The Weight of Shadows: A Memoir of Immigration & Displacement

Tracing his story of becoming a US citizen, José Orduña's memoir explores the complex issues of immigration and assimilation.

José Orduña chronicles the process of becoming a North American citizen in a post-9/11 United States. Intractable realities--rooted in the continuity of US imperialism to globalism--form the landscape of Orduña's daily experience, where the geopolitical meets the quotidian. In one anecdote, he recalls how the only apartment his parents could rent was one that didn't require signing a lease or running a credit check, where the floors were so crooked he once dropped an orange and watched it roll in six directions before settling in a corner. Orduña describes the absurd feeling of being handed a piece of paper--his naturalization certificate--that guarantees something he has always known: he has every right to be here. A trenchant exploration of race, class, and identity, The Weight of Shadows is a searing meditation on the nature of political, linguistic, and cultural borders, and the meaning of "America."

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Beacon Press
Published: 04/12/2016
ISBN: 9780807074015
Pages: 240
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.40w x 0.60d

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 01/15/2016
Library Journal 02/01/2016 pg. 93
Booklist 02/01/2016 pg. 17