no_u14's review
dark
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Child abuse, Xenophobia, Deportation, Racism, Abandonment, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Medical content and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
lizmart88's review
3.0
The first time I accidentally read the Young Readers Version.... But either way, it is an incredible story. However, the adult version is certainly richer and more nuanced.
Memoir from a Latina author. She was born in Mexico to a mother who had trouble taking responsibility for her kids. She and her siblings (two older and eventually two younger) moved between their grandmother's homes in Mexico and eventually came to the US with their father.
Bracingly difficult story to read filled with trauma and injustice and a child's heartbreak. Her parents and other adults are complex beings - full of love but also abuse and alcohol. At the same time, the resilience of the author and of family members inspires us all.
Memoir from a Latina author. She was born in Mexico to a mother who had trouble taking responsibility for her kids. She and her siblings (two older and eventually two younger) moved between their grandmother's homes in Mexico and eventually came to the US with their father.
Bracingly difficult story to read filled with trauma and injustice and a child's heartbreak. Her parents and other adults are complex beings - full of love but also abuse and alcohol. At the same time, the resilience of the author and of family members inspires us all.
in2reading's review
4.0
Heartfelt and beautiful memoir of a young woman's life in Mexico and the United States. Grande overcame issues of poverty, abuse, discrimination and cultural shock to become an educated and respected author. Along the way it highlights the issues that make immigration reform a pressing need.
bobbo49's review
4.0
3.5 Grande's memoir starts with her early years in Mexico, with her parents' dreams of escaping poverty and building a home and a life. As that dream disintegrates along with their marriage, a new vision appears: life across the border, where her father has illegally started anew. The story follows Grande, her siblings, her parents and her relatives through the challenges, failures and successes of that new life, including the tortured relationship of the whole family with her alcoholic father. Not quite as well written as, for example, the work of Luis Alberto Urrea, but still a compelling picture of cross-border lives.
klnbennett's review
3.0
Reyna Grande writes about her childhood experiences of being the child of illegal immigrants to the United States. In the beginning she and her siblings are left behind as her family is ripped apart by her parents illegal immigration. Later she is reunited with her parents but she grows up within a system that is not usually fair, safe or healthy. Reyna's story shows the dangers and heartbreak of the American Dream for immigrants. It also explores a complicated and heartbreaking relationship with the author's parents.
mhall's review against another edition
5.0
This is an amazing memoir. The beginning chapters about the author's childhood in Mexico with her grandmothers and siblings had the timeless feel of a children's classic.