e-Audio, 08:56:46
Narrated by: Elvira K. Gonzalez
Release Date: May 28, 2024
Published by: Macmillan Audio
Read from: May 21-31, 2024
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
Content Warning: Minor/Adult Relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Incarceration
For Readers Interested In: Non-fiction, Racial/Ethnic Diversity, Mental Health, YA, MemoirsA Mexican-American teen girl dreams of winning an athletic scholarship against all odds in a Texas border town. This true story of survival, strength, and triumph is perfect for fans of Educated and Athlete A.
Twenty-four that’s how long fourteen-year-old Elvira Gonzalez is given to come up with the $40,000 she needs to save her kidnapped mother from a drug cartel. It’s 2006 and Elvira’s hometown of Laredo, Texas, has become engulfed by the Mexican Drug War. Elvira’s life is unraveling around her—setting her on a harrowing path that leads her to being locked up in one of South Texas’s worst juvenile detention centers.
After Elvira’s released from juvie, she’s resolved to never go back. That’s when her unexpected salvation arrives in the form of 33-inch-high plastic hurdles. Determined to win a track scholarship out of Laredo, Elvira begins breaking into the school, alone, at 5:30 in the morning to practice hurdling. Soon, she catches the attention of a renowned high school coach, an adult man in his 30s. As they train, their coach-student relationship begins to change, becoming sexual. At just seventeen years old, Elvira experiences the dangers many young athletes face, especially those who are marginalized. In spite of these towering obstacles, Elvira eventually propels herself to become one of the top ranked hurdlers in the USA and the first in her family to go to college.
This inspiring true story of grit, tenacity, and hope traces Elvira’s path as she overcomes impossible hurdles in her race to freedom.
*MY THOUGHTS*
It’s always hard to review non-fiction because what can I even say besides I don’t like the way the story was told? It’s factual information and I was either interested or I wasn’t. And this one had me riveted. But I can say without a doubt I had to take breaks. I just couldn’t read this in one go.
Ok so the reason i couldn’t read this in one go was the content. Elvira was mistreated and abused by so many people in her life. I felt so bad for her. And knowing she was only a teen at the time and knowing that it’s kids like her that I advocate for…… Man it just broke me. I think it hit different because she said she pulled these stories from her old diary, so they were told in her voice as a child. To imagine her as a child writing this after it had just happened just did something to me.
With that being said, I HATED every single adult in this book. Like every single one. I gave her mother some grace because she was suffering from a mental break. I can’t imagine what she went through while she had been gone. That had to be terrifying. But the way she didn’t even want help when she came back bothered me. I think because she let this terrible thing that happened to her keep her hostage. She never fought back. And it left Elvira by herself. I just had problems with that because she was still a child.
The only thing I really didn’t like about it was the way it ended. I’m guessing that was where her journal entries stopped, and it showed. And instead of trying to make it more narrative like, it was just really abrupt. It was just like one day it was done. I still don’t know what happened to her coaches or if the people who got her mom actually were caught and convicted. I still have so many questions. And I know it’s because I’m hoping she finally is at rest and isn’t always looking over her shoulder. But from her note at the end and her Instagram, it looks like she found her footing (no pun intended) and she’s doing great. But I still want to comfort that little girl that was left behind.
This book was so much more than just a memoir. I remember reading the synopsis and my mouth dropping open. This book was so sad I had to read it in increments. But please, don’t let that stop you. Please, if you don’t read any other non-fiction book, make sure you at least try this one.
Overall, I give this
