Macchiato- Joey Pacific

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Reading Caramelo, the thing that became crystal clear to me was the fact that Sandra Cisneros' book is almost scarily accurate when it comes to portraying hispanic families. My fiance is Puerto Rican, and I can see her fitting into Celaya's role in the family almost spot on, the one exception being that Yanira is an only child. As I've said before on Twitter, a female dominated society seems to be the norm for hispanic families, despite the values that they place on the males. This can be seen many times in the book, but the biggest indicator in my opinion is the character of the Awful Grandmother. Her imperious personality directly clashes with nearly everybody else, and she's seen as, well, awful. One of the largest giveaways to her nature is when she mentions that a baby was stillborn, and seems happy about it. "Elvis, Aristotle, and Byrom are Uncle Fat-Face and Aunty Licha's. The Grandmother says to Uncle Fat-Face, --How backwards that Licha naming those poor babies after anyone she finds in her horoscopes. Thank God Shakespeare was a stillborn. Can you believe answering to 'Shakespeare Reyes'? What a beating life would've given him" (Cinsneros, 27).  This really shows the Awful Grandmother's character, as she was completely indifferent to how Celaya's uncle feels about the matter of his stillborn son. She believed that her opinion was the only one that mattered, which is something that I can relate to based on Yanira's own mother. I'm afraid that she's going to become an Awful Grandmother of her own, but that's a story for another day.

Yes, what I really enjoyed about this book is the personality that the book itself has. The way that dialogue is written really gives it a personality of its own. In addition to that, the chapters themselves are quite small, giving me a personal sense of satisfaction with finishing each section of the book. The protagonist Lala also gives us a crystal clear view of the Mexican world, and her descriptions of Mexico when they finally arrive are stunning. "Fireworks displays, pinata makers, palm weavers. Pens, --Five different styles, they cost us a lost! A restaurant called --His majesty, th eTaco. The napkins, little triangles of hard paper with the name printed on one side. Breakfast: a basket of pan dulce, Mexican sweet bread... (18). These sorts of descriptions are prevalent throughout the novel and really characterize the Mexican culture as much as the characters do in their speech.

Comments

  1. UnknownSeptember 28, 2016 at 8:52 PM

    In a way though, I feel like Grandmothers like that make everything so much better in the long run. These are the people who make strong children and independent grandchildren. Personally, my extended family would tell you about yourself in a quick second, but they would never let anyone else say anything about you or hurt you. Then again, I might be bias

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