The Book of Unknown Americans: List 3

by Cristina Henríquez
After Maribel Rivera sustains a debilitating injury, her family leaves a comfortable life in Mexico to seek treatment in the United States. Maribel develops a close relationship with her new neighbor Mayor, setting in motion a devastating chain of events.

This list covers pages 91–146 in the 2015 Vintage Contemporaries edition.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: List 1, List 2, List 3, List 4, List 5
40 words 316 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. crevice
    a long narrow depression in a surface
    Arturo came home from work each day tired and hungry, the crevices of his skin caked with dirt.
  2. furrow
    make or become wrinkled or creased
    When we started seeing each other, one of the traits that had attracted me to Arturo was how serious he could be, the way that he furrowed his eyebrows when I used to watch him on a job, the intensity of focus and the pride he took in doing the job well.
  3. solemn
    characterized by a firm belief in your opinions
    I was stubborn, but I had never been as solemn as him, and I admired the strength that his solemnity seemed to represent.
  4. gravity
    a manner that is serious and solemn
    And since the accident, those traits that I loved had given way to something darker—seriousness had become gravity, sensitivity had transformed into melancholy.
  5. melancholy
    a feeling of thoughtful sadness
    And since the accident, those traits that I loved had given way to something darker—seriousness had become gravity, sensitivity had transformed into melancholy.
  6. reservation
    an unstated doubt that prevents you from accepting something
    But I could tell Arturo had his own reservations.
  7. poised
    marked by balance or equilibrium and readiness for action
    He just stared at the bowl with his spoon poised in his hand.
  8. stifle
    smother or suppress
    Arturo tried to stifle a laugh in his nose that escaped anyway.
  9. bleak
    unpleasantly cold and damp
    The sound of it—the tinkle of joy in the midst of our bleak American winter—was startling.
  10. elusive
    skillful at evading capture
    I lay in bed most nights, long after Arturo and Maribel had fallen asleep, and stared at the ceiling. Sleep was like wealth, elusive and for other people.
  11. trowel
    a small hand tool with a handle and metal blade
    He climbed a ladder that was leaning against the overhang and settled himself onto the roof with a bucket of clay and a trowel he used to spread it.
  12. conception
    an abstract or general idea inferred from specific instances
    Arturo usually frowned when she did those things—they didn’t fit the Mexican conception of what girls could and should do—but I loved that about Maribel.
  13. reproach
    disgrace or shame
    “I’m sorry,” I murmured, the combined weight of horror and reproach pressing against my chest.
  14. neuron
    a cell that is specialized to conduct nerve impulses
    Forward and back, and it tore against bone. And when it tore, it destroyed some of the connections between neurons, which was a word the doctor had to explain to us.
  15. implicit
    suggested though not directly expressed
    I wanted her to have the full, long life that every parent promises his or her child by the simple act of bringing that child into the world. The implicit promise, I thought.
  16. pathologist
    a doctor who specializes in medical diagnosis
    After weeks of rehabilitation, after working with a psychologist and a speech language pathologist and the doctor, all they could tell us was things like: She struggles with finding the right words sometimes, and that will likely persist.
  17. erratic
    likely to perform unpredictably
    Her short-term memory is erratic at best.
  18. affect
    an emotion, or the outward display of an emotion
    Her emotional affect is flat, which may or may not change.
  19. prone
    having a tendency
    She might be more prone to depression, even long-term.
  20. aloof
    distant, cold, or detached in manner
    When I had met her in the Dollar Tree, before I knew anything about her, she had seemed intimidating and aloof.
  21. concede
    admit or acknowledge, often reluctantly
    “Maribel’s a nice girl.”
    “Maybe,” my dad conceded. “But not for Mayor.”
  22. prude
    a person excessively concerned about propriety and decorum
    I wasn’t a prude. I had kissed boys before.
  23. proximity
    the property of being close together
    And I felt I couldn’t stay there, in such proximity to Scott. I knew it was only a matter of time before he came for me again.
  24. caulk
    a waterproof filler and sealant used in building and repair
    The wind sliced through the edges of the old, loose windows and shuttled cold air into our bedroom. Arturo tried to smooth caulk into the crevices, but the caulk cracked when it dried.
  25. modulate
    adjust the pitch, tone, or volume of
    “Maribel speaks with increasing frequency, both to the teacher and to the aide, although only in Spanish. She has begun to respond to questions, although at times her response is inconsistent with the question asked. Both in voluntary speech and in reply, she has begun to modulate her voice to be more expressive.”
  26. unintelligible
    not clearly understood or expressed
    The boy said something in English, something unintelligible to me, but I could hear the indignation in his tone, and without thinking, I turned and spat in his face.
  27. fatalist
    someone who feels powerless to change his or her destiny
    “Yes, you are. You worry about everything. You’re a true mexicana. A fatalist.”
  28. machismo
    exaggerated masculinity
    In the time that he and my mom had been gone, I’d talked myself into the idea that maybe my dad would be proud of me—just a little bit—when he found out I’d gotten into a fight. Maybe it proved I had a little bit of machismo in me after all.
  29. incredulously
    in a disbelieving manner
    “What?” my dad repeated incredulously. “What? I’ll tell you what. You punched someone.”
  30. vise
    a holding device attached to a workbench
    “This whole time!” he screamed, and he lunged toward me, squeezing my shoulders between his hands like a vise, lifting me to my feet.
  31. pall
    a sudden feeling of dread or gloominess
    There was this kind of pall over everything, heavy and sticky like a film we couldn’t get out from under.
  32. obscure
    not clearly understood or expressed
    My mom had begged him to stay longer, but he claimed he needed to be back on campus for some obscure reason he never disclosed.
  33. buffer
    a neutral zone between two rival powers
    Even so, a few days was better than nothing—I needed any buffer I could get—and my mom was busting at the seams in anticipation of seeing her baby boy again, as she kept saying.
  34. vestibule
    a large entrance or reception room or area
    When Enrique came down the steps into the train vestibule, he was wearing a hooded sweatshirt that said MARYLAND across the front and black athletic pants.
  35. nativity
    the event of being born
    Our apartment was decked out with the same tired decorations she displayed every year—angel figurines on the end tables, a crocheted snowman cozy that slid over the extra roll of toilet paper in the bathroom, a dried wreath with a red velvet bow that she hung over the kitchen doorway, a porcelain nativity scene on the floor.
  36. adamant
    impervious to pleas, persuasion, requests, or reason
    My mom called my tía Gloria, only to learn that my aunt had finally decided to file for a divorce from my tío Esteban, news that sent my mom into a low-level state of shock, not because she hadn't seen it coming but because of her adamant objection to divorce.
  37. thermodynamics
    physics concerned with heat and other forms of energy
    “It’s true,” I said. “It’s thermodynamics and radiation. They’ve proved it.”
  38. alpaca
    a thin glossy fabric made of wool from a domesticated mammal
    “It’s so soft.”
    “It’s alpaca,” I said again, like I was suddenly some kind of alpaca salesman or something.
    She wrapped the scarf around her neck.
  39. warble
    sing or play with trills
    But then, from the living room, my dad started singing along in English: “I want to wish you a Merry Christmas from the bottom of my heart,” warbling like a yodeler on “heart,” and Maribel giggled and the moment passed.
  40. amnesty
    a period during which offenders are exempt from punishment
    After Reagan’s amnesty deal, the workers started bringing their families up from México.
Created on Sat Sep 01 15:25:55 EDT 2018 (updated Thu Sep 06 11:22:45 EDT 2018)

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