As I turned the pages of Reyna Grande’s memoir The Distance between Us, my mind was transformed and my views on immigration and life have changed drastically. The privileged are often unknowingly selfish and can be ignorant to other people’s woes. I, myself have been guilty of this in the past, but I’m making an effort to do better. Reyna Grande paints a vivid picture of the poverty she endured while living in Mexico. I felt the pain, disappointment, happiness, hope, and animosity that many of the main and secondary characters in the book felt. I was saddened by pervasive selfishness displayed by every character in the book. I’ve come to realize that their selfishness was a byproduct of stress and heartache that plagued them. The cause of their
