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kimberlyyyreads's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
4.0
Wow, What a great read! 🤍
addydeejreads's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
5.0
What a beautiful and heartbreaking collection of Latiné stories and voices. These stories are a perfect example of how latinidad is not a monolith and while weay share in some things like language and culture it's not the same. All experiences are different, dialects, language, culture and so many more aspects that make up is are all so different. I absolutely adore these stories and highly recommend listening to the audiobook and getting to experience each author narrating their own story.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexism, Racism, Racial slurs, Xenophobia, Classism, Religious bigotry, and Mental illness
paperpoppy's review
challenging
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
5.0
This was a wonderful collection of authors (some new to me, some I've read before) that explore Latinx identity. I really wish I had a book like this when I was a teenager - it definitely helped me as a person in their late 20s. These essays were sometimes harsh, but mostly like a warm hug you didn't know you needed.
sarah_thebooknerd's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This essay collection of 15 Latinx creatives in the diaspora really makes you sit and just reflect on all they are sharing about their experiences with racism, colorism, feeling of othering within the community, hurt by family, but also joy, love, community and grief.
This book is for the Latiné people in the diaspora to be able to connect with their communities and share experiences. It's also a glimpse for non-Latiné people to get a look into some of the lived experiences these 15 people have gone through as they deal with everything from Anti- Blackness to Love and Community in Cooking. For me, it also had me sitting in my thoughts on the roll that my witness has played in the harm to them through white supremacy. This book moved me to feel anger, tears, pride and happiness.
sparklingpynk's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
This is an amazing collection of short stories! I am currently on the journey of reading books that share stories similar to my upbringing and give me more insight into my culture. This was an amazing way to start off and I enjoyed this so much I want to hunt down a physical copy for my personal library! Highly highly recommend!!
juanitamfm's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
This is a great book of short stories to read if you’re looking to learn how to be more knowledgeable about what it means to be Afro-Latinx and to avoid being racist or exclusive of people who don’t look like you, but don’t fit into the rigid molds we have for placing people based on skin color. The 15 short stories are super varied and come from all different backgrounds, but the constant theme is acceptance.
adrianagarcia's review against another edition
4.0
I think somewhere just north of 4 stars. I loved this book so much. Each story is rich, descriptive, emotional, and informative in its own way. It centered Afro-Latiné identities and called out the endemic racism and colorism towards dark skin and African heritage in the community. Such intentional and important representation for young readers (I believe the anthology is marketed as YA). It didn't shy away from telling difficult stories and felt completely contextualized in the realities of the past decade. It's an important read for anybody, but I think especially for white and white-passing latinés who need to understand light skin privilege.
The only reason it doesn't hit 5 was the limited space for joy. Each other honored part of their identity and heritage, but the stories focused on the pains and struggles of being Latiné rather than celebrating it. Don't get me wrong, visibility is crucial for change. But there have been many achievements and moments for unity that I felt didn't get any light. Yes, it's difficult to be Latiné in America *especially* if you present non-white. But from the groups of young chicané voters who helped flip elections in 2016/2020 to the unity of boricuas rebuilding their island after Maria and the many invisible achievements Latiné people in making space for themselves, I thought we would get to show off a bit more joy as a community.
Lastly - the term Latinx felt really forced. It was clear that it was an editorial choice to present just one term, which felt counter intuitive to the mission of presenting diversity of experience and identification. One essay touched on the term and I took it that that particular writer wouldn't have used the term Latinx on their own. Latinx is controversial as a term that was popularized by white, academic spaces in an effort to be inclusive but really just ignores linguistic logic for Spanish speaking people. I wish there had been a note about the choice to use this term only.
I will recommend this book over and over again and hope to get a chance to teach it at the high school level.
The only reason it doesn't hit 5 was the limited space for joy. Each other honored part of their identity and heritage, but the stories focused on the pains and struggles of being Latiné rather than celebrating it. Don't get me wrong, visibility is crucial for change. But there have been many achievements and moments for unity that I felt didn't get any light. Yes, it's difficult to be Latiné in America *especially* if you present non-white. But from the groups of young chicané voters who helped flip elections in 2016/2020 to the unity of boricuas rebuilding their island after Maria and the many invisible achievements Latiné people in making space for themselves, I thought we would get to show off a bit more joy as a community.
Lastly - the term Latinx felt really forced. It was clear that it was an editorial choice to present just one term, which felt counter intuitive to the mission of presenting diversity of experience and identification. One essay touched on the term and I took it that that particular writer wouldn't have used the term Latinx on their own. Latinx is controversial as a term that was popularized by white, academic spaces in an effort to be inclusive but really just ignores linguistic logic for Spanish speaking people. I wish there had been a note about the choice to use this term only.
I will recommend this book over and over again and hope to get a chance to teach it at the high school level.