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A review by itsmeamethyst
My Broken Language: A Memoir by Quiara Alegría Hudes
5.0
This beautiful memoir is about Quiara Alegría Hudes finding her voice and navigating her place in the world as a Philly native and daughter to a Puerto Rican feminist and White hippie. From her start in West Philly to attending Yale, it is her evolution of being ashamed of her broken Spanish to embracing language as fluid and writing in a way that was authentic for her and representative of the people around her.
One of my favorite parts in this book is her apology to her mother for correcting her English while she was growing up. She states, “As if the words I write are my language and not hers. The woman who taught me English…I eat my words. I eat my corrections como una comemierda. Mom, if you ever read this book (and make it this far without disowning me), I ask you one favor: break this English language today and tomorrow and the day after and bestow it new life with each breaking. Endow your fullness upon this cracked colonial tongue. You language genius. This is your English. You earned it. I am only a guest here.”
She shares three generations of family stories that ultimately shaped her into the woman she is. These are stories of home, relationships, family, self-discovery, loss, spirituality, community care and activism, passion and talent, and breaking silence. She tells these stories to capture them, so they would not be lost to history and because she felt an otherworldly drive to write them.
Grateful to Quiara Alegría Hudes, Penguin Random House, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I had not heard about this book or its author until discovering it on NetGalley, and My Broken Language is one of the best books I have read this year. I cannot wait to read Hudes’ prior work and see what she does next. She already has a Pulitzer Prize under her belt and has written the book for the Tony-winning Broadway musical, In the Heights then adapted it for the screen.
One of my favorite parts in this book is her apology to her mother for correcting her English while she was growing up. She states, “As if the words I write are my language and not hers. The woman who taught me English…I eat my words. I eat my corrections como una comemierda. Mom, if you ever read this book (and make it this far without disowning me), I ask you one favor: break this English language today and tomorrow and the day after and bestow it new life with each breaking. Endow your fullness upon this cracked colonial tongue. You language genius. This is your English. You earned it. I am only a guest here.”
She shares three generations of family stories that ultimately shaped her into the woman she is. These are stories of home, relationships, family, self-discovery, loss, spirituality, community care and activism, passion and talent, and breaking silence. She tells these stories to capture them, so they would not be lost to history and because she felt an otherworldly drive to write them.
Grateful to Quiara Alegría Hudes, Penguin Random House, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. I had not heard about this book or its author until discovering it on NetGalley, and My Broken Language is one of the best books I have read this year. I cannot wait to read Hudes’ prior work and see what she does next. She already has a Pulitzer Prize under her belt and has written the book for the Tony-winning Broadway musical, In the Heights then adapted it for the screen.