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American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood
by
Marie Arana
In her father’s Peruvian family, Marie Arana was taught to be a proper lady, yet in her mother’s American family she learned to shoot a gun, break a horse, and snap a chicken’s neck for dinner. Arana shuttled easily between these deeply separate cultures for years. But only when she immigrated with her family to the United States did she come to understand that she was a h...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
May 28th 2002
by Dial Press Trade Paperback
(first published May 8th 2001)
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Though Marie Arana is Peruvian, not Chilean, her writing style really reminded me a lot of Isabel Allende's. American Chica is a memoir, but it's not a straightforward memoir; she meanders between her own experiences and investigating her family. A big focus of American Chica is Arana's identity. Her father is a Peruvian, and here mother an American, and she's not sure whether she's South American or a "gringa." Through different phases of her life, she alternates between the two. In Peru, she's...more
(reposted from my blog)
This was a pure and simple impulse read. I happened to be scanning the biography section of the library, saw this book, read the back blurb and took it away with me.
American Chica is a wonderful read; Arana was trained as a journalist, and her beautifully detailed descriptions and carefully-chosen similes point out the many ways in which her parents' trans-continental marriage and her privileged upbringing in Peru, then the dramatic change to middle-class surroundings in t...more
This was a pure and simple impulse read. I happened to be scanning the biography section of the library, saw this book, read the back blurb and took it away with me.
American Chica is a wonderful read; Arana was trained as a journalist, and her beautifully detailed descriptions and carefully-chosen similes point out the many ways in which her parents' trans-continental marriage and her privileged upbringing in Peru, then the dramatic change to middle-class surroundings in t...more
My wife had set this book aside after barely starting it, and out of curiosity, I picked it up. Then I could hardly put it down. You can read a summary elsewhere. Memoirs, autobiographies, and biographies are my favorite types of reading. But when you read a memoir that has all of the elements of a gripping novel--well, that's the best. This story of Marie Arana's childhood is like that. Parts seem so fantastic that they must be fiction or fantasy, but they really were part of her life. Since th...more
Sep 16, 2012
Ivy
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
history-biography-memoirs-nonfictio
Marie Arana writes an engaging memoir of her childhood growing up in her father's Peru and, later, her mother's United States. Life is a happy one for little "Marizi". She comes from an old, affluent family of European descent which includes a house full of servants and every privilege granted to a family of status. A typical child, Marizi is very fond of role playing, drama, getting into mischief and learning a thing or two from the servants.
Life centers around her mother and father--the dashi...more
Life centers around her mother and father--the dashi...more
Apr 10, 2012
Abraham Yoo
added it
I think this book can be considered valuable nonfiction book to read. While I was reading, I found myself sharing the experiences living in United States with the author since I have been shared two cultural aspects like what she did. The book tells how the author struggles to fit herself into societies. I liked how she struggles; she tries to understand her family's root. I think she could move forward since she committed to face the truth. One thing that I had trouble with this book was the fa...more
I found this book in the book room at school when I was looking for some non-fiction to read. I'm fascinated by South American (I'd love to travel there someday), so I brought the book home to read. I mostly read American Chica before bed, but it really isn't a before bed kind of book. I think the book got short shrift from me due to this. Plus it got put down for a while when I got into the Twilight series. Still, I found Marie Arana's expriences of growing up in two cultures an interesting rea...more
American Chica is not How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents nor is Marie Arana another Julia Alvarez. More’s the pity. That said, I’m an easy grader and mostly love to read anything that is not macabre, fantasy, or sci-fi. I find biculturalism and bilingualism irresistible topics and personally fascinating b/c of my own bicultural-bilingual experiences. So what in my humble opinion is not to like about American Chica? ¡Nada en absoluto!
I flew through the book devouring every detail and was to...more
I flew through the book devouring every detail and was to...more
I read this book a long time ago. I think I liked it so much because I could identify with the main character and what it feels like to have one parent from Peru, and one from America. The author includes accurate and very interesting information on Peruvian culture and history.
