Out in the Open (2017) by Jesus Carrasco

 Book Review

Out in the Open (2017)

by Jesus Carrasco

Translated by Margaret Jill Costa

   I found this book via the Libby library app via the "other books like this one" feature, which is especially useful if you are reading a type of book and want to read other books like it but don't know much about that area.  Here, I was reading another book translated from Spanish and Out in the Open popped up.  The story is about a child fleeing an abusive situation in an isolated environment. I had in mind the desert southwest or northern Mexico, though there are no place names or even personal names to help pin down the location or specific environment.  It's bleak, to be sure, but to call it "dystopian" as does the libby editorial copy seems a bit much.  Not every child wandering around in a featureless desert is living in a dystopia.