Day of the Dragonfly is an epic story of the struggle against poverty. Beginning in rural Brazil during the Great Depression this Odyssey ends in 1975 on a broken-down
chaise longue
in front of a trailer in Miami. Two of the three "books" that make up the novel involve heroic journeys - a twelve-year-old girl seeking safety, a fourteen-year-old boy searching for land free from drought. They are separated by the story of a young woman's destruction and exile within a cult.
The way in which poverty clutches onto its victims is made apparent. It isn't possible, even once, to throw money at a problem, and without that tool the true difficulty of poverty becomes clear. At its most heroic, Dragonfly challenges conventional morals, and in the end, the reader is shown something of the importance of a life little noted.
The book is sometimes dark. Heroes are not always kind, and religion shows the worst it has to offer. Still, the imaginative ending will move the reader to tears while being inspiring rather than depressing.