Welcome to Litsy!

Generally speaking, I‘m not a huge fan of character driven books. I like more plot. But this one was fascinating! It takes a look at the building of the Panama Canal from the perspectives of native Panamanians, immigrants from Caribbean islands looking to earn money working on the project, and Americans who came either to work on the project directly, or indirectly by studying mosquito-borne diseases, and more. Intriguing.

I walked a 1/2 mile in the cool morning weather to take advantage of early voting.

An interesting story about building the Panama Canal and the cost to human life and lives it affected. Complete with love, power, betrayal, friendship, poverty, wealth - a true reflection of the human experience.

I really loved this book! I'm pretty sure this is the first book I've read that was set in Panama. It's historical fiction, set in 1907 during the building of the Panama canal. It interweaves the stories of several people working on and around the canal, including an American doctor who is trying to eradicate malaria. I look forward to reading more by this author.

Current read - I thought this was the story of the Panama Canal, but it‘s really about the different types of people involved in the project.

This is a character-driven historical fiction book.
The author‘s prose is immersive and engaging. I enjoyed learning about aspects of the Panama Canal that I did not know otherwise.

While some of the story‘s characters are particularly enveloping, other characters feel underdeveloped. I was left wanting more at the end of the book. Full review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5990298220

This book follows a cast of characters in Panama as the canal is being built. You only get a glimpse of the building itself; this is really about people‘s lives and how they are impacted by this huge project. I really liked this one. Plus the audio is narrated by one of my faves, Robin Miles. 🤩

I love a historical fiction novel that centres around a major but less attention-grabbing event - in this case, the building of the Panama Canal. I liked how Henríquez gave us back story and glimpses of the future tucked around the main plot but I would have liked a slightly smaller cast of characters.

Why does this keep happening to me?! Thank goodness this weekend is a long one.

The Book of Unknown Americans is among my favorite fictional immigrant stories so I couldn‘t wait for this one. I liked it but did myself a disservice sans my own physical copy. This is a character driven story with each character representing a different facet of the personalities living in and coming to Panama during the building of the canal. It was just really hard to keep track of everyone so I focused on Omar and Ada.

This was an engaging historical fiction story about the building of the Panama Canal in the early 1900s. Told from several perspectives that come together in satisfying ways. Gives voice to the people of Panama. Highly recommend!

Thanks to Libro.fm's ALC program for librarians for the early listen!