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A review by pwbalto
The Liars of Mariposa Island by Jennifer Mathieu
4.0
Very well-written, with Jennifer Mathieu's typically awesome and fully-fleshed characters. The Gulf Coast setting presses right down on you, and the feelings behind each character's secrets elevate this novel beyond your typical YA summer island fare. Also, I kept waiting for somebody to get raped, and they didn't, so I'd like to right off the bat say thank you to Jennifer Mathieu.
Diving a little deeper, this is the third book in a row I've read that was inspired by the real experiences of a member of the author's family, and I have to say I am not sure how I feel about this one. Ok the mother in this book is a minor monster, an alcoholic narcissist pining for her lost princessy childhood in Havana, ripped from her by Castro and his rebels. According to the author's note, this woman's experience as a Pedro Pan child refugee is inspired by those of Mathieu's mother and aunts.
So I'm a little weirded out that the author cannot muster up a drop of sympathy for her. In a way I'm impressed - just because someone went through a tough time, that doesn't automatically confer grace upon them. And there are narcissists everywhere, so I'm sure there were a couple among the Cuban refugee children, just as there were probably a couple piano prodigies and people with eidetic memory. And frankly this is an impression I have heard from friends in Miami - that many Cubans who fled Castro retain a magnificent chip on their shoulder and can be pretty snotty to just about everyone else.
But I don't like generalizations, and it seems to me strange that Cuban-descended Mathieu would paint this picture. So, like I said, not sure how I feel about this one.
Diving a little deeper, this is the third book in a row I've read that was inspired by the real experiences of a member of the author's family, and I have to say I am not sure how I feel about this one. Ok the mother in this book is a minor monster, an alcoholic narcissist pining for her lost princessy childhood in Havana, ripped from her by Castro and his rebels. According to the author's note, this woman's experience as a Pedro Pan child refugee is inspired by those of Mathieu's mother and aunts.
So I'm a little weirded out that the author cannot muster up a drop of sympathy for her. In a way I'm impressed - just because someone went through a tough time, that doesn't automatically confer grace upon them. And there are narcissists everywhere, so I'm sure there were a couple among the Cuban refugee children, just as there were probably a couple piano prodigies and people with eidetic memory. And frankly this is an impression I have heard from friends in Miami - that many Cubans who fled Castro retain a magnificent chip on their shoulder and can be pretty snotty to just about everyone else.
But I don't like generalizations, and it seems to me strange that Cuban-descended Mathieu would paint this picture. So, like I said, not sure how I feel about this one.