I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

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Amazing book, it really captures the feeling of guilt and grief and living in a Mexican household. Would recommend

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sanchez, is a book about a girl and her family. The book speaks alot on mental well-being, grief, cultural expectations, family dynamics, and identity. In the beginning of the book it speaks about how the family is pushing through their grief after the eldest daughter's passing. Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter shows how grief is something many people struggle with and go through at some point in their lives, but that there is a way to make it through those hard times. The family expectations which were put on fifteen year old Julia’s shoulders after her sister's passing was alot for her to handle. Though with the friends and examples she had in her life it made things difficult for her to be able to meet the expectations that her mother had. This book is a very valuable read and I would definitely recommend reading it!!

I started this Y.A. novel because it was listed as a must read on a writer’s blog. Initially, I wondered why this book was so highly recommended because the female protagonist, Julia, seems like an obnoxious, lazy, spoiled, self-centered adolescent. She is highly critical of other people, does not want to help her mother with household duties, and seems oblivious to the difficult life that her mother, Ama, and her father, Apa, face on a daily basis. When Julia’s older sister, Olga, is killed in a car accident, the family is devastated, but Julia seems unable to offer sympathy and support to her parents. Ama does not make the situation easier on Julia when she blames Julia for actions that resulted in the tragic accident, an accusation that could be construed from the spoiled behavior of Julia. I thought, I can’t relate to this girl.Nonetheless, I continued to trudge forward with the novel. I discovered more reasons to understand Julia’s personality and behaviors. She has plenty of reasons to be depressed and obstinate. Her behavior could also be listed as an amazing example of youthful resilience. The novel is told in first person and a reader will observe that Julia has an amazing sarcastic and inventive wit, an insightful take on human hypocrisy, and a broad awareness of literature. She is acutely aware of sights, sounds, and smells in her urban surroundings and likewise when she takes a trip to her hometown in Mexico. Julia’s personality grows on a reader. Her determination to rise above her environmental limitations is admirable.The author, Erika Sanchez, has produced a remarkable coming-of-age story of a city girl faced with extreme poverty, with immigrant parents who have had their own severe trauma; Julia must struggle to survive emotionally and intellectually. There are strong comparisons in Julia’s story with the protagonists in novels like On the Wings of a Hummingbird by Susan Mills and Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens.If you are considering purchasing this book, your money will not be wasted.

Book was in good condition. Didn’t care for the story.