The Son of Good Fortune: A Luminous Coming-of-Age Story About an Undocumented Son and His Mother's Unbreakable Bond

I am not a Pinoy, but am fortunate to have family members from the Philippines. Tenorio's voice, his dialogue, his description of walking in two worlds are all accurate and poignant. This book helped me understand the culture that people dear to me come from - and they became even more dear. He also described the Mojave Desert not as "there's nothing out there", but as a place rich in people, hardship and beauty. Salamat po.

A translation of the Tagalog exchanges would’ve been nice. The ending was inconclusive.

This was a quick, very good read. It excellently captures the struggles of being "TNT" (undocumented) in the United States and the lengths families will go to stay together. Captivating writing and an engrossing story. Will read Tenorio's other works.

The Son of Good Fortune by Lysley Tenorio . I find that a good book makes you see a side of things that at first isn’t apparent. If I said this book was about a teenager and his mother who are illegal immigrants living in the San Francisco Bay Area who scam money from men online it wouldn’t seem that they individuals worthy of sympathy. However, the author reveals both of the characters humanity through the course of the story. The reader can see their value as people regardless of their bad choices. . The two main characters are Maxima and her 19 year-old-son, Excel. Maxima was an action movie star briefly in the Philippines. Once that fizzled our she found herself pregnant, jobless, and alone in her home country. She got a friend to help her immigrate to San Francisco. On the plane she delivers her son, Excel. Since he was born midair he is not a US citizen. A fact Maxima conceals from him until he’s 10-years-old. When she does tell him she grinds the importance of keeping their illegal status secret into him. Excel at that point becomes very afraid. He isolates as much as humanly possible. This leaves them both lonely and vulnerable. Then of course, without documentation they have a hard time getting jobs and then comes in the scamming men online. . The book almost felt like a short story. It’s just a snippet of their overall story. It’s not really settled when the book ends. Overall, it’s good. This would work well as a book club selection. There are a lot of…

I enjoyed this book tremendously. It is imaginative, humorous, and serious at the same time it addresses the challenges of being undocumented. It is well written.