deirdrebps 's review for:

Love War Stories by Ivelisse Rodriguez

3.0

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Ivelisse Rodriguez is a new voice and an important one. This is a collection of short stories by a Latina, a Puerto Rican who grew up in Massachusetts. The book was nominated for a prestigious PEN Fiction award, the only short stories in its category. All the stories explore the love-hate relationship Puerto Rican women have with love. You must have a man. Women without husbands are suspect, even if that husband left them long ago. Girls are groomed to impress the right boys, yet they end up loving - or lusting after - the wrong boys. The husbands are drinkers or gamblers, philanderers or worse. Rodriguez has a purpose with her stories: She wants to tell the memoirs of people who came to the United States. She wants to move on from the nostalgia for a lost homeland and the challenges of learning English.
“I wanted to focus on how love narratives are detrimental to women, that we should be showing girls and young women that there are things more important than love, like kindness, compassion, consideration.”
The collection is a fascinating look at an old, enduring culture. It is shocking to see how poorly women are treated, and Rodriguez is calling out to those who perpetuate the myths and continue predatory behavior.
Full review and interview with the author: https://www.salisburypost.com/2019/04/14/ivelisse-rodriguez-a-new-voice-in-modern-fiction/