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catherine_louise's review
4.0
this book made me wildly uncomfortable— perhaps because I (child of college-educated, middle-class professionals that I am) realized that my background put me squarely in company with Lizet's vapid and insensitive white roommates, and that no matter how much I believed I understood about the struggles of first-generation college students, I really would never know what it is like to be one. checking your privilege hurts sometimes. but books that make us uncomfortable are worthwhile, like this one, and I am very glad to have read it.
emilinkaa's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
reflective
4.5
I picked this up on a whim while browsing through Powell's books in 2022, and it spoke to me. A book about a family of immigrants, and finding your own way? I can't say much about Cuban immigrants in Florida, but I grew up in an area filled with immigrants from Mexico, and now live abroad. I laughed, I cried, I stared out the window of the train and felt the author's words hit me deep in my soul. And I finished the book wanting more, which is what I want from any good book.
bookherd's review
3.0
Lizet Ramirez is the daughter of Cuban parents who came to the US as teen refugees. She upsets her family in Miami, FL by getting admitted to an elite college in New York state and insisting on going. The book is about her struggle to find the right course for herself between honoring her commitments to her family and following her own interests in studying biology and finding a life outside the Miami community where she grew up.
I really enjoyed reading this novel. The author, Jennine Capo Crucet, does a good job of showing how complicated it can be to find one's own way when the demands of community and family are so strong, and how little understanding there is in the mainstream for people in Lizet's position. Lizet's actions in the story feel exasperating at times, especially when you can see that her defensiveness is costing her friendship and opportunities. At the same time, though, you can see all the forces exerting pressure on her and understand her defensiveness.
I really enjoyed reading this novel. The author, Jennine Capo Crucet, does a good job of showing how complicated it can be to find one's own way when the demands of community and family are so strong, and how little understanding there is in the mainstream for people in Lizet's position. Lizet's actions in the story feel exasperating at times, especially when you can see that her defensiveness is costing her friendship and opportunities. At the same time, though, you can see all the forces exerting pressure on her and understand her defensiveness.
debfreemantx's review
4.0
The main character’s struggle to belong to both her place of origin and her new liberal arts college are vividly captured without simplistic solutions.
manaledi's review against another edition
5.0
I found this book really powerful in portraying a combination of struggles and identity in what is basically a coming of age story, with a happy ending, but also an analysis of Cuban-American society. The backdrop of the Ariel Hernandez story - from a Cuban-American perspective - provides extra angles and extra nuances to what is already an important look at the struggles of a first-generation college student.
zellm's review
3.0
I found Lizet's story interesting, but the supporting characters (especially her family) felt underdeveloped and disappointing. I liked the message here, but felt like the story could have focused more on Lizet's successes and struggles rather than the stuff going on around her, a lot of which seemed to go in circles.
esessa's review against another edition
5.0
I bought this book after students at Georgia Southern University burned it in protest after Capó Crucet visited their campus on a book tour and dared to speak about white privilege to the little conservative snowflakes. I was glad to buy it on principle, and was rewarded in the reading. The most striking part of this story, to me, was her account of the experience of a first generation student at a fancy Ivy League school, especially the bafflement she experienced during her first weeks and months on campus. I went to the same university as Capó Crucet, which is thinly veiled and renamed in the book (more on that below), and I while remember feeling out of place, I at least knew roughly what to expect. I've never been able to internalize or understand so clearly what a place like that must feel like for a first generation student as I did when reading this book - the way she articulates the thoughts and feelings of her younger self was masterful, and incredibly relatable. I found the sections about her family in Miami less accessible, mostly because her mother and sister were totally insufferable - this almost derailed me about 50 pages into the book, but I persisted because the sections set at the college were so well done.
My only major gripe with the book was Capó Crucet's decision to pseudonymize two entities: Elián González and Cornell University. The story takes place in 1999-2000, and the immigration debate/debacle over González, whom she renames Ariel Hernandez, figures extremely prominently in the book, and it unfolds exactly as it did in real life. Likewise, the school is obviously Cornell - that's where Capó Crucet actually went, and there are numerous Cornell-specific details that she transferred exactly onto her fictional Rawlings College. In both cases, the renaming seemed totally unnecessary. I get that it's a novel and not a memoir, but every time one of these details specific to González or Cornell came up under the different names, it gave me cognitive dissonance and pulled me out of the story. She could have kept the real names and still had it be a novel. Maybe a minor gripe, but it was an authorial decision I could not understand, and it annoyed me persistently!
My only major gripe with the book was Capó Crucet's decision to pseudonymize two entities: Elián González and Cornell University. The story takes place in 1999-2000, and the immigration debate/debacle over González, whom she renames Ariel Hernandez, figures extremely prominently in the book, and it unfolds exactly as it did in real life. Likewise, the school is obviously Cornell - that's where Capó Crucet actually went, and there are numerous Cornell-specific details that she transferred exactly onto her fictional Rawlings College. In both cases, the renaming seemed totally unnecessary. I get that it's a novel and not a memoir, but every time one of these details specific to González or Cornell came up under the different names, it gave me cognitive dissonance and pulled me out of the story. She could have kept the real names and still had it be a novel. Maybe a minor gripe, but it was an authorial decision I could not understand, and it annoyed me persistently!
hannahb1533's review
4.0
A definite must read for any of my higher Ed and student affairs friends. A glimpse into the side of higher ed and student life that our privilege can blind us from.
renaplays's review
4.0
A complex heroine in a complex situation, providing a detailed look at being bicultural centered on educational choices.
nuhafariha's review
4.0
While slow at first, it gets dramatic and intense, building to a great ending. I think the author manages to capture the invisible demands and tolls coming to a prestigious University has for some students, an alientation from their home communities that I have never seen displayed so delicately yet lovingly before.