Reviews

Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros

eddle's review

adventurous emotional funny hopeful informative lighthearted mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

mellowbry's review

adventurous emotional funny inspiring lighthearted 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

3.5

elempr's review

3.0

A pretty good book in the beginning and the end. I really liked the way it explored Lala's relationship with her family, their past, and her experiences being an immigrant and living in poverty. The middle of the book, where Lala tells her grandmother's story, lagged a little bit. I sometimes felt like the book needed a bit more plot to drive it along.

I was also a bit annoyed by the whole "women love more intensely than men, who are all careless and cheat" thing, because (a) that is not at all true and (b) it's really just a way of justifying shitty behavior by men. Which is not what I am about.

totalimmortal94_reads's review

4.0

Ngl the page count/small font size intimidated me, so I listened to the audiobook while following along in the physical book. Honestly this was the best move because this audiobook was done well. Love how Cisneros acted out the characters and gave this book so much life. Would def recommend listening to this!

glendaleereads's review

4.0

It’s always a pleasure to read Cisneros. She has taught me how to write.

Her stories are always filled with such beautiful prose that read as poetry all the time.

The book starts off slow but that only lasts for a couple of pages. Celaya narrates the story of her family and it’s so interesting and great to see how things were seen or heard from her perspective.

susansdg's review

3.0

in English and Spanish

onepgatatime's review against another edition

3.0

I had a lot of hope for this book, and for this reason it is hard for me to tell if the books writing left me unfulfilled or if my expectations did. The thought of reading a book I could relate to on the level of my Mexican American but not so Mexican self, super Mexican dad, not so Mexican mom, Spanglish speaking home really excited with. And in that sense I believe I was fulfilled. There were great moments in the novel that warmed my heart, mad me laugh, and really made me feel understood. But those moments were lost in the unnecessary chapters and overexplainations. It took me quite awhile to get through this story as it couldn't keep my focus. I think the author tried to address too many topics, too many moments, too many stories at once. And it just got out of hand.

I have a strong desire to reread this story at a later date without my strict expectations. We'll see if that changes anything.

rubbercitykitten's review against another edition

adventurous funny fast-paced

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

moon___dude's review

emotional informative reflective slow-paced

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

5.0

This is a longgg and detail heavy book but so worth it. A story of family, love and betrayal, and growing up.

kimberly_b's review

1.0

I really didn't like Caramelo. I respect what Cisneros was trying to do, but I feel disingenuous rating it more than one star (did not like it). The story was bloated, but the writing was what I struggled with the most. Cisneros writes in a stream of consciousness way that doesn't always feel like she's imparting necessary information. The high points of the story are buried in the absolute excess of words. I suspect that the editor didn't cut much, if anything, from this story. I know enough Spanish to where the untranslated Spanish didn't bother me. I did think the comments throughout the novel about the awkwardness of Spanish phrases was odd. Here is an example:

-Es que tengo sleepy. I have sleepy, Father.

Oh yeah, there are no quotation marks in the entire novel! Just dashes. Anyway, there are a lot of instances where Lala points out the strange wording of Spanish sentences when they're translated to English. I mean, English would seem awkward when translated to Spanish. I just didn't get the constant mentioning of it, especially from a native Spanish speaker.

I would have completely abandoned this book if it wasn't my book club pick for November.