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sam8834's review against another edition
4.0
3.5 stars
Sort of an interesting format for a memoir. The first half tells of Cepeda's adolescence, and the writing makes you feel like you're reading a novel, which feels a bit odd and uncommon, but serves her story well. The second half delves into Cepeda's ancestry research, with commentary on the Latin-American community and being mixed race as a whole, which is interesting, but makes the book lose steam a little bit. It could have helped if Cepeda kept the memoir writing going throughout the second half as well.
Sort of an interesting format for a memoir. The first half tells of Cepeda's adolescence, and the writing makes you feel like you're reading a novel, which feels a bit odd and uncommon, but serves her story well. The second half delves into Cepeda's ancestry research, with commentary on the Latin-American community and being mixed race as a whole, which is interesting, but makes the book lose steam a little bit. It could have helped if Cepeda kept the memoir writing going throughout the second half as well.
a___ruiz's review against another edition
5.0
Amazing book, really shed a light on the Latina experience growing up in NYC as well as exploring the roots of what makes us who we are. Beautifully written.
litpages3's review against another edition
4.0
This was a really good if you want to learn about DNA and ancestry, basically if you are looking to find your family history.
The first half of the book tells us of Raquel's childhood, the abuse she endured from her father, the abandonment of her father and life coming from the Dominican Republic to New York. I loved that she included the hip-hop era and how it influenced and affected her life. The first half also started to become a bit too much because it's almost like there was no hope for her with the way things were go, so much drama and tragedy, I wanted to get to something happier and positive.
The second half is where you will find history. History of her family, of the Dominican Republic, about Spaniards, slaves, Tainos. Statistics are provided, new family is discovered and this was extremely interesting in seeing especially how as Hispanics where categorized as white or black dependent on your skin color. So many interesting facts are shared and I appreciated every bit of it.
Definitely a good experience in reading about things I could related to as a culture (even though I'm Puerto Rican, there are similarities), about family, neighbors, music, the land and in particular the religious and spiritual aspect of things.
The first half of the book tells us of Raquel's childhood, the abuse she endured from her father, the abandonment of her father and life coming from the Dominican Republic to New York. I loved that she included the hip-hop era and how it influenced and affected her life. The first half also started to become a bit too much because it's almost like there was no hope for her with the way things were go, so much drama and tragedy, I wanted to get to something happier and positive.
The second half is where you will find history. History of her family, of the Dominican Republic, about Spaniards, slaves, Tainos. Statistics are provided, new family is discovered and this was extremely interesting in seeing especially how as Hispanics where categorized as white or black dependent on your skin color. So many interesting facts are shared and I appreciated every bit of it.
Definitely a good experience in reading about things I could related to as a culture (even though I'm Puerto Rican, there are similarities), about family, neighbors, music, the land and in particular the religious and spiritual aspect of things.
carmenghia's review against another edition
2.0
I can't decide if this really was an ad for a DNA company or if it just felt like one. Kudos to anyone who chooses to tell their family history, but this one was a little bit of a chore to read. The author has a right to be pissed at some of her family, but she can be downright petty in her treatment of a lot of people in the story - deserved or not. Also, she lost me on the spiritual side of things, since that's not an experience I can relate to.
drbex's review
dark
emotional
informative
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Physical abuse
aew325's review against another edition
dark
emotional
tense
slow-paced
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Toxic relationship, Racism, Physical abuse, Child abuse, and Domestic abuse
Moderate: Fatphobia
Minor: Genocide and Miscarriage
caribbeangirlreading's review against another edition
3.0
I'm half Dominican, a history nerd and a genealogy nerd. If not for those three things this book would have gotten a two-star rating. I did feel like I walked away knowing more about Caribbean and Dominican history and will be forever grateful for the author for bringing Dr. Frank Moya Pons and Chief Jorge Estevez to my attention. I will definitely be reading their work to educate myself more on the topics of history, race and ethnicity in the Dominican Republic. As a reader, though, I felt that many times Cepeda veered into the projection of 20th/21st feminist and racial ideas into colonial history. She beat the reader over the head with her opinions and even as someone who agreed with her I find this off-putting in an author. As for the memoir part of her book I felt it was well written and compelling, until she reached her senior year in high school and then the book lost focus. In the end I felt that much of the first half of the book, especially the details about her abusive parents, did not support her genealogy and family history search. This book could have been so much better but the editing left a lot to be desired.
laurynreads's review
5.0
Wow wow wow such a perfect read for my time in Costa Rica, but also just incredibly written overall. After reading Cepeda’s story I’m compelled to take my own lineage more seriously. I really loved this one.
ranaelizabeth's review
3.0
Two stars for the first half of the book which is about the author's childhood and relationships with her family. It was a little confusing and choppy with random paragraphs just stuck together with no connection. But four stars for the second half of the book in which she discusses DNA and tracking ancestors in the Caribbean and what race means for different people. That was actually quite fascinating.
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