A review by amywong
Dominicana by Angie Cruz

dark emotional inspiring sad medium-paced

4.0

This was surprisingly raw and honest. The characters all felt extremely real. My family's immigrant background and experience made this easy to resonate with me. Unfortunately the abusive aspect of the story was very real and may be hard to swallow for some. I appreciate that it didn't feel sensationalized for the story. It was handled very well and that's sadly a rare skill. For that reason, I'd recommend this to anyone who'd like to read an immigrant story in general not just specifically to relate to the Dominican aspect. A nuanced point that many don't understand is that abuse in a stereotypical family and an immigrant family is different. There's so many more factors as shown in this story comes into play. It's not that whether it's ok or not is different, it's always not ok, it's how you go about it handle it may be different.
As seen in Ana's story, she cannot leave not jsut for herself but for her mom, brother and now daughter. In essence, it's not just Ana who is abused physically, it's her entire family. Therefore, the entire family is involved and makes a decision together. The goal to leave, is not changed, it's when and how.
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