Summary Of El Otro Lado By Reyna Grande

From an award winning novelist Reyna Grande, an eye-opening memoir about life before and after illegally emigrating from Mexico to the United States. After Reyna Grande’s father leaves his wife and three children behind in a village in Mexico to take the dangerous journey to “El Otro Lado” or America the family’s life is turned upside down. He promised to soon return to the village with enough money to build them a dream home. However, the promise became harder and harder to believe after months of being gone turned into years. Another obstacle is thrown at the family as he asked his wife to join him, forcing Reyna and her two older siblings Mago and Carlos into the household of their malicious grandmother.
The three siblings are forced to …show more content…
He was not the same man that left her many years ago to try and do better for his family. From all the stress that her father went through he turned to drinking to cope with his problems. When he drank a dark side of her father appeared he would stop being the loving father that always encouraged his children to always try and achieve success, to an abusive father. Physical abuse from her father was not the only abuse she received from him but also emotional abuse. Her father was constantly unsupportive with anything she did, including winning countless writing contest, making all state marching band. Reyna did everything she could to try and seek her father’s approval but nothing worked he would always compare her to her siblings say that she will just disappoint them like they did. However, while she was trying to seek his approval she also found a love for writing and music. It was not until she found a new support system that she realized she needed to do thinks for herself. She realized her father would never give her the love she need and Reyna stopped waiting around for him to be the father she once …show more content…
The first traumatic event was her cousin Catalina drowned during a storm. Reyna had to confront death head on as her uncle found Catalina’s water bloated body and hung it up in front of her to try and get some of the water out of her body. This moment scared Reyna for the rest of her life. It had a major effect on her in her teenage year. For her birthday she was taken to a water park. Once there she tried to enjoy her time but as Reyna got off of one of the water slides she had a flash back to her cousin drowning in the river. The next traumatic event in her life occurred a few years later, as she was crossing the border with her father and siblings. It was their last attempt to get to America and as they were crossing the border a helicopter flew overhead. These fear she felt in that moment followed her throughout her new life in America. Reyna had to be careful with everything she did to make sure she was not caught as an illegal immigrant. Finally, the last traumatic event that occurred was in America. Reyna did not grow up in the safest neighborhood while growing up but there was usually never any major problem. However, during her whole childhood she grew up next to a family that was heavily involved in gang violence. The violence started to invade Reyna’s home when there was a shooting right outside her home. Her and her family walked outside to see