logo

44 pages 1 hour read

Cristina Henríquez

The Book of Unknown Americans

Cristina HenríquezFiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2014

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Important Quotes

Quotation Mark Icon

“But you could do more than pull mushrooms in the dark.”


(Chapter 4, Page 25)

Though Arturo owned a construction business in Mexico, when he arrives in America he is viewed as a person capable of only the most menial labor. His job harvesting mushrooms in the dark angers him and Alma and suggests that the land of promise they’d hoped for might be beyond reach.

Quotation Mark Icon

“I felt acutely the meagerness of it, the insufficiency. We wanted more. We wanted what we had come here for.”


(Chapter 4, Page 26)

Alma already feels that her future is limited, as her husband is forced to take a job that is beneath him, one that denies him a break to eat or drink during the workday, and it is a struggle to get her daughter properly enrolled in school.

Quotation Mark Icon

“Maybe I’ll make something. Something to remind me of home. But I didn’t have any of the ingredients I needed, so I just stood there, staring at the flat, cast iron pan, feeling homesickness charging at me like a roaring wave.”


(Chapter 4, Page 33)

Food connects the immigrant characters to home and identity. The recipes of home would offer Alma comfort and would help root her in her new setting as well, so her inability to cook as she would like highlights The Cultural Isolation of Immigrants in America.

blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
blurred text
Unlock IconUnlock all 44 pages of this Study Guide

Plus, gain access to 8,650+ more expert-written Study Guides.

Including features:

+ Mobile App
+ Printable PDF
+ Literary AI Tools

Related Titles

By Cristina Henríquez