salvadoran boy living with his grandparents and aunt on their small farm in tiny town called La Herradura. He has never met his father, who left for La USA soon after his son’s second birthday. His mother followed when he was 5. For many months now, there has been conversation about the Trip that Javier will take to reunite with his parents in La USA. His Abuelita (grandmother) and aunt carefully gather all the supplies he’ll need into a new black backpack and sew extra money into his pants “For Emergency Only.”

And then, the day finally arrives when the Coyote (guide) Don Dago declares it is time to go. His Abuelito (grandfather) goes with him on the first stretch of the trek, but then there is the painful goodbye when the two must part, and Solito must go on alone.

Grief, fear, anticipation, fatigue, and longing swirl through this youngster as his quest unfolds. In first person narrative, Javier describes for us what he experiences: the angst he feels about sitting on a flush toilet for the first time for fear he’ll fall in and be washed out to sea; imagining that running across a highway, scrambling over a fence and ducking under bushes is like playing a game of hide and seek with La Migra (the bad guys, aka the border patrol), but much scarier.

Gripping in its intensity, heart-breaking in its realism and deeply moving in the way he is embraced by strangers on this odyssey, this is a MUST READ. As WE ourselves struggle daily to put on our baptismal robe(vow) of “striving for justice and peace among all people and respecting the dignity of every human being”, the vulnerable, brave and tenacious Javier is a Dazzling Coyote for our pilgrimage.

Solito: A Memoir. Written by Javier Zamora, Penguin Random House LLC, New York, 2022. Unless you speak Spanish, it will help you to have a language translating app nearby.