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stiller_chrissy3's review
5.0
What a great story! I felt like I was there among the family in little Havana in Florida. Lizet is such a wonderful, strong young woman. It was funny, intense and emotional.
wonderfulthetwin's review
challenging
emotional
informative
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
daylem18's review
challenging
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
brown136's review
4.0
This is a great story of a first generation American who is also the first in her family to go to college. Most similar stories that get published are of immigrants who push their children to go to college. Instead, this book explores a family that sees the main character as abandoning them. The book also shows the difficulty of adjusting to college curriculum if your high school was not very good. The struggle is conveyed with ease to the reader.
I knocked a star off because the book does not do a good job of explaining the relationship between the main character and her mother. Their shifting dynamic is central to the story, yet we know nothing about where their relationship began. This is in great contrast to all of the other relationships in the story, which are richly drawn. So it is curious that the mother-daughter story is lacking.
I knocked a star off because the book does not do a good job of explaining the relationship between the main character and her mother. Their shifting dynamic is central to the story, yet we know nothing about where their relationship began. This is in great contrast to all of the other relationships in the story, which are richly drawn. So it is curious that the mother-daughter story is lacking.
mofongobookclub's review
emotional
inspiring
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
scottjbaxter's review
4.0
Make Your Home Among Strangers tells the story of Lizet, a second generation Cuban American who becomes the first in her family to attend college. And she attends not just any college, but Cornell University. The author calls it Rawlings College -- an unfortunate choice, at least in my opinion, because, with Lizet, the narrator and main character, being from Florida, I kept confusing it with Rollins College -- but the school’s elite status, location, size, and the fact that the author is an alum, makes it difficult to think of any institution other than Cornell University. The novel resembles a memoir for probably the first half to two thirds. And I think I enjoyed that part of the book more than the later part. Lizet, the main character, describes her life in a series of flashbacks in her academic life, but most of the book is about her first semester of college.
Capo Cruzet captures the challenges of being a first generation, low income, student of color quite well. One of my favorite details is when she meets Jacqueline, another Latinx first generation student and realizes that Jacqueline plans to send every dollar of work study back to her family. A similar situation was described just today in the New York Times by Anthony Abraham Jack and his experiences as a first generation minority student at Amherst where he found himself working extra hours around campus so he could send money back home to his family.
Lizet struggles in her first semester at Rawlings when she is formally accused of plagiarism and forced to be part of a formal hearing on the issue. Lizet was not trying to deceive (usually an essential element of plagiarism) but genuinely did not know how to integrate a source into her essay making it clear which ideas were hers and which ideas belonged to a source. While Lizet is found not guilty, the hearing does make Lizet realize that the academic support system at Rawlings only noticed she existed after she was accused of plagiarism:
In her dorm, Lizet tries to open up and make connections by sharing more of her personal life. But this effort ends up demonstrating to Lizet just how large the gap is between her life in Miami with working class parents and the lives of the high income suburban professionals that make up most of Rawlings’ student body.
The later section of the novel focuses on the Elian Gonzalez affair and how it consumes Lizet’s family, especially her mother, Lourdes who has devoted every waking hour to demonstrations. This commitment eventually leads to Lourdes losing her job with the city and a fight that nearly completely rips apart Lizet’s family. I did not really like this section so much.
Capo Crucet does an excellent job, for the most part describing some of the challenges that first generation minority students have at elite colleges. It did remind me of the story of Robert Peace, although his story ended in tragedy. It is clear that the author cares deeply about these issues and has published some of her thoughts on the topics of if an elite college was the best choice for her and on the topic of how wealth plays a large role in elite college admissions in the New York Times. For those interested in more on these topics, the literature is vast, but I would suggest Frank Bruni’s Where You Go Is Not Who You Will Be as a place to start, especially if you are a parent or high school student thinking about elite colleges.
Capo Cruzet captures the challenges of being a first generation, low income, student of color quite well. One of my favorite details is when she meets Jacqueline, another Latinx first generation student and realizes that Jacqueline plans to send every dollar of work study back to her family. A similar situation was described just today in the New York Times by Anthony Abraham Jack and his experiences as a first generation minority student at Amherst where he found himself working extra hours around campus so he could send money back home to his family.
Lizet struggles in her first semester at Rawlings when she is formally accused of plagiarism and forced to be part of a formal hearing on the issue. Lizet was not trying to deceive (usually an essential element of plagiarism) but genuinely did not know how to integrate a source into her essay making it clear which ideas were hers and which ideas belonged to a source. While Lizet is found not guilty, the hearing does make Lizet realize that the academic support system at Rawlings only noticed she existed after she was accused of plagiarism:
I slid the pen away, and the man who’d attempted to explain the financial aid problem [that her student loans would change from subsidized to unsubsidized (higher interest, no deferral of interest until graduation) if her gpa dipped below a certain level] asked me, Do you have any questions?
I had so many but most were not about the hearing’s results. I wanted to ask: Where was everybody before that day? Why did it take this plagiarism hearing to get someone to notice that I was in major trouble in who other subject? If things were as bad this letter indicated, why hadn’t I seen my advisor since orientation?... Why did I feel like I’d tricked Rawlings into letting me in at all? How could I make that feeling go away? (pp 98-99)
In her dorm, Lizet tries to open up and make connections by sharing more of her personal life. But this effort ends up demonstrating to Lizet just how large the gap is between her life in Miami with working class parents and the lives of the high income suburban professionals that make up most of Rawlings’ student body.
