Reviews

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez

Only show reviews with written explanations

tlctbr's review against another edition

4.0

Julia Alvarez wrote one of my favorite essays in "Why I'm Still Married" so I was really excited when I found a copy of this book for $0.50 at tha library book sale. I read it on my way to Tucson last week, so I already latin food and culture on my mind!

I really liked the way this book moved backwards in time, working its way from Yolanda's trip back to the Dominican Republic in the 1990's to her childhood on the island in the 1960's. For the most part, I enjoyed the book, but I thought it lacked detail and development for a few of the characters. I didn't understand why Sandi developed an eating disorder later in life, why most of the girls had bad marriages or why Yolanda had a nervous breakdown. I would have preferred the book to focus solely on Yolanda and be told entirely from her perspective. That would have made the lack of detail a little more acceptable. For the most part, the voices of the four girls were very similar, making it difficult to fall in love with or hate any one of them. I was neither attached nor angry, which makes for a pretty mediocre read.

Still, I would like to read more of Alvarez's work and have added "In the Time of Butterflies" to my "to read" list. Of course as soon as I finished I had to pull out my old journal from 1999 and re-read my entries from the time I spent in the Dominican. Presidente, beans and rice, the little girl who loved my barettes, Mariella and her gorgeous family, and creepy old men who wanted to dance the merengue with us... What memories!

ccmarie_'s review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

ddurling's review against another edition

Go to review page

1.0

I felt like there was no real depth to the characters. I didn't really care to read on, but I forced myself to finish. Although...I can't even remember what really happens in the book so I think I was just pretending to read it while daydreaming about other things. Don't recommend.

maddiekinsp's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional funny

3.0

americaziranda's review against another edition

Go to review page

emotional reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

alisonjfields's review against another edition

Go to review page

3.0

This is one of those books that's been floating around my shelves since high school, and I've avoided it for fear it would veer hard schmaltzy-Oprah-Book-Club territory. But this was much better than I thought. And the back half would have been an excellent novel unto itself.