lindsayjade 's review for:

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez

4.0

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I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter is hilarious, tragic, and triumphant. Through the sassy protagonist Julia, the reader watches as she unravels the mystery behind her seemingly ordinary and boring sister, Olga. This novel, written from a Latinx perspective by a Latinx author, holds a certain kind of authority in the representation of the Mexican-American family. It features a cast of frustratingly realistic characters that the reader grows to love, then hate, then love again. Despite the hard topics tackled in this novel, such as attempted suicide, depression, and abuse, Sanchez still manages to incorporate moments of humor. One aspect of the novel that I didn’t feel was developed to its fullest was the relationship between Connor and Julia. It was rushed into and then dissolved before it was able to gain any thematic traction. Despite this, I found the romance to be necessary to developing Julia’s character and the contrast of POC vs. white experiences is a trend that follow race-related themes.