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thejejo's review against another edition
3.0
Very interesting. I thought from the cover it might have been funnier, but, still a good read.
audryt's review against another edition
4.0
Interesting exploration of what quinces have become in America.
jennifermreads's review against another edition
2.0
While I did learn about quinceañeras, I still do not see the religious connection that our church liturgy coordinator insists there is (and that it is not just a debutante ball). The author jumped around too much between stories. She'd have been better off following one girl or using the different girls to illustrate different parts of the process. This was a choppy read.
tjlcody's review against another edition
1.0
DNF, ~65%
Judgmental and preachy, as well as barely even being about quinceaneras themselves.
I cut out the moment I heard that wage-gap bullshit that has been debunked time and time again, after tolerating numerouschapters yeah I'm sorry SECTIONS where girls who wear pink and want to be a princess for a night are acting like their "mamis never heard the word feminism" and statistics that I find to be questionable at best and slanted at worst.
Judgmental and preachy, as well as barely even being about quinceaneras themselves.
I cut out the moment I heard that wage-gap bullshit that has been debunked time and time again, after tolerating numerous
samirakatherine's review
4.0
This book is not strickly memoir, in that it is a first person account of a research project into the quinceanera--the facts found, the interviews conducted, the quinceaneras attended. Alvarez is a wonderful writer. If I, at times, got frustrated that she is not a trained anthropologist that is, in all fairness, my problem, not hers.
softcover_sarah's review
3.0
All Latinx writers in the United States owe a debt to Julia Alvarez, especially female-identifying writers. In this non-fiction work, Alvarez uses a close, pseudo-anthropological, examination of the coming-of-age rite of the Quinceanera, to explore her own relationship with her heritage and her gender identity. While not always scientific, this text is always personal, and full of gorgeous meditation and reflection that is grounded by the statistical and anecdotal evidence sprinkled throughout.
shelley_pearson's review against another edition
4.0
This was an interesting history of quinceaneras, and I liked learning about the different types of parties that the girls have, and the cultural significance of the rituals. I wish that the author had included more details about the other quinceaneras that she attended, though. She mentioned going to several, but only really described one. There was more autobiography than I was hoping for...particularly more about the author's 20s. I understand why she wrote about herself at 15, but then it seemed like she wanted to explain everything until she finally felt like she had become a woman (in her early 30s). I think she could have brought that up without telling so much about the years between. Especially considering the info about the other quinces that she left out.
emilyjbridges's review against another edition
3.0
I learned that the author has mixed feelings about the quinceanera tradition. I learned this repeatedly, chapter after chapter. I have never learned anything more thoroughly.