Angie Cruz

“I have been eagerly waiting for a new book from Angie Cruz. So glad the time has come.” —Edwidge Danticat, author of Brother I’m Dying and Breath, Eyes, Memory “Gorgeous writing, gorgeous story.” —Sandra Cisneros, author of The House on Mango Street “An essential read for our times.” —Cristina Garcia, author of Dreaming in Cuban Fifteen-year-old Ana Cancion never dreamed of moving to America, the way the girls she grew up with in the Dominican countryside did. But when Juan Ruiz proposes and promises to take her to New York City, she has to say yes. It doesn’t matter that he is twice her age, that there is no love between them. Their marriage is an opportunity for her entire close-knit family to eventually immigrate. So on New Year’s Day, 1965, Ana leaves behind everything she knows and becomes Ana Ruiz, a wife confined to a cold six-floor walk-up in Washington Heights. Lonely and miserable, Ana hatches a reckless plan to escape. But at the bus terminal, she is stopped by Cesar, Juan’s free-spirited younger brother, who convinces her to stay. As the Dominican Republic slides into political turmoil, Juan returns to protect his family’s assets, leaving Cesar to take care of Ana. Suddenly, Ana is free to take English lessons at a local church, lie on the beach at Coney Island, see a movie at Radio City Music Hall, go dancing with Cesar, and imagine the possibility of a different kind of life in America. When Juan returns, Ana must decide once again between her heart and her duty to her family.

A Novel

Dominicana

Lizeth Garcia

Stefanie  Uwah

I liked the premise of this book. I was looking forward to seeing how Ana would find her place in the city and manage the mounting responsibility that comes with being the first in her family to come to America. Something just felt a bit off-kilter with this one. The author made a lot of stylistic choices that I felt prevented this book from feeling complete. It’s written without quotation marks which I may have gotten used to had I only read the physical book. But I flipped back and forth between the audiobook and the physical book so each time I returned to the text, I had to do some mental adjustments. The dialogue wasn’t distinct enough for me to properly pick out which parts were actually spoken vs which parts were thought. There was also an EXCESSIVE amount of conjunction dropping. I think it was used to build tension and atmosphere but reading it just felt extremely stilted. Parts of the book felt more reminiscent of a script for a movie or play which worked at the moments where Ana imagines herself inside a telenovela.

My major issue with this book was the fact that when I’d want Ana to wrestle with her feelings, she’d usually result to asking herself hypothetical questions about what one of her family members would do in her situation. I was looking forward to reading about Ana’s internal processing, but those moments were very few and far between.

Because of this, the book doesn’t really “explore various themes” as much as it tells you the way life was for Dominican Republic immigrants in the 1960s. It brings up Malcom X, racism, colorism, and abuse because they were present in that life—and in this life for that matter—not because the book itself is making a definitive statement on the right and wrong of those things. And this is not a bad thing. It’s just not what I was expecting. There were a few times, especially when Ana was speaking with her mother, that I wished the book took more space in allowing Ana to struggle with what she desired for herself and what her family wanted for themselves. It is something I think many immigrant children, me included, struggle with regular basis. There is a continuous tension in your life being tied to the dreams of your family and I wanted to see how she came to terms with that.

Fraser Simons

This excels in terms of voice. She sounds plausibly her age, but also intelligent. Something YA gets wrong more than it gets right. 

This is also perfectly fine, otherwise - but it is also exactly as you imagine the story to go. A story of a young girl illegally and immorally married to a man so the family can hold onto property and not slip into homelessness. It doesn’t help that the dust jacket gives about 3/4 of the plot and the central conflict away. I am not being hyperbolic. The book matter is about that much of the plot (beats).

Once the discovery of New York and her sort-of settling in to her new life occurs, the voice takes a back seat and the plot becomes almost perfunctory. 

I did like the ending, though.

Elad Schulman

I finished this one a few hours ago and i'm still feeling very conflicted. 

