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4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
Deeply enjoyed this memoir by Reyna Grande. I don’t have much to say- but that it captures beautifully the complex relationships and internal struggles between family loyalties, and striving to make your own way. It is definitely the difference between growing up with non-western family focus- on the unit and how you relate to all of those around you vs. the American family focus being in individual accomplishments and experience. Its a struggle I still bear, and had a hard time explaining and processing. I wish I had found this book sooner. <3 Reyna Grande is such an inspiring person!
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
I’m working on my #ReadAfrica2018 reading project, but had to take a break for Reyna Grande’s A Dream Called Home - and I’m so glad I did! Although now I feel like I have opened a new door to a new reading challenge as she mentions so many writers and poets that I know I need to read! I have taken their names down and will keep it on the back burner for next year. Also, quite fittingly, it’s Hispanic Heritage Month here in the US, so this was a brilliantly timed memoir, both in terms of Reyna being a writer born in Mexico, and also an immigrant in the US.
A Dream Called Home is Reyna’s story of fighting for her dreams, despite her background, despite the setbacks and roadblocks, and despite the clichés and boxes people tend to stuff one another in here in the US (although that definitely doesn’t just happen here). She wrote about her story as a young Mexican girl crossing the border into the US in her memoir The Distance Between Us, and A Dream Called Home is the story of becoming an adult in a world where she never really feels at home. Each book can be read alone though.
Reyna’s parents left her and her siblings with their grandmothers in Iguala, Mexico, when they were children, and crossed the border to the US. Iguala, at the time, and most likely still today, was extremely poor, and opportunities were few and far between. Reyna’s father came back to collect them when Reyna was about 9 and they made the difficult crossing together three times (the first two times they were sent back). That itself amazes me - the crossing is so hard for an adult, I can’t even imagine how tough it would have been on a young child. Her strength and perseverance have always been there…
Anyway, in A Dream Called Home Reyna starts with her years at university, and moves on to telling the stories of how she became a teacher, a single mother, and how she continued to push herself to write and to be published. I don’t think I can express how inspiring this book was to me, and how there were some areas that I related to (but more that my partner relates to, our own stories and immigration stories meet and differ in many places). I will be buying a copy of this book for my children, so that when they are older they will understand some of the choices their parents had to make, and also know that the world is theirs, and their voices have as much weight as other voices.
Reyna’s recollections are full of many profound statements that hit me hard: that feeling of not belonging anywhere anymore, a double identity that doesn’t fit in here or there. I still carry that with me wherever I go. Reyna has inspired me to keep pushing with my own stories and my own writing, and inspired me to keep reading and talking about the stories that no one wants to talk about.
“As with the moon, there is the face that we immigrants show to the world, but our second face is the one we keep hidden in darkness so that no one can see us weeping.”
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy!
A Dream Called Home is Reyna’s story of fighting for her dreams, despite her background, despite the setbacks and roadblocks, and despite the clichés and boxes people tend to stuff one another in here in the US (although that definitely doesn’t just happen here). She wrote about her story as a young Mexican girl crossing the border into the US in her memoir The Distance Between Us, and A Dream Called Home is the story of becoming an adult in a world where she never really feels at home. Each book can be read alone though.
Reyna’s parents left her and her siblings with their grandmothers in Iguala, Mexico, when they were children, and crossed the border to the US. Iguala, at the time, and most likely still today, was extremely poor, and opportunities were few and far between. Reyna’s father came back to collect them when Reyna was about 9 and they made the difficult crossing together three times (the first two times they were sent back). That itself amazes me - the crossing is so hard for an adult, I can’t even imagine how tough it would have been on a young child. Her strength and perseverance have always been there…
Anyway, in A Dream Called Home Reyna starts with her years at university, and moves on to telling the stories of how she became a teacher, a single mother, and how she continued to push herself to write and to be published. I don’t think I can express how inspiring this book was to me, and how there were some areas that I related to (but more that my partner relates to, our own stories and immigration stories meet and differ in many places). I will be buying a copy of this book for my children, so that when they are older they will understand some of the choices their parents had to make, and also know that the world is theirs, and their voices have as much weight as other voices.
Reyna’s recollections are full of many profound statements that hit me hard: that feeling of not belonging anywhere anymore, a double identity that doesn’t fit in here or there. I still carry that with me wherever I go. Reyna has inspired me to keep pushing with my own stories and my own writing, and inspired me to keep reading and talking about the stories that no one wants to talk about.
“As with the moon, there is the face that we immigrants show to the world, but our second face is the one we keep hidden in darkness so that no one can see us weeping.”
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance copy!
i could never see where anything was going and wasn't sure why i was supposed to care about anything. i'm sure there's a good story here, but it was hard to find.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
I think there are a few different reasons I enjoyed this book - first, the immigrant experience is interesting to me and I've been trying to read first hand stories more. Second, Santa Cruz is one of my favorite places to visit and I have a lot of good memories there. Third, the author shared some insight into her process to become an author which was neat to read about.
I read this book for the "A story about immigrants" prompt in the 2022 BYL reading challenge.
I read this book for the "A story about immigrants" prompt in the 2022 BYL reading challenge.
Reyna Grande was 9 years old when she immigrated to the US from Mexico. In this memoir, she details her continued journey as a young adult trying to find her place in America. She discusses her successes and challenges with pursuing her dreams and navigating a strained relationship with family members. I really enjoyed reading Reyna’s perspective, and am excited to go back and read her first memoir, The Distance Between Us.
A very well written memoir that was somewhat a continuation from The Distance Between Us. Less about her experiences in Mexico and more about Reyna’s life as an ESL teacher and how she dealt with being a WOC trying to live her dream of being a published author and her personal relationships.
fast-paced