That first semester of college, as I grew more and more impatient during phone conversations with Omar [her boyfriend], I started to tell anyone who asked that Omar was a monster. He was an animal -- more like an animal than a human. It seemed like what other people wanted to hear. To them, Omar looked the part, with his earrings and close-cut hair and goatee, the wide shoulders, the dark brows, him leaning on his Integra and throwing a sideways peace sign in almost every photo of him I owned. The girls on my floor would ask, is that a gang sign? And instead of saying, No, you’re an idiot, I said, Maybe, Who knows with Omar? Other girls would feel bad for me and claim they understood: the girl who’d made everyone hot chocolate, Caroline, even went so far as to mention she’d read The House on Mango Street in AP English. She said she knew about the kinds of relationships that plagued my community, had nodded in a solemn way when I told her Yes, Omar could be rough. Part of me was angry that they were half right: My parents did have a version of that relationship, but it wasn’t at all accurate for me and Omar. Still, I was happy to have something to add to those late nights in the dorm’s common room when I was otherwise quiet, to be included in conversations even if I didn’t totally understand the part I was playing. When everyone around you thinks they already know what your life is like, it’s easier to play in to that idea -- it was easier to make Omar sound like a psycho papi chulo who wanted to control me. At the very least, it made trying to make friends simpler than it would’ve been had I tried to be a more accurate version of myself (pp 66-67).
The later section of the novel focuses on the Elian Gonzalez affair and how it consumes Lizet’s family, especially her mother, Lourdes who has devoted every waking hour to demonstrations. This commitment eventually leads to Lourdes losing her job with the city and a fight that nearly completely rips apart Lizet’s family. I did not really like this section so much.
Capo Crucet does an excellent job, for the most part describing some of the challenges that first generation minority students have at elite colleges. It did remind me of the story of Robert Peace, although his story ended in tragedy. It is clear that the author cares deeply about these issues and has published some of her thoughts on the topics of if an elite college was the best choice for her and on the topic of how wealth plays a large role in elite college admissions in the New York Times. For those interested in more on these topics, the literature is vast, but I would suggest Frank Bruni’s Where You Go Is Not Who You Will Be as a place to start, especially if you are a parent or high school student thinking about elite colleges.
dianametzger's review
5.0
A really excellent read about the experience of a first generation, child of Cuban immigrants, college student battling between the community of her elite university and the struggles of her home community in Miami. Vivid characters, real emotion and anxieties, and a really fulfilling full story arch.
katelynelizabeth's review
3.0
This book reminded me of a Tom Wolfe novel (and I love TW). While it took me a while to get through and I was never overly excited to pick it up, there was something about it that kept me reading. While it’s labeled as fiction, I’m pretty sure it’s a memoir, albeit a loose one. (And while that shouldn’t matter, I feel almost tricked… just tell me it’s a memoir!) it’s a deeper read, full of lots of emotion and angst.
I remember the story of Elian Gonzalez, but never fully understood the impact it created in US/Cuban communities. The author did a great job comparing it next to a young woman’s venture off into adulthood.
Overall a good book and one I’ll probably remember for awhile, but yet not one I want to give 4-5 stars to.
I remember the story of Elian Gonzalez, but never fully understood the impact it created in US/Cuban communities. The author did a great job comparing it next to a young woman’s venture off into adulthood.
Overall a good book and one I’ll probably remember for awhile, but yet not one I want to give 4-5 stars to.
rcielocruz's review
5.0
This was a hard one for me. Cuban authors always are, but this one, very close to home in the MC's geography, generation, socioeconomic status (maybe a first?!!) and educational trajectory, was especially tough and therefore, in the end, emotional satisfying in a painful way. Growing up in Miami in the 70's and 80's (as opposed to the MC- 90's) meant el Mariel, Reagan's racist immigration policies and the AIDS crisis were more central to my experience. Pero Elian was the culmination of the 90's Balsero era and that impacted my family directly in ways I don't like to recall. So reading this, I felt like I was turning away in disgusted self-recognition and turning slightly back towards it with relieved resonance. Halfway through, I was revolted at the possibility of Lizet as this "native informant" exposing the other lower class ugly parts of my community for the dominant gaze, explaining us to the people who boxed us into the stereotypes of that era (and now? Idk, I think we've fallen out of vogue now that our political situation seems more nuanced to outsiders.) Being Cuban is a tender part of me. It is walking rupture, heartbreak, grief and loss (a "pathos" one Cuban mentor called it.) I don't like the idea of people who have no stake in the game visiting one of the most painful moments of our recent history. But I think #jenninecapocrucet reveals this wound and at the same time exposes the privilege of the outsiders casually glancing in. I cheered at the unleashing of Lizet's righteous and confused resentments, while also wanting to push all other readers away and yell, "this is private! Have some respect!" It pulled at aching sinew and tissue inside me in a way that I found simultaneously super satisfying and super uncomfortable. I also read it at the end of a 5 month period of intentional itinerancy, making many temporary homes among friends and family, not strangers... but the timing of it, 1 year post Ida --which set this all off-- made the theme of double exile, about never finding home, about being tribeless, between two worlds especially potent in this moment. More like this, please. #makeyourhomeamongstrangers #cubanauthors
meganpalmer731's review
5.0
Very powerful novel with a strong female protagonist with powerful voice. So interesting to learn and read about a historical event from a fictional perspective of a different culture.