On one hand, I loved the story and the fact that most of the story is based on Cruz's mother's experiences makes it feel even more emotional. There were aspects of the writing that I also really enjoyed.

However, I feel like the ending was too abrupt and sometimes I got lost with all the characters and historical events that were mentioned. I felt disconnected from the main character, Ana, and I felt like some of the character storylines were too quickly forgotten. 

I guess I just wanted more from this novel. 

SHORTLISTED FOR THE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION 2020'A thrilling, necessary, and unforgettable portrait of what it means to be an immigrant' Patricia Engel, author of The Veins of The Ocean and Vida'Dominicana is beautiful, engaging, and cuts right to the heart of what it is to be a dutiful young female from a poor country who is bright in every sense of the word, full of love and hope' Mary Gaitskill, author of The Mare and VeronicaFifteen-year-old Ana Cancion never dreamed of moving to America, the way the girls she grew up with in the Dominican countryside did. But when Juan Ruiz proposes and promises to take her to New York City, she must say yes. It doesn't matter that he is twice her age, that there is no love between them. Their marriage is an opportunity for her entire close-knit family to eventually immigrate. So on New Year's Day, 1965, Ana leaves behind everything she knows and becomes Ana Ruiz, a wife confined to a cold six-floor walk-up in Washington Heights. Lonely and miserable, Ana hatches a reckless plan to escape. But at the bus terminal, she is stopped by Cesar, Juan's free-spirited younger brother, who convinces her to stay.As the Dominican Republic slides into political turmoil, Juan returns to protect his family's assets, leaving Cesar to take care of Ana. Suddenly, Ana is free to take English lessons at a local church, lie on the beach at Coney Island, dance with Cesar at the Audubon Ballroom, and imagine the possibility of a different kind of life in America. When Juan returns, Ana must decide once again between her heart and her duty to her family.In bright, musical prose that reflects the energy of New York City, Dominicana is a vital portrait of the immigrant experience and the timeless coming-of-age story of a young woman finding her voice in the world.

Shortlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction 2020

Mariana Afonso

Camila

Emily C Peterson

b.andherbooks

I glommed this entire book in an afternoon and it was compelling and super heavy. It will be an interesting one to discuss for book club, but also I'm emotionally exhausted from reading it.

Angelica Garcia 

Francine Corry

Yennifer Villa

Maren Eisl

A GOOD MORNING AMERICA BOOK CLUB PICK Shortlisted for the 2020 Women's Prize for Fiction “Through a novel with so much depth, beauty, and grace, we, like Ana, are forever changed.” —Jacqueline Woodson, Vanity Fair “Gorgeous writing, gorgeous story.” —Sandra Cisneros Fifteen-year-old Ana Cancion never dreamed of moving to America, the way the girls she grew up with in the Dominican countryside did. But when Juan Ruiz proposes and promises to take her to New York City, she has to say yes. It doesn’t matter that he is twice her age, that there is no love between them. Their marriage is an opportunity for her entire close-knit family to eventually immigrate. So on New Year’s Day, 1965, Ana leaves behind everything she knows and becomes Ana Ruiz, a wife confined to a cold six-floor walk-up in Washington Heights. Lonely and miserable, Ana hatches a reckless plan to escape. But at the bus terminal, she is stopped by Cesar, Juan’s free-spirited younger brother, who convinces her to stay. As the Dominican Republic slides into political turmoil, Juan returns to protect his family’s assets, leaving Cesar to take care of Ana. Suddenly, Ana is free to take English lessons at a local church, lie on the beach at Coney Island, see a movie at Radio City Music Hall, go dancing with Cesar, and imagine the possibility of a different kind of life in America. When Juan returns, Ana must decide once again between her heart and her duty to her family. In bright, musical prose that reflects the energy of New York City, Angie Cruz's Dominicana is a vital portrait of the immigrant experience and the timeless coming-of-age story of a young woman finding her voice in the world.

Dominicana A Novel

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