American Dirt

I read the controversial novel American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. I was transported by her words. She details the journey of a woman and her son from Mexico to the United States. She has to leave because her life and her son's life are threatened by the cartel. The journey is dangerous and traumatic. The controversy over this book is that the author is a white woman. There are other books about migrants written by Latino writers but their book wasn't chosen by Oprah Winfrey for the Oprah book club. Some people claim their story was appropriated from them. The fallout of the complaints was not handled well by the author nor her publisher. For instance, the author told the press her husband was an undocumented worker. She left out the part that he migrated from Ireland. I understand the complaints about the book. On the other hand, don't all authors do this same thing to some degree? If a man writes about a woman character (or vice versa) is that appropriation too?