The Iguana Tree [Hardcover]

Michel Stone (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2012

Set amid the perils of illegal border crossings, The Iguana Tree is the suspenseful saga of Lilia and Hector, who separately make their way from Mexico into the United States, seeking work in the Carolinas and a home for their infant daughter.

Michel Stone's harrowing novel meticulously examines the obstacles each faces in pursuing a new life: manipulation, rape, and murder in the perilous commerce of border crossings; betrayal by family and friends; exploitation by corrupt officials and rapacious landowners on the U.S. side; and, finally, the inexorable workings of the U.S. justice system.

Hector and Lilia meet Americans willing to help them with legal assistance and offers of responsible employment, but their illegal entry seems certain to prove their undoing. The consequences of their decisions are devastating. In the end, The Iguana Tree is a universal story of loss, grief, and human dignity.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Recalls the works of John Steinbeck..." --Library Journal

"Michel Stone has written a stirring novel of love and courage under the most daunting of conditions. The Iguana Tree is an impressive debut by a very talented author." -- Ron Rash, New York Times bestselling author

"Stone writes with care and compassion, with close attention to the ambiguities built into U.S. Policy toward undocumented workers from south of the border. Her story is powerful, its melancholy truths hard to ignore or forget." --C. Michael Curtis, fiction editor of The Atlantic

"Stone's palpable, skillful prose prevails as its principal achievement. With a precise rendering of place and character and a genuine, emotional poignancy, The Iguana Tree is noteworthy storytelling." --Foreword Reviews

"The Iguana Tree is a triumph--an enjoyable and informative story on an important topic. Ms. Stone has found a compelling realistic fiction voice and established herself as an author to watch." --NY Journal of Books

"Stone has done exceptional work in making real the struggles and despair, the resolute discipline and hope, driving the desire to find a better life while also illuminating unexpected connections of near-familial love among people of difference cultures who live and work together. A haunting tale of hope and heartbreak." --Kirkus Reviews

"In her marvelously perceptive and revelatory debut novel, Stone explores the raw, personal side of U.S. immigration policy--one far removed from the political rhetoric in which the issue is often ensconced. ... Stone turns a highly politicized subject into a deeply human predicament by homing in with piercing clarity on her characters inner struggles to create a hard-to-forget story of the devastation brought about by a simple wish for a better life." --Booklist

"A story told with tremendous grace. . . humanity courses through The Iguana Tree. --The Atlanta Journal Constitution

"... tightly written and wildfire-paced plot... In an utterly unsentimental and non-exploitative manner, the author manages to dramatize a sensational topic in a way that seems utterly relatable and peculiarly normal." --The Texas Observer

"The Iguana Tree is poignant, powerful, graceful and witty, beautiful and brave. Like John Steinbeck's The Pearl, this novel is a gem." --Charleston Post and Courier

"...beautiful debut novel ... poignant and honest ... Well-written, expertly paced, and timely." --Publishers Weekly (starred)

About the Author

Michel Stone has published more than a dozen stories and essays in journals, magazines, and books. Her work has appeared numerous times in the Raleigh News & Observer's Emerging Southern Writers series. She is a 2011 recipient of the South Carolina Fiction Project Award. Raised on the South Carolina coast, Stone now lives in Spartanburg, South Carolina.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 220 pages
• Publisher: Hub City Press (March 1, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 189188588X
• ISBN-13: 978-1891885884
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (59 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #695,088 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read Page Turner March 18, 2012

By Tina Ridgeway

Format:Hardcover

Once I started this debut novel by Michel Stone, I could not put it down! It is a beautiful story of a Mexican couple trying to make a better life for themselves and their infant daughter by crossing into the United States as illegal immigrants. Their trials and tribulations are somewhat haunting, but I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. This book is eloquently written and it left me hoping to find out more about the lives of Lilia and Hector. I highly recommend this book and cannot wait for future reads from this riveting author! This novel is also a must for bookclubs, as there will be much to discuss.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What a great read! March 17, 2012

By Farm Girl

Format:Hardcover

Having worked on a tomato farm myself, this story really hit home with me. From the descriptions of the low country where I was raised, to the rawness of the west coast of Mexico that I have experienced firsthand, to the heart wrenching story of a young couple trying to find a better life, Michel Stone has captured it all so profoundly. A very political and relevant topic dealt in a very personal way. Bravo!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Big Hearted and Beautiful April 12, 2013

