“Sylvia Zéleny makes her claim as one of the true contemporary voices to be heard on the US Mexican border. Her powerful stories are not to be missed and will hold canon for many young readers looking to identify with text for and by their own culture.” — Chelsea Villareal, member of Latinx in Publishing.
What defines us? What makes us into the people that way we are? The Everything I Have Lost is a beautifully sublime story of a young girl coming of age en la frontera. By writing in her diary, Julia unveils her firsthand account of what it's like not knowing what’s going on around her in a city where everything is out of her control. She can only watch and document as her world gets smaller under the escalating violence in her hometown, Ciudad Juárez.
Her experiences are broken and divided across the Rio Grande. As she has roots in both Juárez and El Paso, she vacillates under the complexities of her own identification. She so deeply loves her home, her favorite restaurants, and her family, together in Juárez. There is a connection to her community, a connection that author Sylvia Zéleny elegantly conveys through the distinctive houses in Julia’s hometown neighborhood.
Julia is a child when her family loses everything, just like the rest of the families on her block. It seems like a miracle from above when, out of nowhere, they move into a new comfortable house, have a car, and want for nothing. Her father has a new job but she isn’t allowed to ask any questions. She’s thankful but in the dark. But as long as she has her family, she’s content, as content as most young girls can be on the verge of thirteen.
As she ages into a young woman, she confronts her childhood innocence with a bravely that few of us are lucky enough to conjure. She wants to know where her father’s been when he comes home all beat up and why her friends at school keep telling her that he’s up to no good, a bad guy. She’s stuck between her right to a happy family and the realities of the tumultuous climate around her.
Born in El Paso, her family frequently visits her tia, bisabuela, and prima across the bridge. Escaping the violence of a diminishing city, only to be bombarded with a culture similar to but not her own. El Paso serves as a reminder of what can be for all young girls like Julia as well as a memory of what has been in her home of Juárez. Julia is a pillar of strength, not to be undermined or undervalued, in an environment unsuitable for children, any children.
Expertly woven in Zéleny’s The Everything I Have Lost, the modern identity of young people experiencing random acts of violence, wherever they may be, are not appropriately represented in our mainstream culture. Julia has a voice and it is powerful and eye opening, especially to readers unfamiliar with the day to day life on the border. For the two cities, El Paso and Juárez, cannot be separated. As Zéleny writes, “These cities, you can never separate them, there will always be a bridge.” Let us look to Julia as we move forward into hopeful progress. Building and respecting bridges across both rivers and cultures.
Chelsea Villareal is a Children’s Media Strategist and Brand Marketing Manager from Portland, Oregon – Hey Cascadians! She holds a BUPA in Political Science & Media Studies from Portland State University, attended the NYU Summer Publishing Institute and is currently enrolled in her Masters at Columbia University. She works on the Brand Marketing team at Penguin Young Readers and lives in Brooklyn with her partner and two crazy, lazy feline beasts.
