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pattydsf 's review for:
Gabi, a Girl in Pieces
by Isabel Quintero
Leave it to a young adult novel to remind me why I love reading poetry. The poetry is such an integral part of the book and so imporant to Gabi. Gabi is a poet herself, but her English teacher introduces her to some wonderful poetry. I really need to go back and look up all the poems mentioned in the book. Some of them I already knew, but many were new to me.
This is a wonderful, heart-breaking novel. Not only did it remind me about poetry, but Quintero's writing showed me once again that good writing transcends any fences we try to put around it. This is supposed to be a story for high school students. However, Gabi's life is real and should be encountered by more than just teenagers. Thank goodness, I will never live in Gabi's world (I wouldn't survive), but I should know about such places, such lives.
As we continue to deal with racism and all our cultural problems as a nation, I want people to read more books outside their own experience. I can't ever know what it is like to be a high school student who immigrated to this country, whose dad abuses drugs, whose brother is arrested or any of the other things that happens in Gabi's life. However, Quintero writes so vividly that I can try to walk in Gabi's shoes. Books are not the only answer, but they give us a place to start.
If you want to know what some high school students are experiencing, what some people have to deal with everyday, try this novel. I won't say every Mexican-American high school student is living Gabi's life, but I am betting this book is not fantasy.
This is a wonderful, heart-breaking novel. Not only did it remind me about poetry, but Quintero's writing showed me once again that good writing transcends any fences we try to put around it. This is supposed to be a story for high school students. However, Gabi's life is real and should be encountered by more than just teenagers. Thank goodness, I will never live in Gabi's world (I wouldn't survive), but I should know about such places, such lives.
As we continue to deal with racism and all our cultural problems as a nation, I want people to read more books outside their own experience. I can't ever know what it is like to be a high school student who immigrated to this country, whose dad abuses drugs, whose brother is arrested or any of the other things that happens in Gabi's life. However, Quintero writes so vividly that I can try to walk in Gabi's shoes. Books are not the only answer, but they give us a place to start.
If you want to know what some high school students are experiencing, what some people have to deal with everyday, try this novel. I won't say every Mexican-American high school student is living Gabi's life, but I am betting this book is not fantasy.