A review by nerfherder86
Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx: Love and Chaos in the South Bronx by Sonia Manzano

3.0

Sonia Manzano, actress for many years as "Maria" on Sesame Street, tells her childhood memories growing up the daughter of Puerto Rican immigrants in a series of apartments and houses around New York City, through her teen years, when she discovered acting and went to a school for the performing arts, and then landing at Carnegie Mellon. It's an interesting memoir, with fragmented memories and reconstructed dialogue to impart the feel of the emotions/scenes she remembers experiencing. I found the writing style a little difficult to follow at times, because of the many run-on sentences, kind of stream-of-consciousness stuff. Her mother tried to free Sonia and her two younger brothers from living with their abusive alcoholic father, but they always seemed to end up back together. So the warm memories of large family gatherings and festive Puerto Rican customs are intermingled with the terror and uncertainties of what would happen if father came home drunk. She writes about wanting to leave her situation and avoid ending up pregnant, stuck in a dead end life, like many of her friends and cousins. She also writes about experiencing racism and socioeconomic discrimination, especially in high school and college. While teen-appropriate, there are some profanities and f-bombs (and references to the hippie drug culture of the 60's) that I would say make it inappropriate for a middle school audience.