A review by kimberly_b
Caramelo by Sandra Cisneros

1.0

I really didn't like Caramelo. I respect what Cisneros was trying to do, but I feel disingenuous rating it more than one star (did not like it). The story was bloated, but the writing was what I struggled with the most. Cisneros writes in a stream of consciousness way that doesn't always feel like she's imparting necessary information. The high points of the story are buried in the absolute excess of words. I suspect that the editor didn't cut much, if anything, from this story. I know enough Spanish to where the untranslated Spanish didn't bother me. I did think the comments throughout the novel about the awkwardness of Spanish phrases was odd. Here is an example:

-Es que tengo sleepy. I have sleepy, Father.

Oh yeah, there are no quotation marks in the entire novel! Just dashes. Anyway, there are a lot of instances where Lala points out the strange wording of Spanish sentences when they're translated to English. I mean, English would seem awkward when translated to Spanish. I just didn't get the constant mentioning of it, especially from a native Spanish speaker.

I would have completely abandoned this book if it wasn't my book club pick for November.