Not one to remember geography, this book was THAT good that I looked over several maps to find the Panama Canal. The Great Divide is about several unrelated characters that travel to Panama to begin work on the Panama Canal. Each person was from different areas of the world, had nothing in common except for the build of the Panama Canal. The stories all intertwined. The book was an easy read. The author was able to make each person standout and never once, did I become confused over who was who. I'd never really thought about the Panama Canal, malaria, mosquitos and rehousing people and villages. Interesting and exciting times. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the complimentary digital ARC. This review is my honest opinion.

Thank you to Net Galley and Ecco for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.. I have never thought much about the creation of the Panama Canal so I was very interested in reading this historical fiction book. We join the story as the creation of Panama Canal is being talked about and outsiders start coming to the area. We learn of the people who live in the area who lives will be forever changed by the the canal - moved from their homes to make way for the canal, disputes within families of those who want to make money working on the canal but contribute to the end of that way of life, racism of those who live in the area as well as those who come to work there, and the idea of those who live in the area are not Americans as defined by the US. There were a lot characters and I kind of wished that the author had just focused on a few to tell the story. The read was interesting from a historical point of view and that history doesn't really address all those who were negatively affected by the canal but I thought the story was lacking in telling a compelling character-driven perspective. Yet overall it was worth the read. 3.5 stars

The Great Divide is set in Panama during the building of the canal. It is definitely character-driven, but there are so many characters it is sometimes a bit confusing. I had hoped for more information about the actual building of the canal, but this book focuses on the back stories of people from varied cultures and countries who came together to build the canal or support those who did. I was more interested in some stories than others. Although it wasn't what I expected, this book does a good job of showing the effect the building of the canal had on the locals and the way they were treated by people coming in, especially from the U.S.

The pace of the story is slower than I usually like, but the work it must have taken to develop so many characters is admirable.

One aspect I hadn't really considered is the towns that were erased due to the building of canal, and this book explores that issue very well.

I received a free copy of this book from the publishers via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

Panamá comes alive in Cristina Henríquez’s THE GREAT DIVIDE (#gifted). Most slot the Panama Canal as a marvelous feat of engineering, but its nascency and construction, the workers who built it, the land excavated to make way for its presence, the dreamers it drew from all corners of the world—all of this is also part of its complex history. This was my first time reading Henríquez’s work, and I was absolutely stunned by the historical detail and the ensemble cast of characters whose lives so intricately wove together. There is an American scientist, intent on solving the problem of the mosquito. There is a girl from Barbados who comes to Panamá to earn money for her sick sister. There is a Panamanian teen, lonely in the shadow of his mother’s death and his father’s grief, searching for community. There are the headstrong people of a village about to uprooted to make way for the canal. There are the workers, working towards dreams, even as many of them succumb to the dangerous conditions of the canal’s construction.

In a book with so many characters, some do stay with you more than others—for me, it was the storyline of Ada, Lucille, and Millicent Bunting. I don’t remember all of the characters, but what Henríquez has definitely accomplished in THE GREAT DIVIDE is leaving us with a feeling, that the history and people are sprawling and rich and definitely need to be remembered.

Thank you Ecco Books for the gifted copy! THE GREAT DIVIDE just came out on March 5; find it at your nearest independent bookstore.

I found there were too many characters and not enough depth. While the backdrop is building the Panama Canal, we actually don’t see very much of it in the story. (Okay, there is the digging, but this really is not the focus.)

Instead the story is about the people in Panama at that time, and their personal story. Many people went there because of the this grand project, while a few people are locals. For those Panamanians their story helps to highlight the changes to their country.

In the novel, a few of the characters have some resolution to their immediate problem, but for others we don’t have that, instead only to infer. One character introduced very late in the book has no resolution and makes me wonder why was that person there anyway? Perhaps that is nitpicking, but that felt like the author was trying to be all encompassing and the book would be stronger less.

