Customer Reviews

The Devil's Highway: A True Story

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Urrea delivers a moving novel based on the true story of the Yuma 14, fourteen Mexicans (from a group of 26) that tried to cross the border and enter the US illegally through the Arizona desert and succumbed in the attempt. The author presents the facts efficiently and his conclusion follows: Mexicans trying to cross the border are human beings like everyone else that had the bad fortune of facing tough economic condition; they should be respected.

The author describes the conditions and historic events that lead to the beginning of the illegal immigration into the US and draws a clear parallelism with our times, when there are several tasks in the US that Americans are reluctant to do, thus illegal immigrants are needed for this. When price changes in international markets adversely affected the Mexican economy and overpopulation became a problem, some Mexicans decided to come to the US. They ended up with a comfortable life, so when others found out, a growing interest in crossing the border developed.

Organizations of coyotes were formed to provide supply for the growing demand, and the poor people seeking a better future became just a means to an end. These individuals in their attempts have to fight against the heat of the desert, thirst, exhaustion, "la migra" (Border Patrol) and the coyotes themselves. On top of this, the control at the border has intensified throughout the last years, so the groups seeking a new future have to go through more dangerous paths each time. In the case of the twenty-six Mexicans that are the center of this story, the point of entry was the Devil's Highway, a deadly desert in Arizona that has claimed numerous victims through the years.

Urrea shows his outstanding knowledge of the topic in question and uses this in his descriptions with no holes barred. One of the most shocking passages of the book was the explanation of the different stages of death by heat, which go from Heat Stress to Heat Stroke. The realism and brutality of this account left me absolutely breathless. Overall, the quality of the novel is outstanding and even though it is a tough read at some points, in the end it is extremely satisfying and enlightening.

"The Devil's Highway," is a pretty good book. Urrea sees no sacred cows - unless discussing the poor individuals who dare to cross over to the U.S. The border landscape is murderous, and the "Coyotes" that lead the illegals across are predators and gangsters. It's all about money. Urrea does his best to give each of those who suffered through the 2001 ordeal (the Yuma 14 (those that died), or Wellton 26 (the entire party), take your pick), faces, lives, hopes. They are people, and not just rotting bodies found in the desert. Still, I get the sense that "The Devil's Highway," is a bit padded. There are also a few inaccuracies (Department of Interior police as a separate body from the BLM? An inaccurate description of a Tarantino movie), which left feeling that Urrea was shooting from the hip. Given the subject matter, he can't help but hit his target (which is extended to both sides of the border), but when I see mistakes (even nitpicky ones), I wonder, whatever the book, what other ones am I missing? Further, Urrea's style will remind you of Hunter Thompson, or even James Ellroy. This is high-risk writing, that hooks a reader, but can also annoy when unnecessary slang is used. At its worst, it seems like the writer is more interested in being hip than telling the story. It's a high wire act. Urrea for the most part stays on that wire, but there were a few times where the slang gets to be annoying.

But even with a slightly padded feel to it, it's the last twenty or so pages of the "Devil's Highway" that deliver the goods. Urrea could easily expand on those twenty pages and write a new book the current state of things Mexican - and American. There were some real revelations for me - such as Mexico losing jobs to China - just like everyone else, which of course contributes to the lure of going North. How illegal immigration contributes to suppressing wages in the U.S., which is why Industry just loves the current situation. The sheer violence (and weirdness) of the border: Mexican law enforcement crossing over in pursuits and shootouts; a very disturbing wave of what seems to be connected murders of women in Juarez (it's been going on for ten years!); and of course the deadly trek north, with Hope and Death sitting in the balance, while Money holds the scales.

I live in southern AZ and checked this book out because I was curious to see what the rest of the U.S. and world is reading about this desolate land. I have had numerous interactions with "undocumented" crossers as well as many people in our daily world who are Border Patrol/ICE, etc. It is a way of life here. My take on this book is that the author chose this sad incident to illustrate his personal views on the border situation. It is not representative of most crossings. People cross all day, every day, and rarely is there news attention like there was for this ill-fated group. Of course it is nasty conditions that they are crossing and of course people do die, but this tragic tale is romanticized so that the average reader (without firsthand knowledge) is led to believe that it is representative of ALL crossers and their travel experiences.
I suspected that the author was biased toward the immigrants and against the "pinche migra" early on, and my suspicions were confirmed when at the end of the book there is a QandA section where he is asked point blank about bias, and answers in the affirmative. So the reviewers who praise him for being unbiased, I can only assume have a bias of their own that agrees with his. In the QandA section he reveals his own surprise at having befriended one or two B.P. agents. What I found disturbing is that no one in this book is really portrayed favorably. He romanticizes the lives of the dead and yet gives them no real credit for being intelligent people. A gang boss drives into town and cons them into the long, expensive journey in three sentences. While he mentioned "feeding their families" as one of the reasons people cross, there are no examples of people in this group who really were in hard times. They wanted to buy more toys for their ever-growing number of kids, add on a room to their mother's house, etc. Not exactly life and death forcing them to cross the desert. He also leaves out the example of the convicted criminals (perhaps there were conveniently none in this group?). I worry every day about my children playing outside when there are convicted felons walking though the hills, and sometimes hiding in vacant houses, nearby. I'm not saying all of them are, of course, but he neglects to mention a single example of criminal records being a major reason why people choose to risk their lives to cross, rather than apply for a work/student/shopping visa. I see Sonora plates at our shopping center every day. You don't have to be a citizen to come here for the weekend. But you can't have a criminal record. The B.P. is portrayed as giant Aryan soldiers who are hated by all. And the gangsters/coyotes got mixed up in a world they didn't understand. I think the author believes the world to be full of idiots; those in the story and the rest of us reading about it.
I also find it interesting that one of the statistics the author uses to illustrate the "undeserved American bias" toward immigrants is one study stating that there would be a surplus of jobs by 2008 (obviously stated before 2008) and in fact unemployment was at record highs and I have many friends and neighbors who could not find even the simplest job (that Americans supposedly won't do). I can only assume that employers saw their work history and worried that they would not stick around for a low paying job, therefore they got no job at all.
I would have liked to see a true to life portrayal of the border, rather than this romanticized version, but it was interesting none the less.

