Scan barcode
bridgettjensen's review against another edition
5.0
Stunning collection of essays. Reading these essays is like sitting down for coffee with a really smart, genuine friend.
librosycafe25's review against another edition
5.0
For anyone who has been through adoption or given a surname by a step parent, identity is something that is grappled with in teenaged years. Add in divorce, abuse, hunger and loneliness and you have a life which is "jagged, smashed place of edges and fragments..."
The connected essays in this memoir gave me much to think about, especially when exploring what identity means. Many times we're perceived to be someone based on our surname when that is just a bit of the whole story. For the author, there is a lot of exploring to do. She is adopted by a Cuban America family of Jehovah's Witnesses with parents who later divorced, and throw her into their chaotic mess of a life.
All of these issues and subsequent questions of identity are brought forth in these essays, many which are gut wrenching and others that show the tenacity of the author to become her best self.
The language in the memoir is clear, direct, and touching.
The connected essays in this memoir gave me much to think about, especially when exploring what identity means. Many times we're perceived to be someone based on our surname when that is just a bit of the whole story. For the author, there is a lot of exploring to do. She is adopted by a Cuban America family of Jehovah's Witnesses with parents who later divorced, and throw her into their chaotic mess of a life.
All of these issues and subsequent questions of identity are brought forth in these essays, many which are gut wrenching and others that show the tenacity of the author to become her best self.
The language in the memoir is clear, direct, and touching.
heidihaverkamp's review against another edition
4.0
A series of short essays as memoir... loved this format. "Island of Bones" is the Spanish name for Key West, where Castro's father grew up. She was raised Latinx by her adoptive parents, until later they all learned her biological parents were white. What is race, anyway? She writes of getting by as a single mother in poverty while also as a grad student in English (whaaat???? wow) and of serving as a woman of color and tenured professor at the all-male Wabash College in central Indiana. Not easy. She has a longer memoir, "The Truth Book," but this was so compact, so beautifully written, and although all these essays were originally published elsewhere, they come together so neatly, like a story puzzle. This was recommended by a friend, and I'm so glad I picked it up.
grounding_sage's review against another edition
5.0
⭐️5
Wow oh wow. This book definitely had moments that didn’t fully connect with me, which makes sense considering not all of these stories were written for me. However, the moments and lines that did connect hit hard and were extremely powerful. I am so happy that this book was recommended to me by a small Indy bookstore and that this book was written by an amazing person who shares her talents with the university that I am attending.
Wow oh wow. This book definitely had moments that didn’t fully connect with me, which makes sense considering not all of these stories were written for me. However, the moments and lines that did connect hit hard and were extremely powerful. I am so happy that this book was recommended to me by a small Indy bookstore and that this book was written by an amazing person who shares her talents with the university that I am attending.
yi_shun_lai's review against another edition
5.0
This book. Read it. It’ll open your eyes, and you will want the writing of more women like Castro in your life.
chellyfish's review
5.0
W O W. I've not read much non-fiction before this, but what few expectations I did have were SO exceeded. Castro is a totally captivating writer, and you genuinely like her. As such, the things that happen to her are even more horrific (though they're so horrific on their own anyways). She lays out these essays without flinching from the truth of her past, baldly laying out her troubles unapologetically and (seemingly) without alteration of the horrible truth.
The only fault I find is in the last essay. After all she had established, it felt a bit like a cop out -- a tying together of ribbons that perhaps were better left untied. The essay "In Theory" conveys much of the same theme, but it doesn't spell out the message for you, which is nice. Not at all worth docking a star though. Highly recommend, questionably suitable for young adults though.
The only fault I find is in the last essay. After all she had established, it felt a bit like a cop out -- a tying together of ribbons that perhaps were better left untied. The essay "In Theory" conveys much of the same theme, but it doesn't spell out the message for you, which is nice. Not at all worth docking a star though. Highly recommend, questionably suitable for young adults though.