It’s the early 1900’s and the United States has decided to open up Panama by digging a canal through the country, thereby connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific. The French had tried a similar endeavor in the 1880’s but gave up. Now, the U.S. will renew the plan to create a shipping waterway connecting the two oceans to facilitate the movement of goods and people from one side of the county to the other.

Here we follow a number of people on the different sides of the effort. There’s a poor Panamanian fisherman who sees the work as detrimental to his country. His son, on the other hand, sees an opportunity to make money. Other locals are distressed to hear their entire town will be relocated and are very displeased. Many of the workers on the dig are from the Caribbean Islands or other depressed areas. One young island girl comes to earn money to pay the medical expenses of her ailing sister. To them and others who can’t find work in their own countries, the building of the canal seems like a boon.

On the other side, there are those who are profiting from the hard labor of the poor. There’s a foreman who delights in pushing his men beyond endurance. There’s a medical expert who comes to make his mark if he can find a cure for malaria. Ava, the island girl who gets hired by the doctor, has a family at home who are also victims of the wealth divide. Her mother is raising her two daughters on her own while the wife of the wealthy plantation owner strives to keep her in her place.

There are two divides that are the focal point of the novel. One is the physical land barrier that needs to be hewn in two to allow ships’ passage. The other is the societal divide between the rich and the poor, the powerful and the those without power. Today the world looks back with relish on the engineering marvel of the Panama Canal. But Henriquez delves into the underbelly of the human cost to the residents, the workers and the towns.

The characters are well-developed and the simplicity of their lives is a stark contrast to the Americans and the white property owners who keep them in their place, at the bottom of the social ladder. The residents and workers must comply or pay the steepest price. For some the cost may even be forfeiting their very lives. A powerful, riveting story that shifts the focus from awe at the marvel to shame at the human toll.

I was looking forward to reading The Great Divide because Cristina Henriquez's previous novel, The Book of Unknown Americans, really impressed me, and a novel about how the construction of the Panama Canal affected a range of characters sounded like a compelling read.

Henriquez introduces us to young Ada Bunting, who has run away from her home in Barbados to earn money to pay for her sister's desperately needed surgery. Francisco is a fisherman who objects to the United States tearing apart Panama, literally and figuratively (previous attempts to build the canal, such as by France, were failures). But his son Omar disobeys him and gets a job working on the digging crew, both to earn money and to get out of his tiny village. John Oswald has come from the United States to work on a cure for malaria. Yellow Fever has been eliminated, but malaria remains a dread disease and it must be stopped or slowed if the canal is to be built. So we have four characters whose experiences will give us a variety of perspectives into this project which will change Panama and the world.

The Great Divide starts off strong as it moves among the characters and sets the scene. But before long the narrative begins to feel like interconnected stories rather than a novel. Henriquez provides extensive backgrounds on each character that detract from the early narrative momentum. The writing is strong and the characters are interesting, but Henriquez takes too long to weave the various plot strands into a unified story. I found myself becoming impatient with what seemed like digressions from the main plot.

I think many readers would enjoy this book, as long as they don't mind a slower, more character-based story. For me, it ultimately end up being disappointing, a missed opportunity. I'd give it a B/B-.

The Great Divide is an immersive story about those affected by the building of the Panama Canal in the early 1900s. The characters and stories are Interconnected and we see many different perspectives, from local Panamanians, doctors visiting from the US and France, to a young worker from Barbados and her family.

The chapters are pretty short and told at a good pace, focusing on a different character's perspective, which kept me interested. The cast of characters is huge, so it can be difficult to keep them straight. I think it also limited my connection to them since we don't spend a lot of time with them. It was fascinating to ponder the breadth of experiences in Panama and how hard some people had to struggle.

Although the Panama Canal was a hugely impressive feat of engineering and hard work, workers died and land was irreversibly altered. The Great Divide illustrates who profited the most from it and who sacrificed the most for it.

Thank you Ecco and NetGalley for providing this ARC. All thoughts are my own.

The author does a great job of engaging the reader throughout the novel while juggling all the different characters introduced. I especially liked how the characters connected throughout. I learned so much and would recommend this.