Pretty interesting read. She's a very interesting lady, too. I had lunch with her and her husband when she came to speak at my university. Her reflection on living between two cultures is interesting, and I really enjoyed reading about Peru and Peruvian culture.
Memoir of a girl born in the early 50's, to an American mother and Peruvian father. Wonderful tales of her childhood in Peru, her move to New Jersey, belonging to two very different worlds. Well written and thoughtful.
Her grandparents lived in Rawlins, WY!
Her grandparents lived in Rawlins, WY!
Jul 25, 2011
Tori
added it
2009- I thought I would like this book about a Peruvian-American woman's childhood, as it was written in a very lyrical style. However, I soon found it was too slow for my taste. I had to really struggle to finish it.
This book started out interesting. I like the way she portrayed her feelings of growing up in two cultures. However, it got slow in the middle and I never picked it back up to finish.
She was indeed caught between two worlds--with a Peruvian Father and an American Mother--she and her brother and sister grew up in both countries and struggled with their identities. Informative about Peruvian history and culture.
This was one of the 2002 RUSA Notable Books winners. For the complete list, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rus...
It was a wonderful walk down the path of a girl born of two cultures- American and Peruvian. Arana uses such powerful imagery and beautiful language to describe what life was like for her as a girl torn between two different worlds.
While I enjoy reads about cross cultural childhoods, there are better books out there. This one was a bit bland and ordinary.
An interesting memoir, but an event better primer to the history of Peru. The author does a very good job at using the metaphor of a bridge to represent how she feels about being "of" two countries. I especially enjoyed her descriptions of the indigenous Peruvian spiritual believes.
poetical and lyrical
fascinating history of peru
compelling narrative
complex family story and history
wow!
fascinating history of peru
compelling narrative
complex family story and history
wow!
Arana's memoir is a theme-based book. That's what I loved about it. It was mostly chronological and each chapter focused on a theme in her life. For that reason, I loved it.
A fun read. I like books about places I have visited, too. Very introspective and personal memoir.
On a personal level, I connected with her and the dynamics of culture. Wonderful read.
Nice little memoir about straddling two worlds as a child: Peru and USA.
This should have been a good story, but it was boring and uneventful.
An interesting look at one woman's life as half Peruvian and half American in the middle of the racially-charged 1950s. Some parts drag a little, but she makes some really interesting observations about what it's like to see one's self as a product of two different cultures, and how one chooses one over another depending upon the current situation.
Moving from one country to another is never easy. Living between two cultures is even more difficult. Arana's description of her time in Peru and in the U.S. is poetic and moving. I initially picked this book up solely for the language but found myself entralled by the story of a young woman coming of age and growing into her roots. I'd recommend this for children of bi-racial parents as well as for those considering crossing cultures.
A touching look at living between two cultures.
Interesting, learned quite a bit about Peru.
Easy to read, clearly portrays what it's like to be halfhalf and how racism works against you in two ways and the difference between two cultures.
I didn't like American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood, although it was critically acclaimed. For one, I take issue with a book being labeled a memoir when it has incredibly detailed accounts of events that happened when the author was four years old. When I was four, my preschool took a field trip to a dairy farm and we sat in a circle and drank chocolate milk. That's all I remember about being four. Secondly, nothing that happened in the author's childhood was interesting enough to justify wr...more
Found this book very difficult to put down. An interesting story made brilliant by Arana's beautiful and captivating prose.
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She was born in Peru, moved to the United States at the age of 9, did her B.A. in Russian at Northwestern University, her M.A. in linguistics at Hong Kong University, a certificate of scholarship at Yale University in China, and began her career in book publishing, where she was vice president and senior editor at Harcourt Brace and Simon & Schuster. For more than a decade she was the editor i...more
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Aug 22, 2012 02:44pm