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thegood_books's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
plantbirdwoman's review against another edition
5.0
Author Jennine Capo Crucet was recently invited to speak at Georgia Southern University. She accepted the invitation and the focus of her presentation to the students was white privilege. Some of the privileged white students at the school objected to a Latina speaking on that subject and they staged a protest during which they burned her first novel, Make Your Home Among Strangers, which had been published in 2015. When I read that story, I knew I had to read that book.
Crucet is a Cuban-American with ties to the Miami area. She is currently an associate professor at the University of Nebraska. The protagonist of her novel is a Cuban-American young woman from Miami named Lizet Ramirez. She is the first of her family to go to college.
She had secretly applied to an elite (fictional) Northeastern school called Rawlings College. And she was accepted! This causes consternation in her family. Her parents are separated and not on good terms and she has an older unmarried sister who has a baby. Her family had expected her to get a job after high school and get married to her long-time boyfriend and help to support the family. Instead, she is leaving home, going far away to college and continuing to be a financial drain on the family. They are not encouraging or supportive.
Still, she goes, and with financial aid, the work-study program, and some help from her father, she cobbles together a way to pay for her education. But she is woefully out of her depth, having graduated from a less than stellar high school and also having limited social and cultural experiences to guide her in this new environment. In the book, an older and wiser Lizet narrates the events of this difficult first year of her college experience.
That experience is complicated by what is happening back home in Miami.
When Lizet goes home on her first school break, a young Cuban boy has just been rescued from a raft at sea and brought to Miami. His mother had been with him on the raft, but at some point, she had been swept away and lost. The young boy - here called Ariel Hernandez - was alone. (If this sounds familiar, it should. It is a fictionalized telling of the story of Elián González, the young boy whose story and fate consumed Miami in late 1999 and 2000.)
Lizet's mother becomes obsessed with Ariel/Elián to the neglect of her own family and job. She is passionately involved in the movement to keep Ariel in America and spends all of her time protesting and organizing. Meanwhile, news of her activities has made the national news and Lizet sees her on television back at Rawlings. She is appalled.
Crucet's telling of this story is heartfelt. Her observations of the Miami Cuban culture are sharp and the dialogue among her characters is one of the strong points of the novel. The plot is actually developed through those dialogues.
I could identify with Lizet from the beginning because we shared some of the same experiences. I came from a farm family with no background of going to college. I was the first of my family to attend college and I came from a poor rural school which certainly did not prepare me for the experience. So, yes, I could identify quite easily with Lizet's story. And I could understand the stress of a Latina student, one of few, struggling to make it in an elite school with mostly white students.
What I don't understand is why those Georgia students were so incensed that they felt impelled to burn her book.
Well, actually, maybe I do understand.
Crucet is a Cuban-American with ties to the Miami area. She is currently an associate professor at the University of Nebraska. The protagonist of her novel is a Cuban-American young woman from Miami named Lizet Ramirez. She is the first of her family to go to college.
She had secretly applied to an elite (fictional) Northeastern school called Rawlings College. And she was accepted! This causes consternation in her family. Her parents are separated and not on good terms and she has an older unmarried sister who has a baby. Her family had expected her to get a job after high school and get married to her long-time boyfriend and help to support the family. Instead, she is leaving home, going far away to college and continuing to be a financial drain on the family. They are not encouraging or supportive.
Still, she goes, and with financial aid, the work-study program, and some help from her father, she cobbles together a way to pay for her education. But she is woefully out of her depth, having graduated from a less than stellar high school and also having limited social and cultural experiences to guide her in this new environment. In the book, an older and wiser Lizet narrates the events of this difficult first year of her college experience.
That experience is complicated by what is happening back home in Miami.
When Lizet goes home on her first school break, a young Cuban boy has just been rescued from a raft at sea and brought to Miami. His mother had been with him on the raft, but at some point, she had been swept away and lost. The young boy - here called Ariel Hernandez - was alone. (If this sounds familiar, it should. It is a fictionalized telling of the story of Elián González, the young boy whose story and fate consumed Miami in late 1999 and 2000.)
Lizet's mother becomes obsessed with Ariel/Elián to the neglect of her own family and job. She is passionately involved in the movement to keep Ariel in America and spends all of her time protesting and organizing. Meanwhile, news of her activities has made the national news and Lizet sees her on television back at Rawlings. She is appalled.
Crucet's telling of this story is heartfelt. Her observations of the Miami Cuban culture are sharp and the dialogue among her characters is one of the strong points of the novel. The plot is actually developed through those dialogues.
