Reviews with content warning for Terminal illness - How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

Reviews tagging 'Terminal illness'

How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz

3 reviews

abnormal_shadow's review

emotional funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

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

4.0

I didn't go into this book with a clear understanding of what it was. I listened to this as an audiobook on Libby and I would very much recommend this method. It felt like a podcast. The main character address me as a character. In the book I answer her questions, I follow her story and I check up on her. The audiobook had music, the sounds of waves and the scratching of pens and pencils on paper. The main character is flawed, she often doesn't see how she makes people actually feel. She is confident and assertive to the extent that

it took a public argument with her sister to understand how she actual hurt the people in her life (Fernando and the sister). Its seeing the other side of a child's life, how she feels she was doing her best, her side of the day that her son left, her side of the lives of those around her, her account of events.

You can tell in the book that she is an unreliable narrator and its easy to sympathize with her until certain things click you as a reader get angry with her but not for long. She is not a bad person she is just doing bad things and doesn't understand that.

Content Warnings

readingwithcoffee's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad medium-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

3.75

Overall the book is about a woman using her job counselor more as therapist because she has no one to talk to and as the sessions continue and she looks for employment in an unforgiving country and city she unpacks the harm that’s been done to her and that she’s done to others.

A refreshing older woman protagonist but if you go in not expecting the character unpack domestic and child abuse and how she continued the cycles and tries it break them it may catch you off guard. I heavily recommend checking out the content warnings. Also most of the time the Spanglish made sense but there were times when instead “he has ten years” clearly being someone in English mimicking Spanish’s “Él tengo diez años”, instead at times it felt like taking a random word and making it Spanish to make sure we remember she’s poorly educated ESL especially that one sentence she didn’t recognize Chile the country despite being Latin American that seemed silly to me.

Small details but they bothered me, all in all Cara Romero is a very human character from her selfless virtues to her flaws that hurt everyone including herself. It made me cry which is a positive to the writer!

Content Warnings

just_one_more_paige's review

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emotional funny hopeful reflective fast-paced

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

5.0

I had checked this one out from the library on impulse (having enjoyed Cruz's first novel, Dominicana, and having seen a number of great reviews for this one). And literally while I had it checked out, the Aspen Words 2023 longlist got announced and this was on it! I haven't decided yet if I am planning to read the full longlist like I have the past couple years, but I'm thrilled that a number of the books this year are already ones I want to read (it's a great looking longlist, as always!). So, just in case I decide to go for this reading challenge for a third year, here's the first.

Cara Romero is in her mid-50s when she loses the job she's held for years becasue the lamp factory she worked in closes down. She is set up with a job counselor for "seniors" to help her find another employment opportunity and over the course of 12 sessions with this counselor Cara tells the story of her life. From gossip about her up-and-down relationships with all her neighbors in her rent-controlled housing in NYC, to her complicated relationship with her sister Angela, to the story of how she came to immigrate to America from the Dominican Republic, to her deepest, darkest secret(s) and the reasons her son, Fernando, is now estranged, Cara tells it all.

Y'all, this narrator! Cara is a force of voice from the very first page, her charisma and feisty personality hit you hard and fast and you cannot help falling in love with her. And even as, the further you read, the more you see that Cara spins her words/actions so as to never be her own fault, and it absolutely does make you angry, you still cannot help being drawn in by her perspective. You still want to give her the benefit of the doubt, when considering everything in light of her personal experiences and circumstances. By the end, all the reflection time her monologuing with the career counselor offers her gives the space to legitimately try to make changes. And you are back to feeling good about cheering for her (or the most part). And honestly, the tangibility and strength of her voice are so strong, and the emotional responses I had as she went through her story-telling, it was just...incredibly compelling as a result of Cruz's masterful writing. One final note on the writing, the flow of the Spanglish was rhythmic and lovely and one of my favorite things. (This was highlighted in a selection from a couple years ago as well, Fiebre Tropical, and I loved it then too.)

There were quite a few concepts and themes addressed in this novel, despite its short length, and they were all intertwined in such a smooth and authentic, and fully developed, way. A number of these could be emotionally fraught to read about, so please keep that in mind going into this as a reader. There was a really touching reflection on the way that a mother's trauma can be passed to a child, even as their only goal/thought is to protect them from whatever that trauma was happening to them too. In this case, it was mostly acted out as a conflating of homosexuality with softness, and a need to quash it in order to make a child strong enough to survive. It was tough and angering to read but a reality for many (especially, I think, in this first generation population - though that is absolutely a stereotype, and not always the case, either way, of course). It was heartbreaking in the way that that level of “love,” the fine lines of paranoia and protection, can cause such a rift. From a parental perspective, this MC, an older immigrant parent of adult-aged children is not one that I often see represented (usually we get their children's POVs), so that was original and I appreciated it, in both its peculiarities and universalities (like a parent's joint disappointment and relief when a child is just fine without them). And really, what a message about how the ties of family [traditionally] trump all else, even when it's not healthy or it looks like supporting someone unhealthy or that you'd rather not support...but you do it anyways because you feel like you must/have no choice (and maybe sometimes out of guilt/repayment). Phew - that was a lot.

There was an absolutely spectacular highlighting of the key role women play in their communities, that is, essentially, unpaid labor, without which communities and families would flounder/fail. However, it often goes unrecognized and the time/effort it takes is not considered in governmental definitions/expectations of “work.” This is even starker against the backdrop of financial hardship, access barriers, family dynamics and intergenerational differences, and the environmental concerns of gentrification and political landscape that Cara is portrayed within. Finally, I want to note what a gorgeous and subtle message this book holds on the importance of the role therapy can play (and healing it can provide), even/especially for the reluctant.

Just, really, what a tour de force of narrative voice Cruz has created in this novel. Cara Romero is compelling, humanly flawed, and genuinely trying - in short, absolutely and universally recognizable. And you literally cannot help but love her exposition. An understated and short novel that hits with an unexpected amount of emotional impact.

“When you need each other to survive, you forgive. That's the way it is.”

“You can plan all you want, but nature will always show you who's el jefe.”

“I learned the difficult way that you have to be gentle with your children, or you can lose them forever.”

“Anyway, I try not to think about the past, because what can we do about it?"

“Who wants to live in a lie? Freedom is being able to live your truth without having to apologize for it.”

“It is difficult to be happy for others when you have many problems.”

“Talking to you, all these weeks, has been very good for me. I have learned a lot. Talking always reminds me that no matter how difficult my life is, I have always found a solution to my problems. When I think about this, I am not afraid. We can do this. I can do it. Write this down: Cara Romero is still here, entera.”

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