I love historical fiction! This novel about the history of the Panama Canal was so well-written and a topic not written about much which was refreshing! Shined a bright light on the interesting groups of people who poured their sweat into constructing it. Can't recommend it highly enough!

Having been named a Read with Jenna Book Club Selection for March, as well as receiving pre-publication nods from a variety of media, including Time and the Washington Post, Cristina Henriquez’s latest novel does not need additional accolades. Her fiction has typically drawn on her Panamanian roots, featuring the country as both a setting and the birthplace of many of her characters. True to form, Henriquez’s latest novel uses the 1907 construction of the Panama Canal as its sensational backdrop.

This meticulously researched tale is told through the kaleidoscope of intersecting lives: Francisco Aquino, a Panamanian fisherman, who had raised his son as a single father, is anguished that the lonely teenage Omar has sought community by “join[ing] the biggest undertaking known to man;” 16 year old Ada Bunting, a stowaway from Barbados, whose family toiled for generations on a sugar plantation, comes to Panama seeking work to pay for her ailing sister’s surgery; and John and Marian Oswald, a cordial but loveless couple from Tennessee, arrive in Panama because John hopes to eradicate malaria.

The Great Divide is ambitious, immersive and propulsive. Henriquez beautifully weaves together the intersecting stories of ordinary people who come from different backgrounds drawn together by this massive 10-year construction project. She deftly details the sacrifices and challenges the migrants, laborers, and locals who made the waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. She also does a masterful job of providing a vivid sense of place. She describes the rigid racial divisions in the Canal Zone and the laborers working in the steamy heat and the ceaseless rain. A sweeping novel that will delight fans of historical fiction.

This is a snapshot of history during construction of the Panama Canal told from multiple perspective. Omar, a canal laborer seeking connection outside his isolated fishing village, is defying the wishes of his father Francisco, a lonely fisherman opposed to the canal. Omar crosses paths with Ada, who has arrived in Panama looking for work that will pay for a medical procedure her sister needs back in Barbados. She finds work as a caretaker for Mrs. Oswald, who is bedridden at home while her husband seeks to eradicate malaria. In addition to these characters, we hear from Ada’s mother, a local fishmonger and his wife, and other characters. From their stories, we learn about the tremendous impact of canal construction on the everyday lives of ordinary people.
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I enjoyed reading about a place in the world and a period in history that I’ve not had much exposure too. Henriquez developed a strong sense of place - I could picture The Cut, the jungle, the Oswald estate, and a small villages. Although there were many characters, they were well developed and easy to remember. If you’re looking for unique historical fiction, definitely check this out.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and Ecco for sending me an electronic ARC.

THE GREAT DIVIDE by Cristina Henriquez is a LibraryReads selection for March and was chosen as a Today Show Read with Jenna Book Club Pick. This title is historical fiction – centered around the building of the Panama Canal between 1904 and 1914 – but like her earlier work (The Book of Unknown Americans) tells the story through the actions and thoughts of multiple characters. My personal favorite was Ana, a young girl from Barbados who stowed away to travel to Panama to find work and support her ailing sister. There, she meets a young man, Omar, who works on the canal. Other characters include the Oswalds from Tennessee – he is fighting for the eradication of malaria and she is a botanist who is not allowed to establish a career. In fact, women are often thwarted and by necessity dependent on men in this text which, while historically realistic, added some frustration for this reader. In general, I thought Henriquez's novel had a strong start and I was curious about the characters, but the limited choices and spiteful actions (Omar and his father do not speak to each other; there is a cruel overseer at the canal works) made reading the story increasingly more of a slog – perhaps that was meant to echo the drudgery of creating the canal? Although I found it difficult to stay engaged and finish the story, THE GREAT DIVIDE received starred reviews from Booklist ("dramatizing with tenderness, insight, and striking detail how '‘the great divide' not only split the land but also communities, families, culture, and a sense of wholeness.") and Publishers Weekly ("delves deeply into themes of colonialism and labor exploitation"). The beautiful cover is eye-catching – have a read and decide for yourself.