I could identify with Lizet from the beginning because we shared some of the same experiences. I came from a farm family with no background of going to college. I was the first of my family to attend college and I came from a poor rural school which certainly did not prepare me for the experience. So, yes, I could identify quite easily with Lizet's story. And I could understand the stress of a Latina student, one of few, struggling to make it in an elite school with mostly white students.
What I don't understand is why those Georgia students were so incensed that they felt impelled to burn her book.
Well, actually, maybe I do understand.
boipoka's review
4.0
This book hit so close to home, that am sure my review is biased.
This is the story of a girl who chose to leave home and then had to deal with the (unintended) consequences of that choice. Of a girl who Though my circumstances of leaving home and the consequences were very different from Liz's, I totally got this. The struggle to redefine yourself, without losing who you are; to make your home among strangers and in the process make your original home strange. At every moment Liz had to make a choice, I could relate it to a choice I've had to make too. I just couldn't stop reading.
I also loved how real it is. There are no happy endings. There isn't even a neatly tied up ending. It's just like life - things don't go according to plan, but somehow we make peace with it. Often in the wrong way.
But if you don't identify with Liz's struggles, never felt guilty about leaving home or felt strangers understand you better than your own family, I'm not sure you can enjoy the book. It might feel overtly dramatized and monotonous.
This is the story of a girl who chose to leave home and then had to deal with the (unintended) consequences of that choice. Of a girl who
Spoiler
ultimately learnt to live for herself, learnt that your dreams can't be the price you pay for someone else's happiness, even if that someone is people you love bestI also loved how real it is. There are no happy endings. There isn't even a neatly tied up ending. It's just like life - things don't go according to plan, but somehow we make peace with it. Often in the wrong way.
But if you don't identify with Liz's struggles, never felt guilty about leaving home or felt strangers understand you better than your own family, I'm not sure you can enjoy the book. It might feel overtly dramatized and monotonous.
litlistening's review against another edition
emotional
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
nightowljulie's review
5.0
My husband is a first generation college student, as are many of my students and friends. This book rings so true to the first generation college experience. Even when the protagonist makes decisions that frustrate us, as someone who works with 18-year-olds on a daily basis, I can assure you that this plot is very realistic.
This author is a very detailed, descriptive, almost poetic at times, but the plot was very genuine and relatable. I loved reading this book and I definitely look forward to reading more by this author!
If you have ever in your life felt out of place, or if you are going through a tough transition, this book is for you!
This author is a very detailed, descriptive, almost poetic at times, but the plot was very genuine and relatable. I loved reading this book and I definitely look forward to reading more by this author!
If you have ever in your life felt out of place, or if you are going through a tough transition, this book is for you!
caitlin21521's review
5.0
So much heartache.
This actually probably ranked about a 4.5. Do you remember where you were when Elián González was making headlines? I was only 11 at the time, but I still remember that infamous photograph, one that inexplicably won a Pulitzer Prize for depicting what had to be a terrifying moment in a young child's life.
This novel is based off that entire affair, taking place just a few doors down from Lizet's home, but it's also about never feeling like you are home, no matter how hard you try to make your environment one. It's about feeling out of place in a world that doesn't seem to accept you because of who you are, and instead expects you to behave to other peoples' perceptions of who you should be. This book is just really good and really sad.
This actually probably ranked about a 4.5. Do you remember where you were when Elián González was making headlines? I was only 11 at the time, but I still remember that infamous photograph, one that inexplicably won a Pulitzer Prize for depicting what had to be a terrifying moment in a young child's life.
This novel is based off that entire affair, taking place just a few doors down from Lizet's home, but it's also about never feeling like you are home, no matter how hard you try to make your environment one. It's about feeling out of place in a world that doesn't seem to accept you because of who you are, and instead expects you to behave to other peoples' perceptions of who you should be. This book is just really good and really sad.
nutti72's review
3.0
3.5 stars A compelling read about a first generation college student leaving behind everything she knows to go to a private college in NY. The loneliness and isolation of what world Lizet belongs to is palpable.
everydaybibliophile's review
3.0
For content, I'd give this one a 4 easily. It's a great story and such an important look, albeit a fictional one, into the life of a first-gen student from a low income family. It touches on so many issues a young person may face in deciding to forge their own path. The reason I gave it 3 stars, however, is that even 380+ pages in, I couldn't get over the lack of use of quotation marks for dialogue. It make it harder to follow the story and what was dialogue versus narrative.
the_lilypad's review against another edition
3.0
3 to 3.5 stars
I'm not entirely sure what to say about this, I really liked it. Particularly reading what college is like for a first generation Cuban-American. Would recommend.
I'm not entirely sure what to say about this, I really liked it. Particularly reading what college is like for a first generation Cuban-American. Would recommend.