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Surviving Santiago
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Returning to her homeland of Santiago, Chile, is the last thing that Tina Aguilar wants to do during the summer of her sixteenth birthday. It has taken eight years for her to feel comfort and security in America with her mother and her new husband. And it has been eight years since she has last seen her father.
Despite insisting on the visit, Tina's father spends all his ti ...more
Despite insisting on the visit, Tina's father spends all his ti ...more
Hardcover, 320 pages
Published
June 2nd 2015
by Running Press Kids
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Surviving Santiago takes the story of a 16-year-old’s love affair and sets it within the dangerous political landscape of the last months of the Pinochet military dictatorship in Chile. It a measured, quietly-paced plot woven through tumultuous events.
The protagonist is the daughter of an anti-Pinochet activist who reports political misconduct at his radio station and still struggles with the personal demons of an earlier imprisonment. Cristina is Chilean-born but Wisconsin-raised. A young femi ...more
The protagonist is the daughter of an anti-Pinochet activist who reports political misconduct at his radio station and still struggles with the personal demons of an earlier imprisonment. Cristina is Chilean-born but Wisconsin-raised. A young femi ...more

I'm not sure what to think about Surviving Santiago! I wanted to like it, and parts of it were interesting, but I had a hard time getting into it.
I didn't like Tina's dad at all. I didn't get why he wanted to see her, when he's always off working or drinking. For someone who would only divorce his wife if he could see his daughter, he didn't seem to care (at all) about spending time with her, and it didn't make sense, especially since it's been almost a decade since they've seen each other.
And ...more
I didn't like Tina's dad at all. I didn't get why he wanted to see her, when he's always off working or drinking. For someone who would only divorce his wife if he could see his daughter, he didn't seem to care (at all) about spending time with her, and it didn't make sense, especially since it's been almost a decade since they've seen each other.
And ...more

Lyn Miller-Lachmann's follow-up to GRINGOLANDIA is a gritty not-just-for-teens political thriller set in the last days of Pinochet's dictatorship in Chile.
Fifteen-year-old Tina travels to Chile to spend the summer with her dad while her mom is away on her honeymoon with her new husband. The dad that she remembers is gone. The dad that she now has is more interested in exposing goverment corruption than spending time with his daughter in spite of the beating while under interrogation that left hi ...more
Fifteen-year-old Tina travels to Chile to spend the summer with her dad while her mom is away on her honeymoon with her new husband. The dad that she remembers is gone. The dad that she now has is more interested in exposing goverment corruption than spending time with his daughter in spite of the beating while under interrogation that left hi ...more

Given the the title, I wanted to love this book. It was okay.
The plot moved and the basic idea had potential.
My disappointment in the book was that I never really felt like I left Wisconsin and I didn't get to know the characters very well. While the story was supposed to take place in Chile and the characters were Chilean, as a white, American, I never felt that another part of the world was being revealed to me (one of my main reasons for reading).
The aunt, Ileana, is an architect but we neve ...more
The plot moved and the basic idea had potential.
My disappointment in the book was that I never really felt like I left Wisconsin and I didn't get to know the characters very well. While the story was supposed to take place in Chile and the characters were Chilean, as a white, American, I never felt that another part of the world was being revealed to me (one of my main reasons for reading).
The aunt, Ileana, is an architect but we neve ...more

Surviving Santiago tells the story of a Tina Aguilar who is forced to live for a summer with her alcoholic, politically active father in Santiago, Chile. The 1989 dangerous Pinochet regime provides a harrowing setting for this text. The narrative unfolds right along with the political backdrop. Lyn tackles complex themes that will connect with all readers: family, love, honor, loyalty and self-discovery.

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This book wasn't on my radar at all until I was contacted bu the publisher. This book was a nice little surprise for me. I was pleasantly surprised by this read. It was good. A great story that had a bit of romance and suspense and a bunch of family drama and some good world history.
Tina is from Santiago and has lived in the states for a few years now well about 8 years I think. Santiago has been under a dictatorship for quite some time and her father used to work underground in a rebellion. He ...more

Jun 10, 2015
Ed
added it
Surviving Santiago
by Lyn Miller-Lachmann
Running Press-978-0-7624-5633-8
$16.95
Many moons ago Gringolandia by Lyn Miller-Lachmann showed up in my queue. This story of how an ordinary family deals with the extraordinary evil inflicted by the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile remains with me. I always wondered about Christina (Tina) and now I have my answer!
I should immediately reassure readers that this book stands alone. It is not necessary to read Gringolandia to appreciate this story. That said, I ...more
by Lyn Miller-Lachmann
Running Press-978-0-7624-5633-8
$16.95
Many moons ago Gringolandia by Lyn Miller-Lachmann showed up in my queue. This story of how an ordinary family deals with the extraordinary evil inflicted by the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile remains with me. I always wondered about Christina (Tina) and now I have my answer!
I should immediately reassure readers that this book stands alone. It is not necessary to read Gringolandia to appreciate this story. That said, I ...more

