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A review by saritaroth
The Education of Margot Sanchez by Lilliam Rivera
3.0
The story centers around the trials and tribulations of Margot Sanchez, a girl who is being forced to work all summer at her parents' supermarket to pay back a debt that she incurred by stealing her father's credit card. You find out that she stole the credit card so that she could improve her wardrobe in order to fit in with the cool crowd at her new fancy school, Somerset. Later, she finds out that her father and brother are not whom she thought that they were, and a wave of betrayal washes over her. She must find the strength to forgive her family and take the blame for her own misguided actions.
I wanted to like this book more than I did; I thought that it was just okay. The book was well-written, but I couldn't seem to get past the protagonist and my dislike, bordering on hatred, for her. I kept hoping that she would realize the sheer size of her mistakes, but instead she just kept making more. She stole beer from her family's supermarket and ended up getting a beloved employee fired for it. Granted, her brother was partly to blame as well, since he was stealing money from the supermarket in order to open a bar, and the same employee got blamed for that as well. That, however, does not minimize the fact that her mistakes just kept building.
Based on the title, I figured that at some point Margot would learn something, but I don't feel that she really did. At one point, pretty far into the book, she says, "I could tell Papi I was the one who stole the beers and that Oscar is completely innocent. But I don’t say a word. I’m too much of a coward. This mask I wear that conceals my true self, I will keep it on forever at the cost of Oscar, Moises, and everyone." Then later, when wrestling with the fact that she was losing one of her best friends due to the monumental mistakes that she was making, she says, "I can’t believe Elizabeth’s turning my drama around to attack me. It’s true that I haven’t been around but it’s not my fault." Does that sound like she is taking responsibility for her actions? I don't think so. In the end, she does make a list of all the people that she's wronged and goes around trying to make amends, but by this point, I was thinking, Is it too little too late?
I wanted to like this book more than I did; I thought that it was just okay. The book was well-written, but I couldn't seem to get past the protagonist and my dislike, bordering on hatred, for her. I kept hoping that she would realize the sheer size of her mistakes, but instead she just kept making more. She stole beer from her family's supermarket and ended up getting a beloved employee fired for it. Granted, her brother was partly to blame as well, since he was stealing money from the supermarket in order to open a bar, and the same employee got blamed for that as well. That, however, does not minimize the fact that her mistakes just kept building.
Based on the title, I figured that at some point Margot would learn something, but I don't feel that she really did. At one point, pretty far into the book, she says, "I could tell Papi I was the one who stole the beers and that Oscar is completely innocent. But I don’t say a word. I’m too much of a coward. This mask I wear that conceals my true self, I will keep it on forever at the cost of Oscar, Moises, and everyone." Then later, when wrestling with the fact that she was losing one of her best friends due to the monumental mistakes that she was making, she says, "I can’t believe Elizabeth’s turning my drama around to attack me. It’s true that I haven’t been around but it’s not my fault." Does that sound like she is taking responsibility for her actions? I don't think so. In the end, she does make a list of all the people that she's wronged and goes around trying to make amends, but by this point, I was thinking, Is it too little too late?