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A review by bhnmt61
Make Your Home Among Strangers by Jennine Capó Crucet
4.0
The first third of this book was amazing. After a brief opening chapter, the story starts with Lizet Ramirez, a Cuban American, flying home for Thanksgiving her freshman year in college. She was born and raised in Miami in the midst of a Cuban community, so the first few months at an Ivy League school in upstate New York have been a severe adjustment. She is not even sure she is going to survive the semester.
Crucet does a brilliant job showing us—not just tellling, but showing—how different Lizet’s two worlds are. I was entirely on Lizet’s side as she tried to navigate the foreign world of an elite college, surrounded by students who had been raised practically since birth to be comfortable in that setting. Even the people who wanted to help her were unintentionally insulting and condescending.
But as the story went on, it became less and less compelling. Part of it had to do with editing—it meandered and dragged and I was sometimes tempted to skim. And although sometimes it was crystal clear why Lizet was angry, sometimes I couldn’t understand her reactions. It certainly is realistic that a 19-year-old in her position would be confused and conflicted, but after awhile her behavior just seemed random.
She was less than honest with practically every one, including some outright lies, and then angry at them for not understanding what she was experiencing. Adding in the story of Elian Gonzalez (thinly disguised as Ariel Hernandez in this book)—a 5-year-old Cuban refugee who became the center of an international conundrum in 2000—at first seemed like a brilliant way to mirror the conflicts Lizet faced, but eventually it added more complexity to the story than it could bear.
It’s an ambitious plot, but I don’t think it held together very well toward the end. Which is too bad, because during the first part I was ready to enthusiastically recommend it to all college students and anyone who has anything to do with them. The beginning really is remarkable.
Crucet does a brilliant job showing us—not just tellling, but showing—how different Lizet’s two worlds are. I was entirely on Lizet’s side as she tried to navigate the foreign world of an elite college, surrounded by students who had been raised practically since birth to be comfortable in that setting. Even the people who wanted to help her were unintentionally insulting and condescending.
But as the story went on, it became less and less compelling. Part of it had to do with editing—it meandered and dragged and I was sometimes tempted to skim. And although sometimes it was crystal clear why Lizet was angry, sometimes I couldn’t understand her reactions. It certainly is realistic that a 19-year-old in her position would be confused and conflicted, but after awhile her behavior just seemed random.
She was less than honest with practically every one, including some outright lies, and then angry at them for not understanding what she was experiencing. Adding in the story of Elian Gonzalez (thinly disguised as Ariel Hernandez in this book)—a 5-year-old Cuban refugee who became the center of an international conundrum in 2000—at first seemed like a brilliant way to mirror the conflicts Lizet faced, but eventually it added more complexity to the story than it could bear.
It’s an ambitious plot, but I don’t think it held together very well toward the end. Which is too bad, because during the first part I was ready to enthusiastically recommend it to all college students and anyone who has anything to do with them. The beginning really is remarkable.