Saint Death - Marcus Sedgwick

"Anapra is one of the poorest neighbourhoods in the Mexican city of Juarez - twenty metres outside town lies a fence - and beyond it - America - the dangerous goal of many a migrant. Faustino is one such trying to escape from the gang he's been working for. He's dipped into a pile of dollars he was supposed to be hiding and now he's on the run. He and his friend, Arturo, have only 36 hours to replace the missing money, or they're as good as dead. Watching over them is Saint Death. Saint Death (or Santissima Muerte) - she of pure bone and charcoal-black eye, she of absolute loyalty and neutral morality, holy patron to rich and poor, to prostitute and narco-lord, criminal and police-chief. A folk saint, a rebel angel, a sinister guardian."

I thought this book was fantastic is an understatement - this book may be the best book I've read this year. It is, I think, one of the best YA books I've ever read. That being said, this smart, literary YA isn't for those who shrug their shoulders and say "kids these days have no interest in serious issues". I don't, I can't buy into that way of thinking - it's the kids who must have an interest, if the world is ever to change.

I don't know where to start. This book deeply affected me to the point that I actually cried. It comes at a chillingly appropriate time when issues of immigration and border controls are at the top of the list on every political agenda. Nationalism is on the rise - as it was during the 19th Century as political alignments shifted towards a set-up that would fuel two world wars - and the funny thing is so few people seem to see it.

What kind of world are we creating? What future are we moving towards? Sedgwick focuses on Juarez in Mexico and Mexican immigrants, but what he's ultimately saying is much bigger than that, the bold suggestion that there is no such thing as immigrants. Or, rather, that we are all immigrants out of Africa, and national borders are simply the way rich immigrants keep the poor immigrants confined to poorer areas; often areas that were made poor by the rich.

And they end up in the rich countries, and you know what people say... ¡Migrants! ¡illegal aliens! But everyone is a migrant, everyone, outside of the African cradle. It's just a question of how back in time you care to look...

This particular story is about the Mexican Arturo who lives in Juarez, right alongside the gang warfare and drug crime that exists on the US/Mexican border. His adoptive brother - the Guatemalan Faustino - has gotten himself into serious trouble by losing the money of a prominent gang leader. In a story spanning less than 48 hours, Arturo must try to get it back in a suspense-filled journey into the dark corners of the city. With Sedgwick's writing, Juarez comes to life in exquisite detail that equally captures its bright lights and its darkness:

“There are shadows in every alley, every doorway, and the lights of shops and bars and adverts and cars dazzle and blind and make the shadows darker still.”

Saint Death is woven with Spanish phrases and cultural elements - to me, it seems extremely well-researched. I recommend a basic knowledge of the Santa Muerte or "Saint Death" before picking this book up. It helps with understanding that element of the story, and it is also pretty fascinating. I hadn't heard of it before and I love learning something new.

“She’s wearing a white shawl over a long white gown, which reaches to the ground. From under the shawl glimpses of a black wig can be seen, grotesque against the skull face, almost ridiculous, Arturo thinks, and yet it’s more disturbing than it is funny, and in a way disconcerting because it is somehow comical too, and Do not laugh at death, he thinks, we do not laugh at death.”

Of course, enjoying this book depends on your interest in the subject matter, but it was absolutely enthralling to me. Arturo is such a sympathetic character who dares to long for something more than what he has, and parts of the book are filled with such nail-biting tension, hope, and horror because of the reader's desire that he will be different; that he will succeed. His story is peppered with extracts from social media pages, facts about NAFTA, and backstory on him and Faustino - the latter came to Mexico on a gruelling journey from Guatemala, in which he lost both his parents in their desperate search for a better life.

It's really hard to review books like this. I can't fully explain how important it is, how horrifically hopeful and sad it is. Just writing this review and remembering the book has me on the verge of tears. I can only hope you read it.

Age Rating 14+. Mature subject matter.