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Reviewed by Ruffina Oserio for Readers' Favorite
Surfing on Dry Land by Sheryl Recinos is a searing story that documents the struggles of a mother and daughter in two timelines. Ixchel is just fifteen and with a baby when she escapes from her home village in Guatemala because of gang violence, traveling through dangerous routes to get to the United States in 2009. In 2025, Los Angeles, fifteen-year-old Xio is an undocumented Kaqchikel Mayan skater. She lives with her mother in Koreatown. Her mother, Ixchel, has temporary protection. During Xio’s high school graduation, ICE agents violently arrest and detain her mother. She flees and becomes homeless, surviving on bathroom floors and using bus benches just to avoid capture. After months of terror and struggle, can Xio leave the only country she has ever known to be reunited with her deported mother?
Sheryl Recinos writes with unwonted simplicity, capturing the pains and hopes of her female characters with clarity and charm. The novel captures the beauty and dangers of life in Guatemala, and the people with their local dialects and expressions, which give authenticity to the setting and the characters. Surfing on Dry Land delivers an emotional and political landscape that fits the experience of cultural erasure, survival, and the healing power of maternal love. The characters are complex and unforgettable, and while Xio is gritty in her resourcefulness, her mother demonstrates a quiet strength that results from years of suffering. This book captures the immigrant conundrum in contemporary America, and it gives readers heartbreaking commentary on the pain the system causes immigrants.