Amazing book! I couldn't put it down and read it from cover to cover in one day. Urrea has a gift for language and he applies it here. This is the story of 26 men from Veracruz. Urrea could have recounted the story of how 14 of them died in the desert and left it at that. This would still be a book worth reading... but he went way beyond those confines. He took the story of those 26 men from Veracruz and put it in historical, cultural and geographical context. He opened a window onto other worlds and onto our own. He portrays the immigrants, the border patrol and even the coyote, without judgment. He allows the reader to come to her/his own conclusion. Powerful, poetic and unforgettable. I finished it and got back on line to order everything else he has published.

Pulitzer Prize finalist, Luis Alberto Urrea, has written about the struggle people desperate enough to risk their lives crossing the Mexican/American border (Arizona) in search of a better life. The story itself is as old as the hills but this time, he paints a picture of the area so vividly, that if you've been anywhere in this region, you'll appreciate his descriptions even more. The people who abound, from many walks of life (and not only Mexicans), faced the oppressive heat and lack of water, not knowing where they'd land up, were brave and courageous. Urrea unfolds the account of the twenty-six men who ventured into the unknown and in search of a better life, and the "human hunt" that followed them. Their fears and dreams, the desert's own laws, and the stretch known as The Devil's Highway is all explained. Doggedly they pursue freedom but the price is extremely high, as the desert has obstacles few humans can survive. Urrea does a great job describing the officials whose job it is to patrol this particular area along the Arizona/Mexican border, as well as the brokers who help arrange these trips to freedom - usually at a high cost.

Luis Urrea only writes classics.As another writer who writes about the borderlands,I assure you ,he is the best purveyor of the human condition on the planet.You cannot read this,or any of his books, without changing your view of the world;changing your view of "right" and "wrong" and without changing the contents of your own heart.
In Luis Urrea's world there are few villains,few stereotypes and few "blame-games".But there is a mountain of reality that every person in North America needs to consider----what worlds,political and economic, have we created that push humans into impossible journeys,folly,even death,just to earn enough to eat and send their kids to school? What borders have we imposed--both geopolitical and cultural, that separate human beings so completely as to compell the events of this book?And,for God's sake, what does any of us gain from it? The Devil's highway is about the desperate saga of a group of poor Mexican immigrants....and it is about all the rest of us who perceive ourselves as "not part of the problem". The US/Mexico border has become a stake through the heart of humanity.No one intended it that way,but it pierces the hearts of millions just the same.This is a book that every high school and college kid in America should be assigned.Period.

"Mr. President, tear down this wall."

Some day, perhaps, an American president will have the courage -- or a Mexican president will have the honesty -- to go to the wall between Mexico and United States and demand its removal in the name of freedom.

Until then, the Sonoran Desert will continue to be the site for hundreds of unbelievably agonizing deaths every year. Within the last 10 years, more people have died here than those who tried to cross the Berlin Wall. Until then, as Urrea makes abundantly clear, Mexicans will continue to create networks that in a few years will be the great criminal syndicates of the United States and Mexico.

It's happened before. Prohibition was a great "holier than thou" movement, and it generated many vicious criminals. It took the courage of President Franklin Roosevelt to end its rampant hypocrisy. Some day, if Americans ever elect another president with the courage of Roosevelt, a border solution will be found.

It's agonizing to be slowly baked to death in the sun. Thousands of desperate people risk it every year; this book tell of 14 who didn't make it in May 2001. The reporting is excellent, the writing is superb. Don't read it unless you have a strong stomach; the deaths of "Los illegales" and the pure greed of Mexicans who recruit and deliver then to the US is a gruesome story. (Keep in mind, this is also a major route for deadly drugs.)

It took a man from Chicago to write this book. Few in Arizona, where people hire illegals with the casual unconcern of buying a drive-through taco, care about the human cost. Arizona cities actually run drive-by labour centers to facilitate the hiring of illegals by homeowners and business people. The media generally ignores desert deaths unless it is groups of a dozen or more; "big" news in Arizona is the opening of a new shopping center or the latest exploits of a Britney Spears.

