A Special Coming-Of-Age Tale With a Villain You'll Love to Hate
The preview pages felt like a 5 star read to me, and I liked the fact that this debut novel was dedicated simply “To Women;" that alone is intriguing as it suggests something that will appeal to a wide audience. What universal message is tucked into the pages? For starters, there is the hindsight musing from the first-person narrator, one which has been true with humans since ... well, since the beginning of recorded human history:
“The tectonic plates of our relationship were shifting that night, but I
had miscalculated the direction.”
This is very much a novel about a young Chicana woman who wants to fit in but feels that she doesn't at her university in Boston, who wants to be loved but sometimes feels she has made so many mistakes that she doesn't even like herself, and who also wants to have an opportunity to meet Mateo Dominguez, author of a book titled 'Happiness.'
I immediately loved this novel’s intrigue of an ex-pat female, the lush sensory descriptions of Chile (remember, this is Chile, not the food chili.) And then there are the fun descriptions such as a quivering lip which always reminded Tatum Vega, the narrator. The chapter titles are comprised of 2 things - the year (present day 2015 or the past during college) and the place (the USA or Chile.)
Also, there is a book-lover’s delight, scattered references to literary works and art, on top of a plot twist that involves a literature class, and misguided comments that tear at the heart of our Latina narrator. Fame and wealth can give power to the wrong people, and when there's the added attraction of an older man who seems to offer so much to a younger college woman, there are additional opportunities for heartbreak.
I felt very fortunate when I had the opportunity to read an e-arc copy of the book on NetGalley. This coming of age tale is powerful!
“The tectonic plates of our relationship were shifting that night, but I
had miscalculated the direction.”
This is very much a novel about a young Chicana woman who wants to fit in but feels that she doesn't at her university in Boston, who wants to be loved but sometimes feels she has made so many mistakes that she doesn't even like herself, and who also wants to have an opportunity to meet Mateo Dominguez, author of a book titled 'Happiness.'
I immediately loved this novel’s intrigue of an ex-pat female, the lush sensory descriptions of Chile (remember, this is Chile, not the food chili.) And then there are the fun descriptions such as a quivering lip which always reminded Tatum Vega, the narrator. The chapter titles are comprised of 2 things - the year (present day 2015 or the past during college) and the place (the USA or Chile.)
Also, there is a book-lover’s delight, scattered references to literary works and art, on top of a plot twist that involves a literature class, and misguided comments that tear at the heart of our Latina narrator. Fame and wealth can give power to the wrong people, and when there's the added attraction of an older man who seems to offer so much to a younger college woman, there are additional opportunities for heartbreak.
I felt very fortunate when I had the opportunity to read an e-arc copy of the book on NetGalley. This coming of age tale is powerful!