By Susan C. Tekulve

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book's message is big hearted and very humane. The tale presents a family of illegal immigrants who journey from Mexico into the United States, and it shows the hardships and tragedies that they endure. The story feels as if it could be true, which is a credit to Ms. Stone's ability as a writer. The sad events that the characters experience are elevated by the beautiful prose and the pitch perfect pacing of the story. I highly recommend this book because it is true, and because it poses all the important questions that any thinking person should be asking herself about the issues of immigration in our country.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A timely read! February 23, 2013

By PCooper

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is an excellent read - especially now during this national discussion of immigration. In fact, it is being used for our One Book One Community project this year sponsored by Altrusa International of Hermiston, OR. We are bringing the author to town for two days to lead discussions of the book. It seems we all forget we are a nation of immigrants - the books shares the story of two and why & how they get to the US.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars A great read! November 13, 2012

By Janit Llewellyn Allen

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book captivated me as it opened my eyes to the tragic possibilities for immigrants into the United States. This well written story toggles the reader from Puerto Isadore, Mexico to the low country of South Carolina on Edisto Island. The risks and losses experienced by Lilia and Hector are both foolhardy and heart-warming. The Iguana Tree is an easy read, with lots of depth. Michel Stone, I am waiting for the sequel!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Iguana Tree November 7, 2012

By Penny194

Format:Hardcover

Michele Stone has created vivid characters who continue to haunt our thoughts long after reading their touching story. The journey of a young Mexican family to establish a better life in America embodies the essence of the dream upon which this nation was founded. The fear and terror that they experience at very turn, living a life outside all laws-those of humanity as well as legal ones- muddles the question of right and wrong.

The Iguana Tree paints a picture of the triumph of hope and the human spirit in the face overwhelming adversity and tragedy. Stone masterfully takes a national "situation" and gives it faces and hearts.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating story, beautifully written March 17, 2012

By Anna Jean Mayhew

Format:Hardcover

We see them every day, those who've crossed our southern border in hopes of a better life, and I will never again see such immigrants in the same way. This astonishing novel captured me from the beginning and never let me go. Michel Stone brings to terrifying reality things she could not possibly have lived, e.g., crossing the border in the false bottom of a tractor-trailer. This debut novelist has a masterful command of language and vivid characters. I highly recommend this new novel and look forward to more from Michel Stone.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Kindness of Strangers April 4, 2012

By Sam Sattler TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

In the interest of full disclosure, I want to begin by stating that I hold firm opinions pertaining to the impact that the millions of people who have entered the United States illegally are having - particularly as to how my hometown, Houston, is affected by the thousands of them who now call this city home. For that reason, I do not come into a book like Michel Stone's The Iguana Tree with an entirely open mind. I admit that. I do, however, try to see both sides of the issue, so Stone's novel is not my first exposure to sympathetic fiction on the subject (most novels about illegal immigration are, in fact, written from the point-of-view of the illegal aliens). I will tell you, too, that The Iguana Tree is probably the best of the novels I have read on the subject.

As the novel begins, Hector lives in a tiny Mexican village called Puerto Isadore with his wife and new baby daughter, but he knows he can do better for them. Precisely because he loves his family so much, Hector is eager to risk his life and to pay his life savings to the coyote who promises to get him safely into the United States where he can prepare a new home for Lilia and tiny Alejandro. Hector, after surviving a trip across the border that would have driven a claustrophobic insane, decides to travel with his new friend Miguel to Edisto Island, South Carolina, where a promise of work awaits them.

Hector has the immediate good fortune to be hired on by Lucas and Elizabeth, operators of a family tree farm they can no longer handle on their own because of a crippling injury Lucas has recently suffered. Eager to learn English and to please his new boss, Hector impresses the pair with the competency of his hard work and an almost familial bond forms between him and the American couple.... Things go well until Lilia decides she does not want to wait for Hector to save the money needed to get her and Alejandra across the border to join him. She wants to come now.

Lilia believes that, by finding a way to join him sooner than they thought possible, she is proving how much she loves her husband. She knows that Hector does not want her to make her own arrangements, but she is certain that when he sees her and Alejandra he will agree that she has done the right thing. Hector, however, believes that Lilia's decision indicates only that she does not respect or trust him enough to believe that he can get them there. When Lilia's harrowing entry into the U.S. turns violent, it has tragic consequences that she never considered possible - consequences that will almost destroy her, Hector, and their marriage.

The Iguana Tree tells a story that is guaranteed to touch the heart of even the staunchest opponent of illegal immigration. It compels the reader to see the illegals as people rather than mere statistics and helps to explain why so many are willing to gamble everything to get out of Mexico and Central America and into the United States. I particularly applaud the realistic ending that Stone chose for The Iguana Tree because a softer approach would have greatly lessened the impact of the story she tells so well. Read more ›