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ekb523's review against another edition
3.0
Jaquira's story is pretty incredible. I like how she wove Puerto Rico's history and present into the story to provide further insight into her background, culture, experiences, and who she is. Her story is so heartbreaking and she is so completely honest that at times I felt uncomfortable reading it. Jaquira has a unique perspective, and I really appreciate her letting her readers into her world.
booksnbeanies's review against another edition
5.0
Jaquira Diaz has not had an easy life. Living in Puerto Rico her parents fighting all the time then moving to Miami and having them split. Her mom turns to drugs and men and is later diagnosed with schizophrenia. Longing for love and a happy family she turns to her friends and the streets.
My heart broke for young Jaquira on just about every page of this book. Her dad didn’t really care about anything and her brother was a jerk. She lived more on the beaches and bounced around friends houses than she did with either of her parents; doing drugs at such a young age and hanging out with men almost twice her age.
Jaquira Diaz’s brutal honesty and survival are inspiring. There is no way to read this book without feeling all the emotion and emptiness that Jaquira felt and not want to jump through the pages and time to get to her, to help her.
Jaquira jumps around a bit, telling the story of her life in this book and I found that refreshing instead of her just laying out her young life in chronological order. Writing it this way kind of gives you a better idea of what certain things lead to some of stuff that she did or why she felt a certain way. I love that she unapologetically tells her life’s story, not looking for pity, but to prove we are not defined by the worse things we’ve ever done.
I didn’t have the chance to read this book when it first came out last year, but I’m so glad I get to take part in the blog tour for it’s paperback release.
My heart broke for young Jaquira on just about every page of this book. Her dad didn’t really care about anything and her brother was a jerk. She lived more on the beaches and bounced around friends houses than she did with either of her parents; doing drugs at such a young age and hanging out with men almost twice her age.
Jaquira Diaz’s brutal honesty and survival are inspiring. There is no way to read this book without feeling all the emotion and emptiness that Jaquira felt and not want to jump through the pages and time to get to her, to help her.
Jaquira jumps around a bit, telling the story of her life in this book and I found that refreshing instead of her just laying out her young life in chronological order. Writing it this way kind of gives you a better idea of what certain things lead to some of stuff that she did or why she felt a certain way. I love that she unapologetically tells her life’s story, not looking for pity, but to prove we are not defined by the worse things we’ve ever done.
I didn’t have the chance to read this book when it first came out last year, but I’m so glad I get to take part in the blog tour for it’s paperback release.
jgziacono's review against another edition
5.0
Ever since I read The Glass Castle, I always made it a point to read more memoirs and it has developed into one of my favorite genres. This book was a heart-breaking coming of age story that really opened my eyes to Puerto Rican culture. I got a little confused with the order of events but ultimately found Diaz's story very powerful.
kunkakuna's review against another edition
5.0
i kept wondering if all of this was real, how all of this could happen to one person in one lifetime.
riveting. lively. moving to the bone.
riveting. lively. moving to the bone.
megs_k's review against another edition
2.0
Love, I learned, could destroy you. ~ Jaquira Diaz
This book wasn't ready. It read as draft instead of a final copy.
This book wasn't ready. It read as draft instead of a final copy.
ridgewaygirl's review against another edition
4.0
This is a memoir by journalist Jaquira Diáz, about her childhood in Puerto Rico, through her school years in Miami and into her adulthood as she negotiates her way as the daughter of estranged parents, bouncing back and forth between her absent father and her mentally ill and drug addicted mother. Despite her bleak situation, this is very much not a misery memoir. Diáz is not interested in garnering sympathy and she leans hard into how members of her family supported her when they could and especially on the friendships she formed as a girl growing up in a tough Miami neighborhood where gunshots were heard regularly and where she is haunted by the body of a young boy who remains nameless for far too long.
Diáz is first and foremost a journalist. Her focus is on understanding other people. She weaves into her own story, that of Lazaro Cardona and his mother Ana. He is found dead under a hedge in Diáz's neighborhood when she is a child. It took time for his identity to be found, and his mother and her girlfriend are convicted of his murder. This murder is also a story Diáz revisits as a journalist, attending his mother's appeals.
What I found most interesting is how Diáz manages to move from being a school drop-out who was regularly arrested at a shockingly young age, to building a stable life for herself, and how she chooses to love her family, even her mother.
Diáz is first and foremost a journalist. Her focus is on understanding other people. She weaves into her own story, that of Lazaro Cardona and his mother Ana. He is found dead under a hedge in Diáz's neighborhood when she is a child. It took time for his identity to be found, and his mother and her girlfriend are convicted of his murder. This murder is also a story Diáz revisits as a journalist, attending his mother's appeals.
What I found most interesting is how Diáz manages to move from being a school drop-out who was regularly arrested at a shockingly young age, to building a stable life for herself, and how she chooses to love her family, even her mother.
benlwill's review against another edition
5.0
Read this book. Raw, witty, and sentences that will have you in awe at how simple but effective they are. Brilliant debut.
milaraet2016's review against another edition
5.0
An incredible story of an ordinary girl from the hood who lived rough, yet made it out. But it’s not a book about making it out of the hood so much as it’s a book about growing, learning, and using your past, no matter how traumatic, to continue to cling to life.