A review by aksmith92
Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio

emotional funny reflective medium-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? Yes

3.0

The Setup: Catalina is a novel that delves into the complexities of identity, privilege, and the immigrant experience within the elite corridors of American academia. The narrative centers on Catalina Ituralde, an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador on the brink of graduating from Harvard University. Despite her academic achievements, Catalina grapples with the limitations imposed by her immigration status, which curtail her post-graduation opportunities. As she maneuvers through the university's privileged circles, securing a boyfriend and potential job prospects through his influential father, her life takes a tumultuous turn when her grandfather faces deportation. The crisis forces Catalina to confront the stark realities of her precarious position within an institution emblematic of privilege and exclusion.

What I Liked: Villavicencio's portrayal of Catalina's journey offered a sharp critique of America's immigration policies and an incisive examination of campus life, particularly at one of America's most prestigious universities. I think this novel sheds light on the often-overlooked struggles of undocumented students, highlighting the emotional and psychological toll of living in constant uncertainty. Through Catalina's eyes, readers gain insight into the duality of existing in prestigious spaces while marginalized by systemic inequities. I genuinely think that impact - being in a space of such privilege while still experiencing marginalization - showed brilliantly in this novel, mainly in how Catalina acted and made decisions. 

Additionally, this was engaging storytelling with profound social commentary. That said, it was essentially one big stream of consciousness from Catalina, with no chapters, just a few parts based on her semester at Harvard. I didn't mind this, as I thought Villavicencio's writing was both poignant and unflinching, but I think you should go into knowing that it essentially reads like one big brain dump.

What Missed the Mark: Honestly, no part of me was invested in Catalina's journey, likely because I didn't enjoy her. I don't think you were supposed to. I believe Villavicencio intended for Catalina to be a bit insufferable because she had to be to make it into a world of Harvard elites. However, Catalina came across as rude, dysfunctional, and chaotic, without ever having additional growth to justify any of that. Honestly, this book was about an incredibly raw and challenging topic of being undocumented and a family facing deportation. While Catalina cared about her family and suffered from this subject, she also jumped from moving cars, obsessed over boys, and tried oh-so-very-hard to be artsy to the point where she was annoying. She stated, as if it was a character trait, that she didn't have many friends, and then told us about numerous friendships. 

My challenge's root wasn't disliking Catalina and her choices. While that annoyed me, I've certainly read books that I love where there were unreliable narrators and dislikeable characters. However, given the subject matter, the plot lacked the depth expected. Catalina's unlikeableness may have been realistic, but it wasn't engaging, and it didn't help me feel connected to anything in the book, including the deportation piece, which felt very odd.

I've already noted the stream-of-consciousness style, which I didn't mind. It added a layer of complexity (in a good way) to the story. However, I do think where it may have fallen flat was a lack of overall cohesion in the narrative. It did not coalesce effectively to support the protagonist's compelling life circumstances.

It ended up being a very middle-of-the-road read for me. While not bad by any means, it did not fully capture the intensity of its themes and made me feel disengaged from Catalina and everyone else. I still think I'll read more from this author in the future; she is clearly a good writer! 

***

I knew it was only a matter of time before a boy in a band wrote a song about me, but that would require patience and I suspected the song would not be very good. Once again, I would have to rely on my own scruples to make things happen. I would have to become a writer myself.

The notion that writers might be actual people was as distant and existentially confusing to me as theconcept of an infinite universe - definitely real, definitely there, but not something I could ascertain for myself or otherwise materially experience. There is magic in that. Writers were like the Greek gods, stories and problematic, and their corresponding mythologies fascinated me and kept me company.

My grandmother was spectacularly sensitive. She always needed to create a different world for herself because what was before her wouldn't do. When I arrived, she created new worlds for me, too.

My grandfather and Harvard anthropologists tag-teamed my education on the Americas and the truth is they agreed on the basic story. First came the Spaniards, and with them the church, then came petroleum, then came cocaine, then came NAFTA, and now we are all fucked.

I ate so well when I was in college. I still sometimes think about how well I ate. I had an ice cream float at almost every dinner. I microwaved brownies and ate them warm with vanilla ice cream. I tried macaroni & cheese and meatloaf for the first time. I can't say that I liked the flavor, but I don't really think American cuisine is about flavor, it's like a stand against communism.

He could not protect. He could not provide. Emasculation at the hands of the state is a very cunning thing for the state to do because men will never see it coming from the state. They'll blame the subjects in their own kingdoms, the women and children to whom they are lords. The only people to whom they are lords.

The problem with being an object of beauty, a beautiful object, is that you exist only when you're looked at and thus to remain alive you must be constantly looked at, the way some sharks need to be in motion to breathe. It feels like a soul death when their eyes are off of you. 
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