Reviews with content warning for Suicidal thoughts - I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

I think this is a wonderful book that should be required reading in high schools across the world.
It’s raw, it’s beautifully written, and above all it is real. Nothing is glossed over and it makes for a very emotional and compelling read.
Highly Recommend but please do your research on potential content warnings before deciding to read it!!

Content Warnings

op3's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful informative mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

I really tried to love this book. I really did. I found the quality of writing lazy and rushed, the only highlight was the ending which I found to be just ok. So that’s what I’m rating the book as. Just ok.
Often times I take at least an hour or two to pick out books I want to read so I can enjoy what I read. This is one of those books I avoid when I spend that time searching. This is a testimony that I should keep doing that. But the ending was okay. The fluff was ok if you consider there to be any.

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melist6's review

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challenging emotional sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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fictionalcass's review

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emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I think a lot of teenagers could really resonate with this book. Reading it with the perspective of an adult who was immensely frustrated with the teenage choices being made, I had to remind myself that that’s not the point. Julia has a clearly defined voice in the novel, and while I didn’t always love it, she certainly makes for a compelling protagonist.

After the death of her sister, Julia embarks on a journey of both self discovery and family history. She is a teenager who is desperate to find her place in the world and is exploring life as teenagers so often do. Over the course of the book, Julia experiences so much but it’s also too much and not enough at the same time, and I think that’s a particular sort of pain that so many can resonate with.

Overall, it was a book with fully realized characters who seemed to step of the page. While the narrative style didn’t always work for me (it’s hard been in a teen’s head for so long sometimes) I do think it’s a really compelling story. 4⭐️

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arisol's review against another edition

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challenging emotional hopeful reflective sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Another example of a book I have wanted to read for a long time and found me in a period of my life that felt particularly relevant. I can comprehend fully why this book was as well-received as it was, seeing how it relates and describes so much of the experience of children of immigrants.

In the end, the weight of intergenerational trauma and how it comes down on us as mental illness felt heavy to me, but not in a way that was unappreciated. I am grateful for this book and how it puts so much of my own life, pain and joys, into the world.

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kcohrs19's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional sad tense

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

ricksilva's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Julia struggles with the sudden tragic death of her sister as well as her own depression while feeling trapped in a family that needs her to fill the "perfect daughter" role that her sister had held. And Julia begins to realize that her sister, Olga, had her own set of secrets and might not have ever been what the family believed her to be.

All of this plays out over a tumultuous two years in which Julia grieves while finishing high school, having her first romantic relationship, and trying to find her voice in a place she feels like she never truly fits in.

The pacing was slower than expected at first, and it really took about half of the book before it hooked me. The mystery of what was going on with Olga is not entirely the payoff that it at first seems to set up, but I did appreciate that the plotline was resolved in a way that felt both ambiguous and very real.

The details of setting and culture, both in Chicago and Mexico are excellent, and the characters are multifaceted with most of them showing growth and change as the story moves along. The main character's voice in a nice mix inner-city tough and intellectual, and she is easy to root for even when making some very bad decisions.

I felt like the ending didn't completely resolve all of the character tension, but still managed to leave things off on a good note.

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akg333's review against another edition

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dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

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