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El Sueno de America
America Gonzales es empleada de un hotel en una isla en la costa de Puerto Rico, donde limpia los cuartos de extranjeros ricos que miran de reojo. Su madre alcoholica le tiene resentimiento...su novio Correa, quien es casado le pega...y su hija de catorce anos piensa que su vida seria mejor en cualquier otro lugar menos donde este America.Asi que cuando le ofrecen la oport
...morePaperback, 352 pages
Published
June 4th 1997
by Harper Perennial
(first published 1996)
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Meh. It's alright, but nothing that you need to go out of your way to read if you are not interested. This book is a Lifetime movie style look at the life of America, a Puerto Rican woman in a dysfunctional and abusive relationship, and is also struggling in her relationship with her teen daughter. America decides to move to the US to become a nanny/housekeeper (read: slave, basically) for some white folks and we get a look at the often depressing lives of service people (maids/nannies/housekeep...more
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america is a maid at hotel in puerto rico. she has an alcoholic mother and a sixteen year old daughter. her boyfriend and the father to her daughter is an abusive, jealous type. she is offered a job in america and she takes it. she works for a wealthy family in massachusetts. it's not long before her ex discovers she's fled and comes looking for her. america is hard to sympathize with because she won't stand up for herself and tell him to beat it. i suppose the point is to show how she becom...more
debut fiction novel from one of my favorite non-fiction authors.
This book has plenty of heartbreak. America's mother is an alcoholic, her daughter is 14 and run away from home, her boyfriend is married and is abusive. America gets the chance to leave her home and move to New York and work in the suburbs. She thinks she can disappear. She thinks she can start a new life.
Life always seems to follow you tho, no matter where you go. I liked how America was practical. She was...more
This book has plenty of heartbreak. America's mother is an alcoholic, her daughter is 14 and run away from home, her boyfriend is married and is abusive. America gets the chance to leave her home and move to New York and work in the suburbs. She thinks she can disappear. She thinks she can start a new life.
Life always seems to follow you tho, no matter where you go. I liked how America was practical. She was...more
This book was quite a quick read, but very engaging. The story telling style that Santiago uses is straightforward and stripped down. I liked the use of Spanish words that bring the reader into the world of America, the protagonist. The story is average and the ending not terribly surprising, but the reading is worth it. As a white man I don't have a concept of the worldview of a Puerto Rican female but this book does a good job a representing the differences between "Yankee" culture a...more
Gripping story of a PR woman's struggle and courage to leave her domestic violent husband and travel to the U.S. w/ her kids to start a new life but her past comes back to haunt her no matter how far she is.
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This book provided a wonderful metaphor of the relationship the unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico has with America. It's also just a great story.
I loved this book!!!! I read it in about 8 hours. Esmeralda santiago is one of my favorite and she definitely didnt dissapoint on this one.
This one wasn't worth finishing. It was disgusting how the author described in vivid detail every character's body.
Puerto Rican author with cultural references to the island but not much of a literary accomplishment.
Really great debut novel! Although the ending should have been different. Maybe a sequel?
I struggled to get through this, and if it weren't for a 3 hour plane ride on two separate days, I'd still be struggling. Parts of it were gripping, but most of it was overdescriptive and the plot was just another "she has a dream, but he beats her down" kind of story.
This was one of the best books I have read.
Like all her other books, I kept turning pages.
I really enjoyed the reading!
this book is great
its about a hotel keeper whose dream is to escape from her molestor and abusive lover. At the hotel she meets this family that offers her a job in the united states. America feel running away from her problems may help till she gets a sad and scary surprise at her arrival.
its about a hotel keeper whose dream is to escape from her molestor and abusive lover. At the hotel she meets this family that offers her a job in the united states. America feel running away from her problems may help till she gets a sad and scary surprise at her arrival.
I loved her book When I Was Puerto Rican. This novel is only okay - I've read too many similar stories to this one. If I had read this book in 1996when it was first published, I would have been more impressed because the idea/topic would have been fresh to me then.
The final three or four chapters MADE this book. The tension and fear were beating off the page.
I hope Esmeralda is working on another fiction story. Her memoirs are nearly perfect. I can't wait to read novel that can stand up against Almost a Woman.
I hope Esmeralda is working on another fiction story. Her memoirs are nearly perfect. I can't wait to read novel that can stand up against Almost a Woman.
In this book, Esmeralda explains the concept of "machismo" with such accuracy, detail and candidness, she will leave you feeling raw and bruised. This book introduced me to Esmeralda's work - and I will keep coming back for years to come
A very compelling narrative. Santiago's gift is creating characters through clearly evoked details of their experiences.
This book was a little more involved than the whimsy of When I was Puerto Rican and Almost a Woman.
This is a book about what people think the American Dream and when you find out its not what you thought
Just not as riveting as Santiago's other works.
Loved it!
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Esmeralda Santiago (born 1948 in San Juan, Puerto Rico). Is a renowned Puerto Rican author In 1961, she came to the United States when she was thirteen years old, the eldest in a family that would eventually include eleven children. Ms. Santiago attended New York City's Performing Arts High School, where she majored in drama and dance. After eight years of part-time study at community colleges, sh...more
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“It' her life, and she' in the middle of it.”
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