Enrique’s Journey Summary

When we look at the plot overview, the book is about a young central American boy and his journey to reunite with his mother, who had left him at the age of five years to find employment in the US. The quick summary we have provided will easily guide a student in writing that book review.

A Great Detailed Summary of Enrique’s Journey

The mother of Enrique is called Lourdes. She undergoes many struggles in Honduras while supporting her children Enrique and Belky. She understands that her children will not be able to go to school past third grade because she would not be able to afford it. She wants to spare her children from the poverty she experienced growing up. So, like a lot of other Latina mothers in the last few decades, she leaves her family and travels to the US so that she can also send money to her children from there.

Enrique did not have a clue as to why his mother left. His family would also not provide him with real answers. Enrique is moving from one family to the other while Belky stays with their aunt and well taken care of to the extent of even attending a good school. At a young age, Enrique is introduced to selling spices and food to help pay for the expenses of the family. He lives with his grandmother for a period of his young life. When he begins showing rebellion, he is kicked out. He is frustrated by his mother and had many abandonment issues. Furthermore, a beloved uncle dies, and this causes him a lot of troubled. He even turns to drugs in search of comfort. His family and girlfriend Maria Isabel make efforts to intervene in this problem but only manage to produce very little progress.

Lourdes, in the US, realizes that life is more complicated than she expected. She has to work several jobs that paid low wages and even becomes pregnant. She gives birth to a daughter and names her Diana. After the pregnancy, she loses her job at a factory she worked which leads her to become a prostitute. She finds stable work eventually and sends money toys and clothing to her other children back in Honduras.

The gifts are accepted by Enrique and Belky, but they would never be enough compared to their mother’s presence. Enrique’s problem with drugs worsens, and it gets to the point where the drug dealer supplying him threatens to kill his cousin due to lack of payment. The dealer is later captured. Enrique commits to rob his aunt’s jewelry to pay his debt but then gets captured. He is kicked out a second time. Maria is pregnant with their child. Enrique becomes compelled to follow his mother to the US since he believed she was the only person who might have understood him.

Enrique begins his journey through Mexico and Central America to the united states. He leaves with a change of clothes, some money and his mother’s phone number put down on a paper. Enrique fails seven times in his journey. He is robbed, beaten humiliated and even deported before he successfully makes it in the eighth attempt.

He rides on the top of freight trains that have previously claimed the lives of previous immigrants. These trains are not safe also due to gangsters who rule the tops and who engage in robbing, beating raping and even killing the immigrants. He also had to beware of corrupt migration officers who robbed immigrants before deporting them. Enrique makes it past the United States border by acquiring assistance from a smuggler who gets him to Orlando, Florida. He had earned enough money to call his mother. Enrique and Lourdes meet and embrace, but there are no tears between them. Enrique moves in where Lourdes lived with other roommates. He begins to work.

Reality destroys the picture of reunion that both of them had imagined. Enrique had created many expectations from his mother to the point that he thought that once he found her, his trouble would be over. On the other hand, his mother demanded respect for the sacrifices she had made for the sake of her children. She was occasionally met with cruelty and resentment from her son.

Enrique goes back to using drugs. In Honduras, Maria raises their daughter Jasmin. Enrique helps by sending some money to his girlfriend for her and the baby. He intends to save enough money to bring them both to the US. After some years of saving, Enrique brings Maria to the US. Jasmin is left in Honduras with Belky.

Throughout the novel, Sonia Nazario emphasizes the problems and harsh conditions that are faced by immigrants. She goes on to say that relationships between mothers and her children are only made worse through separation as the case of Enrique and Lourdes.