Sanchez, Erika L. I
am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, 340 pages. Alfred A. Knopf, 2017. $18.
Content: Language: R ( 100+ swears; 41 “f”); Mature Content: R; Violence:
PG-13.
Julia is a fifteen year old who
is struggling with the death of her sister Olga. Julia’s mother thought Olga was perfect and
now Julia is the only daughter she has left and so Julia feels like a
disappointment. As Julia tries to
uncover more about Olga’s life before she died, she is shocked to find out that
Olga wasn’t as perfect as her parents thought.
Julia tries to find where she fits in at school, at home, with her
friends and with a possible boyfriend, but the pressure keeps building inside
her and she feels misunderstood.
Julia
is a hard character to like because she is critical of everyone (including
herself) and inconsistent. The world
Julia paints is one of perverted men, crass conversations and unbearable
parents. My frustrations are many with
this book, but one example is she complains about her parents treating her like
a delinquent, but left to her own devices Julia smokes
joints, drinks, goes to adult parties and has sex with her boyfriend. If you can get over not
just the amount of swearing and random use of the “f’ word, then you have to
get over the rest of her crass language. This book also deals with depression and
suicide.
PUBLIC ONLY. Reviewer, C. Peterson.
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1 comment:
Oh, no. Swearing. Because the virgin ears of teenagers have never heard the word "fuck" before.
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