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A review by casandra_lovealwaysbooks
Taína by Ernesto Quiñonez
2.0
I really wanted to love this book. Genuinely. I picked it up and was intrigued by the back cover saying there was a pregnant virgin in Spanish Harlem, a boy in love with her and wanting to show her he believes her, a web of crime, and family secrets.
Unfortunately, the pregnant virgin was the most unlikeable character for me; the boy wasn’t in love, he was super naïve and honestly quite dumb at certain parts; the crime wasn’t a web, it was one scam and like most young kids, he got caught; and the family secrets were non-existent.
The writing was great, I can say that. But then there were parts that really pissed me off. So here’s what I didn’t like:
1. This book was trying WAY TOO hard to be in Spanish Harlem. As a Puerto Rican woman, I was so beyond mad at how the Puerto Ricans in this book were portrayed. It was so stereotypical, so greedy, so irrational, so dumb. There was a character who said “Papo” every two words, and it just seemed ridiculously unbelievable. I’ve been around Puerto Ricans my whole life, we don’t talk like that.
2. Taína is the titular character and she was such a horribly written person to me. She had a foul mouth for absolutely no reason, it didn’t further the plot, it wasn’t nice. Additionally, she was a teenager who was written to be so incredibly childish. There was no need for her to be written like a spoiled little 5 year old whose entire motivation is getting what she wants. Simultaneously she seems old. I don’t know how the author did it but I was so bothered by it. It actually made me really dislike her because she treated Julio like crap. He bought the girl an iPod and she got mad at him because he forgot gum and called him a myriad of insults because of it. The worst of it was the use of the R word. I’m someone who understands that characters are not meant to be perfect, I actually like it that way, but the use of the R-word in this book had no point or logical sense being there. It didn’t further the plot, no character development came from it, no one was held accountable, there was no apology. So if the purpose was just to use an insult, a different one could have been used and it would not screw up anything in any way for the book. For a book published in 2019, you would think an editor, author, or someone on the team would have advised against the use of that word.
3. Julio. Ugh, Julio was both interesting and not, all at the same time. He seemed so simple to me at certain points and really mature and great at others. Given the back cover, I would hope there was at least some history but not only did this boy never at all speak to Taína before she got pregnant, but he let her and her family walk all over him and use him for his money. This boy turned to a clever little scam solely to get money because the only way Taína’s mother would let him talk to her was if he gave her money. Her reasoning was that Taína couldn’t work and she was on welfare and her family couldn’t help and the church wouldn’t help her and it pissed me off. This woman would not open the door unless the money was given first. And then once it came time for the big pay out, she was literally going to kick him out of the apartment after receiving the money. So not only was this grown ass woman using him for his money but her daughter was treating him like a doormat and he let them. I was NOT rooting for Julio and Taína at any point in this book.
4. There was no payout at the end. It just ended. The family secrets were never actually revealed. They were alluded to and honestly they didn’t feel like secrets. They were things that were explained at different parts of the book by different characters and then at the end what happened was that each character became aware that the other characters knew the stories, something the readers knew since like page 100. It just fell extremely flat for me.
Now there were things I did like, I didn’t hate the book entirely:
1. The most interesting storyline in the book was between the two mothers. Their section was my favorite and I really needed more of that story in my life, because it was fantastic and fantastically written.
2. Sal! At first he was whatever, but his backstory and the way his character grew was so beautiful. I really loved reading about him and his transformation. Also a lot of his monologues were really deep and poetic, such a beautifully written character.
3. The last paragraph when Julio is describing what it was like to hear Taína singing. Ugh, that was such a poetic and lyrically written paragraph, it was gorgeous.
If someone is a fan of magical realism, they might really like this story. It was certainly not for me and that’s why I have to give it 2 stars. 1 for Sal and 1 for the moms.
Unfortunately, the pregnant virgin was the most unlikeable character for me; the boy wasn’t in love, he was super naïve and honestly quite dumb at certain parts; the crime wasn’t a web, it was one scam and like most young kids, he got caught; and the family secrets were non-existent.
The writing was great, I can say that. But then there were parts that really pissed me off. So here’s what I didn’t like:
1. This book was trying WAY TOO hard to be in Spanish Harlem. As a Puerto Rican woman, I was so beyond mad at how the Puerto Ricans in this book were portrayed. It was so stereotypical, so greedy, so irrational, so dumb. There was a character who said “Papo” every two words, and it just seemed ridiculously unbelievable. I’ve been around Puerto Ricans my whole life, we don’t talk like that.
2. Taína is the titular character and she was such a horribly written person to me. She had a foul mouth for absolutely no reason, it didn’t further the plot, it wasn’t nice. Additionally, she was a teenager who was written to be so incredibly childish. There was no need for her to be written like a spoiled little 5 year old whose entire motivation is getting what she wants. Simultaneously she seems old. I don’t know how the author did it but I was so bothered by it. It actually made me really dislike her because she treated Julio like crap. He bought the girl an iPod and she got mad at him because he forgot gum and called him a myriad of insults because of it. The worst of it was the use of the R word. I’m someone who understands that characters are not meant to be perfect, I actually like it that way, but the use of the R-word in this book had no point or logical sense being there. It didn’t further the plot, no character development came from it, no one was held accountable, there was no apology. So if the purpose was just to use an insult, a different one could have been used and it would not screw up anything in any way for the book. For a book published in 2019, you would think an editor, author, or someone on the team would have advised against the use of that word.
3. Julio. Ugh, Julio was both interesting and not, all at the same time. He seemed so simple to me at certain points and really mature and great at others. Given the back cover, I would hope there was at least some history but not only did this boy never at all speak to Taína before she got pregnant, but he let her and her family walk all over him and use him for his money. This boy turned to a clever little scam solely to get money because the only way Taína’s mother would let him talk to her was if he gave her money. Her reasoning was that Taína couldn’t work and she was on welfare and her family couldn’t help and the church wouldn’t help her and it pissed me off. This woman would not open the door unless the money was given first. And then once it came time for the big pay out, she was literally going to kick him out of the apartment after receiving the money. So not only was this grown ass woman using him for his money but her daughter was treating him like a doormat and he let them. I was NOT rooting for Julio and Taína at any point in this book.
4. There was no payout at the end. It just ended. The family secrets were never actually revealed. They were alluded to and honestly they didn’t feel like secrets. They were things that were explained at different parts of the book by different characters and then at the end what happened was that each character became aware that the other characters knew the stories, something the readers knew since like page 100. It just fell extremely flat for me.
Now there were things I did like, I didn’t hate the book entirely:
1. The most interesting storyline in the book was between the two mothers. Their section was my favorite and I really needed more of that story in my life, because it was fantastic and fantastically written.
2. Sal! At first he was whatever, but his backstory and the way his character grew was so beautiful. I really loved reading about him and his transformation. Also a lot of his monologues were really deep and poetic, such a beautifully written character.
3. The last paragraph when Julio is describing what it was like to hear Taína singing. Ugh, that was such a poetic and lyrically written paragraph, it was gorgeous.
If someone is a fan of magical realism, they might really like this story. It was certainly not for me and that’s why I have to give it 2 stars. 1 for Sal and 1 for the moms.