Thank you to Net Galley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Unfortunately, I couldn't get into this one. I loved Cristina Henriquez's previous novel, The Book of Unknown Americans. I can sense that there are similarities in style here. However, the number of characters was overwhelming to me. While I can recognize it's obviously an important story to tell - and that Henriquez is an exceptional author - this one didn't work for me.

Wow, this book was fascinating and eye opening. I have read very little about the building of the Panama Canal and this book definitely delivered on the research. It was well written, descriptive and emotional. I enjoyed reading about the different backgrounds, experiences and lives of those involved in the creation of the Panama Canal. I was literally transported back in time and was able to vividly picture and experience what the author was describing. My only complaint is that there were a lot of different characters - beneficial to learn about the different lives involved - but some stories left me wanting more. The book very strongly portrays race and class division at the time, which is often difficult to read. However, it also was an accurate experience of the time. A very well researched and written book - I would recommend to anyone interested in life experiences and history.
Thank you Netgalley for my advanced reader copy.

What a coincidence that I read this book right after a visit to Panama! "The Great Divide" by Cristina Henriquez is definitely a different version than the rosy story tourists are told at the Miraflores Lock. It explores the human side of the building of the Panama Canal; those who dug the canal, those residents who had to relocate due to the formation of Gatun Lake, and those who came to eradicate malaria. I loved this book because it brought a largely unknown slice of history alive to me through its vivid characters and descriptive writing. I was thoroughly engrossed from the first page to the last and reading it made me feel like I was right back on the Isthmus. Everyone knows that the Panama Canal changed the world forever. This book brings to light how it altered the lives of many people forever too. It would make an excellent book club pick (and is a Read with Jenna Book Club Pick) because there is a lot to discuss and unpack. And the cover is gorgeous-it reminds me of the fabric I saw for sale everywhere in Panama City (and now graces my table at home).

This was my first book by Cristina Henriquez, but it definitely will not be my last. Many thanks to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this fabulous book, a book that belongs on every historical fiction must-read list for 2024. Five stars!

(Thanks to @eccobooks.) I was very excited to read 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗚𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗧 𝗗𝗜𝗩𝗜𝗗𝗘 for two main reasons. To begin, I’m a big fan of Cristina Henríquez’s 2014 novel 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘰𝘧 𝘜𝘯𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘈𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘴, and I was also looking forward to a story set around the building of the Panama Canal. Unfortunately, this one just didn’t work for me. In my opinion there were too many characters and not enough plot.⁣⁣⁣
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It felt like Henríquez was trying to cover so much ground that she was never able to go very deep anywhere in her story. This muddied the waters around what was purported to be a story of the building of the Panama Canal. Instead it was snippets of many people’s lives, and many different events, some closely connected to the Canal, but others much further out from it. ⁣
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The story meandered too often for me, and to be honest, by the second half I was skimming pretty regularly. Of course, that’s never a good sign. It will be interesting to read a few more reviews of this one. It’s the @readwithjenna 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘤𝘩 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘊𝘭𝘶𝘣 pick, so obviously, there are readers out there who have loved it. I suggest searching those out rather than letting my words sway you!

Not quite what I expected. I thought this book would focus more on the actual building of the Panama Canal. However it really is about how different people came from various countries to support the building of the canal (doctors, cooks, housekeepers) as well as the friction and disruption it caused Panamanians. There were compelling storylines and I'm glad that I read it - it's left me wanting to learn more about what life was like before, during, and after the building of the canal.

This was a great read for understanding more about the cultural implications of building the Panama canal. However, the pace was really slow and the entire story felt like character development without anything really happening.

A beautifully written novel concerning a group of people involved in the Panama Canal. This story shows colonialism via multiple POVs. It is very much a character driven novel. The building of the Panama Canal being more of a backdrop than a plot.
This is a very slow plot line. I feel like you have to be in a very distinct mindset to enjoy this style of writing. It will not be for everyone. If you know you enjoy these kind of character study novels then this will be the book for you.
I received an advanced reading copy of this book.