America, let me in A choose your immigration story

Colombian-born comedian and Late Show writer Torres Medina debuts with a darkly hilarious and cleverly constructed explainer on American immigration. It's formatted in a choose-the-outcome style that forces readers to attempt to navigate the immigration system themselves (and suffer the consequences of their decisions) through myriad red-tape-laden processes clearly designed to set applicants up for failure (or death--though as Torres Medina assures the reader, "if you die in this book you DO NOT die in real life"). At the beginning, the reader selects their "difficulty level" (reader be warned: if you select "easy," you immediately are sent to a "the end" page because, as you should have known, "There is no easy way to move to America"). Selecting "medium difficulty" sets you on a path as a "hot" (the hotness is important) white French luxury brand executive who moves to America on an expensive work visa. It's all downhill from there, as the process becomes significantly more difficult and governed by absurdity. One possible outcome is determined by whether or not you know who Morrissey is ("Oh... you like the arts"); in another, you end up turning to a Floridian life of crime because you can't get financial aid for college. These jokes have a sharp edge of realism--there really are separate visas for the arty, schools really do expect international students to live on $1000-per-month stipends in Miami. Eye-opening and entertaining, this is a gem. (Mar.)

Finding the comedy in coming to America. Torres Medina, a writer forThe Late Show With Stephen Colbert, describes his book as "the ultimate guide for any person who is curious about what it's like to be an immigrant who dares take on the daunting task of leaving it all behind and moving to a country they picked." Written as a choose-your-own-adventure gamebook, it introduces characters ranging from a tortured French heiress of a jam fortune, to an immigrant who discovers they've been an "elite-level athlete" their whole life and never known it, to a student who, when faced with the cost of American tuition, decides to fund their education less than legally, to a semi-autobiographical character who is an improv student with comedy dreams. Using the combination of choices these characters make and the resources available to them, Torres Medina introduces readers to a variety of immigration visas they can apply for, not only articulating their costs, but also the obstacles associated with each type. Although the author lightens the content with well-placed jokes that include footnotes written by an anxious and awkward lawyer named Kevin, his empathy for those attempting to navigate America's daunting bureaucracy remains the emotional heart of these stories. Torres Medina writes, "That's the gist of immigrants, by and large. They chose this place. And I believe there is no bigger act of love than willingly choosing something." This hilarious and heartfelt book is a compassionate ode to those who risk it all to live in America. A funny, empathetic, and formally inventive guide to the U.S. immigration system. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.