A review by sol_journal
Daughters of Latin America: An International Anthology of Writing by Latine Women by Sandra Guzmán

emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.0

*Thank you Netgalley and Amistad for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!*

Posted to: NetGalley, Goodreads, and The StoryGraph

Posted on: 27 May 2023

4.4 (rounded down to 4) out of 5 stars.

What a phenomenal collection of voices! What I *really* enjoyed was the acknowledgment and platform given to voices of mixed Latin heritage and queer identifications. In a more ‘traditional’ culture that honestly had presented itself in the past as more close minded to a lot of these groups of people and stories, I think it was *amazing* to see this mix of views being shared.

‘Daughters of Latin America’ weaves together a beautiful collection of speeches, short stories, poems, and more into parts split into the 13 Mayan Moons with themes per each part. Some of the works I found a bit harder to connect to the theme of the rest, but I think the overall gathered words were most important- and almost every single one hit.

It got a bit emotional at times, it got a bit relatable. I think as a child of immigrant parents, a lot of these stories and poems, speeches and scribbled thoughts resonate a lot more because of the shift in older values and those changes happening in these newer generations. There’s some that focused on the story of those in between two cultures which I think so many second gen (and other gens) can find home in.

Sandra Guzman does a wonderful job in arranging different views and different genres- from sci-fi and fantasy stories to real spoken speeches, from queer voices about the queer experience to the erasure of voices caught in this in-between world.

This anthology is not an easy ready to pick up if you expect to finish it quickly. It took me a while to read through it by the way it’s organized, but I enjoyed finding out a little about each creator of the piece and where their voice and experience is coming from. It was an amazingly done anthology that brought together so many different and inspirational voices of Latine women which will, hopefully, find a home within other Latine hearts.