Reviews

Ordinary Girls by Jaquira Díaz

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aliromg's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense medium-paced

5.0

amandabrookem's review against another edition

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5.0

a lyrical, heartbreaking, and wild ride with a backdrop of 1980’s and 90’s miami beach. jaquira does a fantastic job of laying every emotion bare on the page

book_concierge's review against another edition

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4.0

Digital audiobook narrated by Almarie Guerra

In this memoir, Díaz relates her childhood and teen years with brutal honesty. She grows up in a dysfunctional family, first in Puerto Rico and later in Miami. Her mother battles both mental illness and drug addiction. Her father is frequently absent. She gets support and love from her friends, but lacks direction. She relishes her Puerto Rican cultural heritage, but her bisexuality does not fit the cultural model. A few teachers see the spark of her intelligence and nurture it, but she has a long, hard road to traverse (mostly alone) before she achieves some success.

I found her writing gripping and enthralling, despite the many cringe-worthy scenarios. Diaz does not flinch when reporting her own misdeeds, or a sexual assault, or her time in juvenile detention. There were times when I wanted to turn away, because the scenes were so painful, but her writing kept me going. My heart went out to the young girl and struggling teenager. I applauded the woman she became and the ways she found to reconcile with her parents.

Almarie Guerra does a superb job of narrating the audiobook. I had to double check that it was not narrated by the author, herself, because Guerra’s delivery sounds so very personal.