It’s important first of all to read the subtitle of this amazing book to get part of why it’s the most entertaining and complete explanation of a complex area of law I’ve ever seen. Throughout, Medina uses every lawyer’s classic explanation to clients that we call, “on the one hand (blah, blah, blah). Buuuttt, On the other hand.”
So, the name of this book is, “America Let Me In: A Choose Your Immigration Story.”
Somehow, in just over 200 pages or just under four hours if you don’t speed up the audio, Medina explains, with story examples and the impact of various choices along the way all the different ways people looking to live in the USA can secure documentation. A good example of one of the “choose your own adventures,” gives the different endings for Melania Trump if she did not choose to date and marry Donald Trump versus what she did do. The thing is, Medina pours out information that seems to cover the topic really well but that is totally accessible and very funny. He isn’t funny in a sick way over things that are too serious, except to point out the outrageousness of some aspects of the system. Like, the only question people entering the USA in many of our ancestors’ time had to answer was, “Do you have lice?” (Obviously there’s more to that but this is not a book about Ellis Island.) He makes sense of things but does not ignore the nonsense. He points out, among other things, why people choose to come in undocumented in modern times.
Medina is a success story, ultimately getting his green card because he is a writer. In fact, he writes for The Late Show. According to LinkedIn he teaches as well. He narrates the audio version, which was so good I listened to it straight through. I admit I’m a lawyer but I truly believe a person planning to try to become documented or to work in an area related to immigration law and becoming documented needs to read this! Also, at the end, there is a glossary for all the acronyms and specialized language used. I don’t know if it’s going to be translated to other languages, but it should be. I loved it and I’ve been very off nonfiction for a long, long time. Thanks so much! It was a blast to read/listen to and incredibly informative.
They Called me Bookworm 