Review copy: ARC via publisher
Tina is conflicted about living with her father. She remembers her papá from childhood. That papá loved his family and spent time with them. He drove his children to school and played with them at the beach. The father she has come to stay with in Santiago is a very different man. Tina knows that his imprisonment and torture caused these deep changes in him, but still, she yearns for that papá from years ago. She resents having to leave her friends and home to come ...more
Tina is conflicted about living with her father. She remembers her papá from childhood. That papá loved his family and spent time with them. He drove his children to school and played with them at the beach. The father she has come to stay with in Santiago is a very different man. Tina knows that his imprisonment and torture caused these deep changes in him, but still, she yearns for that papá from years ago. She resents having to leave her friends and home to come ...more

Feb 28, 2016
Barbara
rated it
really liked it
Shelves:
animals,
alcohol,
abusive-relationships,
character-building,
civil-rights,
community,
compassion,
conflict,
cooking,
crime
Fans of its predecessor, Gringolandia, will surely find this follow-up novel, set in 1989, equally compelling. Sixteen-year-old Christina Aguilar hasn't seen her father in eight years, years that have been spent healing from the wounds of an oppressive regime in Chile and embracing the American way of life. While her mother and her new husband leave for a honeymoon, Tina spends the summer with her father in Santiago. Although she looks forward to reconnecting with him, she also dreads their reun
...more

When I began reading Lyn Miller-Lachmann’s Surviving Santiago, I hadn’t realized it drew on her earlier work Gringolandia (which I haven’t yet read, but which I purchased immediately after finishing Surviving Santiago). The central character, Tina Aguilar, is a rather naive sixteen-year-old, spending the summer in Santiago, Chile, with her activist father, who she hasn’t seen since her parents separated.
The novel is set after the plebiscite that ended Pinochet’s rule in Chile, but before he has ...more
The novel is set after the plebiscite that ended Pinochet’s rule in Chile, but before he has ...more

As an adult reader, I'd give this book 3 or 3.5 stars. I think if I were in high school, I'd rate it 4 stars. Because that is the audience the book is intended for, we're going with the higher rating.
I thought the setting and time for the book were unusual for a YA audience. It's not really far enough in the past to be "historical" fiction, but it is set before the intended audience was born. The story takes place in Chile at the end of the Pinochet regime, but with a protagonist who is far mor ...more
I thought the setting and time for the book were unusual for a YA audience. It's not really far enough in the past to be "historical" fiction, but it is set before the intended audience was born. The story takes place in Chile at the end of the Pinochet regime, but with a protagonist who is far mor ...more

In this powerful, unusual book set in 1989 during the end of the Pinochet regime, Tina returns to Santiago, Chile to spend the summer with her complicated, politically subversive, alcoholic father. Lyn Miller-Lachmann manages to balance suspense and danger with romance, family dynamics, and self-discovery in this beautiful novel. I loved learning about 1989 Santiago and watching Tina navigate her relationships with her father and the mysterious boy she meets. This novel features some of the same
...more

3.5 stars: I appreciated the political aspects of this story and the reminder that just because the fighting has stopped, does not mean that the war is over. The protagonist was a bit too selfish/wishy-washy for me and a little too interested in scoring/smoking weed as much as she could. I also am not a huge believer in love at first sight so the for that reason the "love" story was a bit much for me (let's call it a "lust" story instead.)
...more

Surviving Santiago is a great book. I personally liked this book a lot. How a bad vacation turns around to a "romantic" vacation. The book could be relatable in a way. I liked it because it was a different experience then all of mine.
I like how Tina Aguilar finds love on a summer vacation. Also how she narrates the whole story. I like how it's first person and kind of like a diary. Those are the books i like to read. I would recommend this book for ages 13+. ...more
I like how Tina Aguilar finds love on a summer vacation. Also how she narrates the whole story. I like how it's first person and kind of like a diary. Those are the books i like to read. I would recommend this book for ages 13+. ...more
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I've practiced writing ever since I was six years and invented an entire classroom of 24 kids who wanted to be my friends. The following year, my mother gave me a typewriter, and I started putting my stories on paper. It was my way of creating a world where everything worked out the way I wanted it to.
When I became a high school teacher, I started collecting my students’ stories, and I incorporate ...more
When I became a high school teacher, I started collecting my students’ stories, and I incorporate ...more
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