OutstandingI am always sad when I finish one of Luis's books. His slurs of writing had always made me feel as it I was standing right next to him seeing everything just as he described it.

I hope this one exorcised Luis' devils. It's hard to believe how much "bad stuff" the author encountered in the Tijuana area. Unfortunately, I believe every word of it. Very powerful, however sad.

Tijuana, Mexico is one of the most poor cities in all of the Americas. And in the most poor city, there are the poorest of the poor who live, work, and play in a dump. That's not an adjective but an actual place: people live in the city dump. People are born, play, work, and live in the dump, and even die and are buried in the dump. The title of the book refers to a lagoon in the middle of the dump in which long-deceased children's bodies find their way to the surface and float. The residents of...

Want some insight into the issues at the border? Read this (or other Urrea books). This book was so well written the words disappeared as I read and I was walking through the "dompe" with Urrea, seeing, smelling, tasting, hearing everything. Even though the book was written well before the current crisis and administrative "response" to the border crisis, Urrea foresaw what would happen very clearly. I cannot say more without spoilers so I'll use the Richard Rodriguez quote at the beginning of t...

Had to read this book for my Borderland class. It was such a great book. It really humbles you down.The book has some complicated topics, death, poverty, abuse. BUT it's totally still worth the read, it truly makes you open your eyes.

Revelation It’s hard for us gringos to imagine all this horror that some people live through. We should see it with our own eyes before we make political decisions. Because our comforts affect others’ discomforts.

At once heartening and sad and descriptive as hell. Like humanity is. I plowed through this quickly.

This collection of essays centers around the orphans, dump dwellers and trash pickers in Tijuana. As they slag through our trash (courtesy NAFTA) to make a living, or beg, or accept missionary charity because the prayer is worth the trade for food and clothes, you follow along a guilty observer. These are humans, they don't live that far away. A human created border, a wall of poverty... marginalized by their own countrymen (as we do with our homeless and poor), criminalized by our countrymen -

Luis Alberto Urrea's nonfiction book, "By the Lake of Sleeping Children," first published in 1996, is without a doubt the darkest book I have ever read in my life.The content of this book is tremendously horrifying, and incredibly painful to read. The entire book is a nonstop nightmare. Every sentence is true. Everything depicted in this book is real life. It's the bravest book I've ever read. I absolutely loved it.There isn't a word out of place in this book. Urrea is a phenomenal writer, and h...

Have an opinion about illegal immigrants? Then this book is for you! You'll learn so much through the stories and statistics of Mexico's most oppressed -- the men, women, and children who are born in, live in, and and are eventually buried in the garbage dumps of Tijuana, Mexico. That's right. They live in shacks, right in the garbage. And when they die, they're buried in the dump. Although their graves are marked, their bodies often float to the surface during floods. It's a crazy life of hopel...

Urrea described two chapters as being brutal and obscene. I am grateful that I didn't skip them. They were integral to the story. The last chapter touched my heart. A family headed by a resilient Juana and a rascal named Manuel proved that hope dies last. They lost everything in a fire but they still persevered.

Powerful, haunting images of people start on page one and continue through the end of these narratives. Urrea's words are not maudlin, yet they carry tremendous emotional impact because they grow into stories of people I come to care about, not merely unknown people gathered into masses. Instead, the people remembered in these pages are individuals with needs and names. I was shocked to realize the extreme poverty they endured, truly surpassing any conception of poverty I've witnessed -- certain...

First published more than 20 years ago, this book remains sadly relevant and shows that our immigration system has been broken for a long time. But, as Urrea writes in the introduction, this isn't about politics or trends or data points or sociology. It is simply a book about humans. Poverty-stricken humans facing unimaginable hardships who somehow manage to never lose hope. Nowhere is that more clear than in the final chapter. After seeing their meager house burn down, a husband and wife begin

I have read this book over and over.

A collection of essays about life in the garbage dumps of Tijuana. It reminded me of my time spent in the garbage dumps of Cairo. Poverty is exhausting. It’s cruel. It’s dirty. It’s ugly. This book is a call to change and to a genuine compassion that lasts longer than a high school mission’s trip. It’s been 30 years since Urrea wrote this. Sadly, things along the border are no better now. Looking forward to reading more of this author’s work.

Very graphic. Some parts were very obscene. If it wasn't required for my class I wouldn't have finished it. Description of life on the Mexican/American border.

By the Lake of Sleeping Children is a portrayal of life near the Mexican-American border. Urrea’s writing is so detailed and beautiful, the reader is virtually immersed in the reality of border life...it’s challenging and eye-opening. I learned of this book after reading American Dirt, which, while a work of fiction, was written by an American with distant Latina roots, and no real first-hand experience of border life. This book, in contrast, offer a raw glimpse of border life based on real-life...

After reading "Into the beautiful north" by this author I set out to find everything else he has ever written and found this book. It would not appear to be a feel good book after all conditions in the border and especially for the people who live in the "dompes" are terrible. But as much as it is hard to imagine people living in these conditions what I came away with was admiration for these people who don't seem to ever feel sorry for themselves and simply set out to survive. Beautifully writt...

Like most of Luis Alberto Urrea's non-fiction ("Under the Wire" and "The Devil's Highway" come to mind), "By the Lake of Sleeping Children" pulls no punches. We're even warned in the Introduction that certain chapters might be best avoided by the faint of heart. To do so, however, would mean missing Urrea's eye for detail and always eloquent prose. Yes, it might haunt your nightmares, but that's entirely the point.

Insightful and inspiring. Urrea is a master of sharing the story of this population/community. There is so much I want to say...but I am left speechless.