A review by crystaltran
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez
dark
emotional
reflective
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
4.0
what a journey this book takes you on. after reading the synopsis, i expected a captivating mystery uncovering the secret life of olga, the seemingly perfect daughter. and while this book was that, it was also so much more than that.
this novel mainly focused on julia, the younger “imperfect” daughter. olga was seen as perfect by their immigrant parents since she was devoted to family, always stayed home, and didn’t socialize too much; julia is more representative of the modern-day american teen who wants to be their own individual away from their family and not necessarily tied to their cultural roots- two opposite sides of the spectrum. it focused on her struggle to be accepted by her parents and also accept herself in the grief of her sister’s death.
being a daughter of immigrants, i related a lot to julia’s struggles. having your parents not understand you due to the way they grow up, having them constantly berate you for wanting things they aren’t used to, and having them sometimes resent you because you don’t live up to the ideal they set up in their head after having sacrificed so much to move to america is a lot to carry and such a frustrating struggle. it’s a constant fight between repaying your parents for all they’ve done but also being true to who you want to be, and i thought this was represented really well under the guise of a 15-17 year old girl.
i’ll be honest, julia is a difficult character to like for most of the book. she’s short-tempered, brash, entitled, and incredibly obnoxious. she lashes out at pretty much everyone and in pretty much every scene. her logic isn’t always sound and she uses her sister’s death to justify her selfish actions- but that was the beauty of it. because no one is perfect and grief is never pretty. people, especially teenagers, have dramatic feelings and it can manifest in the ugliest of ways, and that’s just the reality of people and emotions and mourning. all of this together not only turns into an incredibly depiction of grief, but also an amazing portrayal of depression. some of my favorite scenes were those of julia and her therapist and her speaking candidly about her confusing emotions.
this book tackles so many issues and does it really well. the depiction of the immigrant family is one of the greatest depictions (at least to my knowledge and understanding) i’ve read about in a while. it was rarely pretty. there wasn’t a lot of closure. but that’s what felt so real about it.
i do wish the plot centered a little more on olga and that her backstory was given more spotlight. it seemed to be more of a plot that appeared a few times in the beginning and end. i also wish more could’ve happened between julia and her mom. there was so much left unsaid and left a lot to be desired, but, like i said, that’s what felt so real about it
this novel mainly focused on julia, the younger “imperfect” daughter. olga was seen as perfect by their immigrant parents since she was devoted to family, always stayed home, and didn’t socialize too much; julia is more representative of the modern-day american teen who wants to be their own individual away from their family and not necessarily tied to their cultural roots- two opposite sides of the spectrum. it focused on her struggle to be accepted by her parents and also accept herself in the grief of her sister’s death.
being a daughter of immigrants, i related a lot to julia’s struggles. having your parents not understand you due to the way they grow up, having them constantly berate you for wanting things they aren’t used to, and having them sometimes resent you because you don’t live up to the ideal they set up in their head after having sacrificed so much to move to america is a lot to carry and such a frustrating struggle. it’s a constant fight between repaying your parents for all they’ve done but also being true to who you want to be, and i thought this was represented really well under the guise of a 15-17 year old girl.
i’ll be honest, julia is a difficult character to like for most of the book. she’s short-tempered, brash, entitled, and incredibly obnoxious. she lashes out at pretty much everyone and in pretty much every scene. her logic isn’t always sound and she uses her sister’s death to justify her selfish actions- but that was the beauty of it. because no one is perfect and grief is never pretty. people, especially teenagers, have dramatic feelings and it can manifest in the ugliest of ways, and that’s just the reality of people and emotions and mourning. all of this together not only turns into an incredibly depiction of grief, but also an amazing portrayal of depression. some of my favorite scenes were those of julia and her therapist and her speaking candidly about her confusing emotions.
this book tackles so many issues and does it really well. the depiction of the immigrant family is one of the greatest depictions (at least to my knowledge and understanding) i’ve read about in a while. it was rarely pretty. there wasn’t a lot of closure. but that’s what felt so real about it.
i do wish the plot centered a little more on olga and that her backstory was given more spotlight. it seemed to be more of a plot that appeared a few times in the beginning and end. i also wish more could’ve happened between julia and her mom. there was so much left unsaid and left a lot to be desired, but, like i said, that’s what felt so real about it
Content Warnings
Moderate: Self harm, Suicide attempt, and Death
Minor: Pregnancy and Rape