A mother’s love is so fierce and unique, and so perfectly described in this book. Even more equally unique is the love of a foster parent. Both trying to do what’s best for the child and provide them with what they need. What wouldn’t a mother do for her child?

Lucky Boy takes the most unbiased look at two sides I have ever seen and leaves you so unbearably conflicted. It will haunt you long after you finish. I was made to question my stance on immigration, on the foster care system, on the prison system, EVERYTHING. I just wanted a happy ending but in the current state of affairs, there are no clean lines. I can’t recommend this book more, it brought to attention things that you can become callous to when you see the headlines every day, or the stories that are relegated to the back pages and small print. I talk about sides, but can you really take a side? It’s not about sides, it’s about humanity.
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realistic fiction-modern day immigration (from Mexico), East Indian culture (as transposed to Berkeley/CA), yearnings for motherhood, adoption.

I got to page 54 (toward the end of chapter 5) and thought the writing was good, but was not gripped enough by it to want to finish it right now--will pass this on to those on the waiting list at my library, and maybe come back to it later. ( )

Solimar Castro Valdez is leaving her Mexican home to go to America and become an American citizen. In her quest to do so, she becomes involved with traffickers trying to get her and others into the States. She becomes involved with a group, one of whom (Checo) becomes her lover.
She is mistreated in many ways, but finds, once she settles with her cousin in Berkeley, CA, that she is pregnant.
She has a job as a housekeeper/nanny and is doing well, but not legally. She has her baby boy and is doing well, until it is found that she is not legal.
Ignacio, her baby boy, is taken from her and she is put into jail as a nonlegal. That is when Ignacio is put into a foster home with Rishi & Kavya Reddy. They grow to love him and want to adopt him.

Well-written and sad for both sides of this child's "parents". ( )

The story -real, heartbreaking , and full of heart...glorious writing! I so look forward to another book by this gifted storyteller ❤️ ( )

Solimar Valdez, an undocumented immigrant from Mexico, becomes pregnant on her journey and makes a new life in America living with her cousin Silvia and working as a housekeeper. Kavya Reddy and her husband Rishi desperately want a child, but no matter what they try they have not been able to. Interweaving their two experiences, Lucky Boy puts a human face on the experiences of mothers and foster mothers in a challenging situation.

It's hard to say much about this book without feeling like I'm reducing it to something pat or easy. It's also almost impossible to say anything concrete about the story without giving spoilers, because the pacing at the beginning is so deliberate: a lot of story time is devoted to Soli's crossing the border and her 9 months of pregnancy; then time collapses a little bit and two years goes by quickly, with jumps of months at a time. Sekaran does a really good job of giving the reader differing immigrant experiences, both Soli's individual experience and that of the Latinx housekeepers that work for Silvia, and Kavya's as an Indian-American whose parents put a lot of pressure on her to be a "perfect" girl. There are no easy answers. Both Soli and Kavya are sympathetic, which makes for heartbreaking reading, because someone's going to get hurt regardless. A couple of times, I wondered if events panned out a certain way because the author just didn't know which direction to take the story, especially at the end. But while it's not a perfect book, there's certainly much fodder for discussion. ( )