Fabiana Lopez ~ Caramelo
I liked the novel because of the humor in the way Cisneros describes everything. She gave each of the character's a great voice despite what seemed like minimal dialogue at times. (Just a single line in some cases) She didn't go through the trouble of writing out whole conversations all the time but gave "just enough but not too much" in detail to give the readers an idea of what the character's motivations are.
I thought her 'flash back' to describe Soledad's, the Awful Grandmother's, childhood and adolescence was very revealing and took a character that could have been very two dimensional back far enough to give context for 'why she's so awful.' Cisneros does a great job of showing how women can perpetuate the sexism of patriarchal society via jealousy and strife. She also perfectly captures the sexism of machismo culture, an attribute of hispanic culture that I have personally experienced myself.
Cisneros brings a reality to Celaya's childhood via rich detail; the game the children devise to be able to see Candelaria's underwear, feeling alternately ignored and cherished by her parents, getting bossed around by Soledad, and having zero context when her mother starts yelling at her father about the truth behind Candelaria's origin during the family trip to Acapulco. Everything weaves together to create a story that is as rich as the rebozos she describes. Indeed, the rebozo functions as a great metaphor throughout the book, for stories, family legacies, and family ties.
Reading this novel gave me thoughts about my own parents and my own heritage. I am not Mexican. My father is from Uruguay and my mother was born in Virginia though her parents were missionaries to Argentina so she spent a good portion of her childhood and adolescence there. Growing up, I remember being around latinos in the United States, visiting people at their houses, the food, the conversation, the opinions. My experience was pretty different from Cisneros's but some of the things are similar; the feeling of childhood memories from the time we lived in Uruguay, and the sense of two separate cultures. I sometimes felt conflicted about whether or not I could really call myself a 'latina' or 'Uruguayan.' I wasn't sure that I was like other kids from latino families and my spanish grew rusty because I didn't really speak Spanish much. I still tend to speak English more on a whole, since I'm American. I've always considered myself American but my Uruguayan heritage is important to me too.
I thought her 'flash back' to describe Soledad's, the Awful Grandmother's, childhood and adolescence was very revealing and took a character that could have been very two dimensional back far enough to give context for 'why she's so awful.' Cisneros does a great job of showing how women can perpetuate the sexism of patriarchal society via jealousy and strife. She also perfectly captures the sexism of machismo culture, an attribute of hispanic culture that I have personally experienced myself.
Cisneros brings a reality to Celaya's childhood via rich detail; the game the children devise to be able to see Candelaria's underwear, feeling alternately ignored and cherished by her parents, getting bossed around by Soledad, and having zero context when her mother starts yelling at her father about the truth behind Candelaria's origin during the family trip to Acapulco. Everything weaves together to create a story that is as rich as the rebozos she describes. Indeed, the rebozo functions as a great metaphor throughout the book, for stories, family legacies, and family ties.
Reading this novel gave me thoughts about my own parents and my own heritage. I am not Mexican. My father is from Uruguay and my mother was born in Virginia though her parents were missionaries to Argentina so she spent a good portion of her childhood and adolescence there. Growing up, I remember being around latinos in the United States, visiting people at their houses, the food, the conversation, the opinions. My experience was pretty different from Cisneros's but some of the things are similar; the feeling of childhood memories from the time we lived in Uruguay, and the sense of two separate cultures. I sometimes felt conflicted about whether or not I could really call myself a 'latina' or 'Uruguayan.' I wasn't sure that I was like other kids from latino families and my spanish grew rusty because I didn't really speak Spanish much. I still tend to speak English more on a whole, since I'm American. I've always considered myself American but my Uruguayan heritage is important to me too.
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