But then, who ever wrote a book exposing rum runners?

John Steinbeck immortalized Okies in 'The Grapes of Wrath," but they had a cakewalk compared to what Mexicans now risk to get low wage US jobs. Urrea has done a superb job citing facts about one of the world's deadliest border crossings; read this book, and you'll cry in sorrow and rage at what people endure to reach the US.

I've hiked the area where these men died; three hours without water, even in the cool (only 85 degrees F) winter, is enough to produce the first signs of dehydration. It's a tough, unforgiving, brutal land. Mistakes are seldom forgiven. Few, if any, Arizona writers know the desert well enough to describe it as accurately as Urrea. For most Arizonans, illegal aliens -- like federal spending -- makes their state cheap, easy and lazy.

It took a man from "the city of big shoulders" to write this book. As you read it, keep in mind that a child or grandchild of any one of these migrants could well become another Urrea (provided they get out of Arizona). It's what America is all about, and it is why people will literally "walk through Hell" for days on end, even when they know the only job they'll ever get is scrubbing toilets.

Read it, and you'll scream in anger, rage, sorrow and frustration. Of course, if you're from Arizona, where chain gangs are still policy and jail inmates are housed in surplus army tents during summers which easily reach 115 degrees, your only reaction will be, "So what? That's the penalty for breaking the law."

Maybe it's time to reconsider the Gadsden Purchase.

Read it. This book will shake anyone's conscience.

Read it. Learn what courage and greed mean in today's world.

Luis Alberto Urrea earned the moniker "the Voice of the Border" through his unflinching portrayals of life in the slums of Tijuana in his books Across the Wire and By the Lake of the Sleeping Children. In his latest and best effort yet, the Devil's Highway, he chronicles the tragic voyage of the "Yuma 14" -- the fourteen illegal Mexican immigrants who perished in the blistering heat of the Cabeza Prieta desert in an ill-fated attempt to enter the United States. The goal of these pour souls was simply to earn enough money to feed their destitute families in their remote native Mexican villages.

But the Devil's Highway is far more than just the account of what happened to these fourteen unfortunate walkers. Urrea also details the near-death experience of the surviving walkers, as well as the human smuggler who lost them in the desert. This coyote abandoned them in the baking sun after taking all of their money - in exchange for promises of water and an eventual rescue. Even in the case of the coyote, however, Urrea manages to write a heartfelt and impartial account of every player in the tragedy.

In the course of the Devil's Highway, the stereotypes of the evil Migra are dashed when Border Patrol agents turn out to be humanitarian lifesavers, paying from their own pocket to help save walkers. The image of the opportunistic coyote is also defaced by the revelation that he is just a young man in love, making a modest wage in a very dangerous line of work.

In the final analysis, it becomes obvious that every person involved in the tragedy is exactly that - a human being. If anyone is to blame for the tragedy, we are all to blame. It is in that sense that the ultimate finger of blame has to eventually point at the U.S. and Mexican governments. Their efforts to end the dilemma could be considered laughable, if not so disastrous: from the Mexican side there are signs telling walkers not to walk, and on the U.S. side there are preventive walls and fences that discourage them from crossing where it might actually be safe to do so. In order to make the passage, the immigrants are forced to traverse a hostile desert. Yet, as Urrea so successfully demonstrates, the two countries are in truth extraordinarily codependent.

Through prose that reads like poetry, and reality that is shockingly surreal, Urrea puts the reader in middle of the arid barrenness that delineates the U.S.-Mexican border. More than only a physical divide, the border created the by heat and desiccation of the wasteland that separate the two countries is exposed to function as a symbol of all the imagined differences that separate us. With a passion that permeates every word of the story, Urrea illustrates that the only place that none of us belongs is to be lost along the Devil's Highway. "In the desert, we are all illegal aliens."

The Devil's Highway is essential reading for socio-political relevance, passion, compassion, imagery, and the sheer beauty of its prose. It is also unquestionably Luis Alberto Urrea's crowning achievement - a masterpiece.

Not being a avid reader ,if a book doesn't interest me in the first few pages I put it away. This certainly was not such a book. Written by a Mexican American I expected the story to be slanted toward anti immigration only to find a balanced view of the Border situation from the prospective of those desperate to make a better life for their familys, to the Border Patrol and the almost impossible job before them. Two things that stand out are the compassion of the Border Patrol and how the immigrants are so often preyed upon by their own people. A must read before making a judgement about our border situation and the people who live {and die} there.

Luis Alberto Urrea's read is riveting - and a superb blend of research, fact and "in the moment narrative" as you live the story of these border crossers' lives, dreams and disasters. You'll learn more about the real issues facing peoples' lives and the complicated costs, politics, heartaches and realities of the US border and its management - and its implications for immigrants - illegal, legal or otherwise. Written in short segments and so well put together - Urrea's book is simply terrific. I'd also recommend Tommy Lee Jones' recent movie - The Three Burials..." on the same topic - slightly different plot but similarly engaging in its content and depth.