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A review by kayceereads
How the García Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
3.0
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Let's preface this by stating that I am never comfortable rating books based on people's real life because who am to rate the experiences you've had and what they've done to shape you. This book falls under this category because it is based on Julia Alvarez's experience as an immigrant and what occurred in her family because of it.
This book is more a series of vignettes told mostly from the perspective of the six main characters: Mami, Papi, Yolanda, Carla, Sophie and Sandra. It dives into what it feels like to come to the U.S. as a child and how it feels to grow up in two different worlds at once.
Positive: I think what this book did very well was to give you a real sense of family with the characters. You understood and connected to their bonds and how they interacted. Or maybe I did because of my Latinx roots. I have had the same conversations with my own family.
Alvarez's writing is engaging and quite strong in its execution. I did also enjoy the narrative structure of the book as Alvarez chose to write it from present to the past. I didn't realize that at first. I thought it was beginning in the present and would then go to the past and build up again to the present. However, it does not. It is divided into three sections: 1989 - 1972 which covers the family, already moved to the States, and gives you a look into their lives as immigrants, 1970 - 1960 which shows you the time building up to (or back from I suppose) when they have to leave because of political reasons, and 1960 - 1952 which covers the sisters childhood in the Dominican Republic.
Negative: While I like the framework of it being a bunch of vignettes that build up an entire narrative, it felt to me like we did not get enough time to flesh out the characters. I could connect to some of their experiences as seen through my own but I did not have time to understand and truly connect to each character. I was disappointed that we would find something out about one of the characters but never really go back to the root of why something happened. SPOILER ALERT: One of the sisters ends up with an eating disorder and has a mental breakdown whereby she has to be institutionalized for some time. We learn about that in her bit but we don't know what lead up to it, what happened after or how she has dealt with it. I would have wanted more. I know that the the idea of leaving the reader with some threads unspoken is one many writers like to use but in certain aspects, like this, it would have been better to know more in order to understand the character.
While I did think the framing of it was different and didn't mind it too much, I do think it is why the ending felt very underwhelming to me and I am so unsatisfied with it ALTHOUGH I do think that bookending the beginning and ending with the same character perspective was a solid decision.
I didn't love this as much as I wanted to especially considering that stories with Latinx characters and their struggles are something I am coming to really enjoy reading.
I do recommend a read though as it was good. I just wish it'd had more meat to it.
Recommend.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Let's preface this by stating that I am never comfortable rating books based on people's real life because who am to rate the experiences you've had and what they've done to shape you. This book falls under this category because it is based on Julia Alvarez's experience as an immigrant and what occurred in her family because of it.
This book is more a series of vignettes told mostly from the perspective of the six main characters: Mami, Papi, Yolanda, Carla, Sophie and Sandra. It dives into what it feels like to come to the U.S. as a child and how it feels to grow up in two different worlds at once.
Positive: I think what this book did very well was to give you a real sense of family with the characters. You understood and connected to their bonds and how they interacted. Or maybe I did because of my Latinx roots. I have had the same conversations with my own family.
Alvarez's writing is engaging and quite strong in its execution. I did also enjoy the narrative structure of the book as Alvarez chose to write it from present to the past. I didn't realize that at first. I thought it was beginning in the present and would then go to the past and build up again to the present. However, it does not. It is divided into three sections: 1989 - 1972 which covers the family, already moved to the States, and gives you a look into their lives as immigrants, 1970 - 1960 which shows you the time building up to (or back from I suppose) when they have to leave because of political reasons, and 1960 - 1952 which covers the sisters childhood in the Dominican Republic.
Negative: While I like the framework of it being a bunch of vignettes that build up an entire narrative, it felt to me like we did not get enough time to flesh out the characters. I could connect to some of their experiences as seen through my own but I did not have time to understand and truly connect to each character. I was disappointed that we would find something out about one of the characters but never really go back to the root of why something happened. SPOILER ALERT: One of the sisters ends up with an eating disorder and has a mental breakdown whereby she has to be institutionalized for some time. We learn about that in her bit but we don't know what lead up to it, what happened after or how she has dealt with it. I would have wanted more. I know that the the idea of leaving the reader with some threads unspoken is one many writers like to use but in certain aspects, like this, it would have been better to know more in order to understand the character.
While I did think the framing of it was different and didn't mind it too much, I do think it is why the ending felt very underwhelming to me and I am so unsatisfied with it ALTHOUGH I do think that bookending the beginning and ending with the same character perspective was a solid decision.
I didn't love this as much as I wanted to especially considering that stories with Latinx characters and their struggles are something I am coming to really enjoy reading.
I do recommend a read though as it was good. I just wish it'd had more meat to it.
Recommend.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars.