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A review by unfetteredfiction
Dominicana by Angie Cruz
4.0
I loved this book! Truly, it was difficult to put down.
(CW this book contains domestic abuse and child abuse).
Ana’s life is full of change. The first big change in this narrative happens when she’s forced into an unhappy marriage with a man she doesn’t love who is twice her age. Ana, only 15, leaves her home in Santa Domingo in the Dominican Republic, to start a new life in New York City.
The book’s themes focus on immigration in the 60s, on the types of pressure that women and men faced in order to secure a certain type of future for their family, to secure a legacy. I often had to remind myself that the story’s protagonist is only 15, a child, who is wonderfully ambitious, has so much integrity, and is also incredibly devoted to her family.
In between the chaos of starting a new life, leaving her family, and navigating both marriage and the dangerous streets of her new neighbourhood, Ana dreams about true love, about freedom, and in lots of ways achieves glimpses of this. There are so many beautiful images and moments in this book, and so many heartbreaking ones too. It’s all very sensory, at times you can almost smell the kitchen and at others you can hear the laughter or conflict. All together the complete picture is one that feels so real, and so emotive, and wonderfully executed.
(CW this book contains domestic abuse and child abuse).
Ana’s life is full of change. The first big change in this narrative happens when she’s forced into an unhappy marriage with a man she doesn’t love who is twice her age. Ana, only 15, leaves her home in Santa Domingo in the Dominican Republic, to start a new life in New York City.
The book’s themes focus on immigration in the 60s, on the types of pressure that women and men faced in order to secure a certain type of future for their family, to secure a legacy. I often had to remind myself that the story’s protagonist is only 15, a child, who is wonderfully ambitious, has so much integrity, and is also incredibly devoted to her family.
In between the chaos of starting a new life, leaving her family, and navigating both marriage and the dangerous streets of her new neighbourhood, Ana dreams about true love, about freedom, and in lots of ways achieves glimpses of this. There are so many beautiful images and moments in this book, and so many heartbreaking ones too. It’s all very sensory, at times you can almost smell the kitchen and at others you can hear the laughter or conflict. All together the complete picture is one that feels so real, and so emotive, and wonderfully executed.