It is a beautiful and heartbreaking story set in the 90s, about Marc Mendes, a former addict, who grew up in a Jewish family with a father as a Rabbi.
His partner Isaac has fled from Salvador as his whole family except him and his mother survive.
When Isaac might be deported it sets a lot in motion.
This book like his other one (The Savior of 6th Street) is beautifully written and absolutely devastating. The world building is amazing and even though all the people in the book are flawed, you get so invested in the rest. He really sucks you in with story and language. The book has a lot of overarching themes of family, chosen family, generational trauma, trying to find home. I highly recommend this book.

Disappointed. I had really looked forward to this book, but I never found it credible, nor engaging. Grateful for the digital ARC, and while I myself did not care for the book, I will still buy it for our library and mention it to various patrons and friends.

Thank you to the publishers at Amble Press and Smith Publicity for the chance to read the eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants follows Marc Mendes and his partner Isaac through the harrowing process of U.S. immigration court in a time when marriage equality would have prevented this issue in the first place, and also follows the ups and downs of Marc and Isaac’s relationship.

In many ways the novel is trying to do two things at the same time: an incisive courtroom drama that critiques the xenophobia and homophobia built into the U.S.’s immigration system and a smaller domestic drama between two men trying to keep their relationship together in spite of outside pressures. It’s significantly more effective at the former than the latter.

For a book that wants to uphold how flawed systems are, it doesn’t offer much sympathy to its antagonist, Alejandro Silva, as he ends up coming off as a queer Latinx Glenn Close from Fatal Attraction (seriously why was he so obsessed with Marc??). Part of why the domestic drama doesn’t work for me - even to highlight the point that queer couples don’t need to be perfect to deserve rights - is that the novel doesn’t do much to convince me that Isaac and Marc want to be together (Marc clearly has a lot to unpack/heal from that he often can’t be the partner Isaac needs in his time of crisis and Isaac resents the hell out of him for it) or should be together (they spend so much of the novel bickering, manipulating and sometimes even being cruel to each other). I wish the book would have spent more time on how Marc and Isaac fell in love in the first place because it begged the question: why go through all of the courtroom battle for a relationship that isn’t serving either partner?

Some things that I loved were any scene with Marc and his family, especially as he gets a chance to reconnect with them as the novel further explores themes around migration, displacement, and having to leave behind whole lives and loved ones because of forces deeply outside of our control. This novel also features one of my favorite coming-out conversations between a father and son, especially when that father is a religious leader. It’s tender and moved me on so many levels. We need more stories with queer people writing their own narratives, and these conversations between family are the best example of why we need more queer books, especially from queer writers of color.

Overall, I really wanted this book to measure up to its important and necessary criticisms of nation-states and why migration is a human right. Unfortunately, it meanders too much in a not well thought out domestic drama between the two protagonists that ends up taking away from its central message.

#TheFitfulSleepofImmigrants #NetGalley

5/5

Where to even begin with this wonderful novel. I finished this novel early in the morning, and as I laid in bed with my hand gripped to my kindle tapping the screen to keep turning the page I couldn't help but feel the emotions that both Marc and Issac our main characters. This novel shifted from what I thought it was going to be in the beginning to something completely more heartfelt. The struggle of being an immigrant that came into the United states illegally. But not only does Issac have to worry about being deported back to his home country where most of family was killed; Marc, our other main character, goes through his own battles. Self inflicted, at times selfish and tests the loyalty of his life partner Issac.

Just before the halfway mark, Marc decides to introduce Issac to his parents. Which caused a whole bunch of stress to Marc because of his father and his fathers title. To Marc's surprise, his father was okay with his son being gay, and was glad to have him back. For six years Marc hadn't visited his parents, who were living in the same state as him, but hours away. After a brief period of awkwardness, his father let loose and welcomed Issac into the family and for the remaining of the book, Marc's parents were keen on making sure Issac feel like family.

The short period they were together at Marc's parents house, Issac got a call that altered his mood for a quarter of the novel, which leads us on a journey that I couldn't help but fall deep with. Through the late nights I was awake with a newborn, I couldn't help but keep this book on the bed with me. And every chance I got, I was reading it. By far, this has been a great start to the 2023 reading year.

Loved this story! It takes you to so many different places psychologically and emotionally. This played out in my head like a movie.

Great literary fiction novel and extremely eye opening to read from the perspective of this character. I would recommend this to anyone who enjoys literary fiction like myself! Looking forward to reading more work by Orlando.

Thanks very much to NetGalley and Amble Press for the eARC of this very interesting and unique book.

I was originally drawn to request an ARC of this book because I'm on the hunt for unique legal fiction--something that's more complex and nuanced than your standard "legal thriller." This novel definitely fits the bill.

Marc, the protagonist, having survived addiction and terrible trauma in his past, seems to be doing fairly well when the book opens--he's finally sober and has a successful legal practice (as a partner in a small firm five years out of law school) and a loving partner, Isaac. However, everything begins to fall apart when Isaac, a would-be asylum seeker from El Salvador, receives a notice that he may be deported (the book is set long before marriage equality in the U.S., in the late 1990s); a former client won't leave him alone; and his law partner asks him to work on a new case with some very unsympathetic clients. The writing is great, and the characters absolutely seemed real to me--nobody is 100% good or 100% bad in this book (something that, without giving away any spoilers, is never more apparent than on the last page!).

I also really liked the nuanced and accurate depiction of the various legal matters going on in the book--as a former litigator and current ALJ (though not in immigration law), I found myself highlighting a lot. Even before reading his biography, I could tell that the author was an experienced attorney. However, I don't think you need to have that background to enjoy this book--which is, at its heart, a love story, and a story of healing. Highly recommended.

Devastating and beautiful at the same time, this will be a book I think about for a long time and will bring up to my friends just as often.

Thank you, Smith Publicity, for allowing me to read The Fitful Sleep of Immigrants early.

I really loved the title and the blurn but I couldn't get into the story,. Therefore, I decided to DNF at 35%. I hope other readers will love this one more than I did.

Ortega-Medina’s story is the most mature queer story I have read in a while. The main characters don’t feel like the perfect heroes, they are written to act like real humans and despite their flaws you want them to achieve their goal and get past the rough time they are going through. The same can’t be said about the villain of the story, he was there to be an evil genius that main goal was to get what he wants at any cost, and not knowing if he is ever telling the truth, Silva comes off feeling shallow compared to the protagonist.

The subjects of immigration, reconnecting with family, overcoming trauma and addiction, death, and of giving the person you love a second chance are all exquisitely explored. It will keep you thinking about how different things were in the 1990s, but regardless of social and political progress many people are still going trough similar situations.

Orland Ortega-Medina nicely wraps up the story with a cherry on top that made made my jaw drop in the last two pages.