How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water

by Angie Cruz

Cara Romero thought she would work at the factory of little lamps for the rest of her life. But when, in her mid-50s, she loses her job in the Great Recession, she is forced back into the job market for the first time in decades. Set up with a job counselor, Cara instead begins to narrate the story of her life. Over the course of twelve sessions, Cara recounts her tempestuous love affairs, her alternately biting and loving relationships with her neighbor Lulu and her sister Angela, her struggles with debt, gentrification and loss, and, eventually, what really happened between her and her estranged son, Fernando. As Cara confronts her darkest secrets and regrets, we see a woman buffeted by life but still full of fight.

Structurally inventive and emotionally kaleidoscopic, How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water is Angie Cruz’s most ambitious and moving novel yet, and Cara is a heroine for the ages.

Genres: Fiction, Audiobook, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Historical Fiction, Book Club, Feminism

202 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 13, 2022

About the author

Angie Cruz was conceived in Dominican Republic and born in 1972 in New York City's Washington Heights. She continued to travel to and from, every summer, until she was sixteen years old. She went to La Guardia High School concentrating on Visual Arts and by default decided to follow a path in Fashion Design at Fashion Institute of Technology. During those four years of college, she worked as a salesperson, manager and then window designer in an upscale Madison Ave. boutique. In 1993, four of her children stories were featured on BET's Story Porch. Soon after, she gave up her fashionista lifestyle to become a full-time college student at SUNY Binghamton where her love affair with literature and history began. She graduated from the NYU, MFA program in 1999. Her passion for literature fueled her desire to be active in community. In 1997, she co-founded WILL: Women In Literature & Letters with Adelina Anthony and Marta Lucia, an organization that produced readings, workshops, and a conference using literature as a tool to build community and transform society. In 2000, WILL was put on hold due to lack of resources and the women's desire to make more time to write. Angie Cruz has contributed shorter works to numerous periodicals including Latina Magazine, Callaloo and New York Times. She has won awards for her writing and/or activist work such as The New York Foundation of The Arts Fellowship, Barbara Deming Award, Yaddo, and The Camargo Fellowship. She published two novels, Soledad and Let It Rain Coffee. She currently is working on the screenplay for Soledad, optioned by Nueva York Productions and working on her third novel.

Reviews

[Sujoya - theoverbookedbibliophile · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook; 5/5
Book: 4.5/5

After losing her factory job during the recession, fifty-six-year-old Cara Romero meets with a job counselor as part of The Senior Workforce Program to qualify for continuation of her unemployment benefits and also receive assistance in finding new employment.

Over the course of twelve sessions with her job counselor, Cara shares her life story (and her thoughts and feelings about the significant people and events in her life ) in bits and pieces in mostly one-sided conversations. A Dominican immigrant and legal resident of the United States who came to the country with her son, she has worked hard to provide for her family while navigating through the trials and tribulations of life as an immigrant in her adopted country. Even though she has her share of difficulties- unemployed with no health insurance, having had to pay for recent surgery and unable to make rent (gentrification knocking on the door of her rent-stabilized apartment) and is estranged from her son and her relationships with her sister Angela and her friend Lulu continue to have their fair share of ups and downs - Cara’s indomitable spirit, confidence, kind-heartedness and wisdom are awe-inspiring. Through it all, she remains a loyal friend, a dutiful sister, a concerned mother and a caregiver to those who need her help.

“Desahogar: to undrown, to cry until you don’t need to cry no more.”

While Cara’s story is narrated in the first person, other details are shared through the paperwork she files through the course of the program which makes for some interesting reading! Beautifully–written and thought-provoking, with humor, a whole lot of heart and an endearing protagonist whose story will make you smile, sob, laugh out loud and cheer her on, How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water by Angie Cruz is a short but impactful and memorable read that I would definitely recommend. I paired my reading with the brilliant audio narration by Rossmery Almonte and Kimberly M. Wetherell, for an immersive experience that I did not want to end.

[Angela M · Rating 4 out of 5]

“My name is Cara Romero, and I came to this country because my husband wanted to kill me. Don’t look so shocked . You’re the one who asked me to say something about myself.”

Well, that first sentence got my attention!

The first book I read by Angie Cruz was Dominicana and she gives the reader a character to care about, to root for and a depiction the immigrant experience from the perspective of a 15 year old girl. In this newest it’s from the perspective of fifty six year old, Cara Romero, a strong and confident woman who is dealing with a job loss like so many others in 2008 when the factory she worked at for many years closes and relocates out of the country. Cruz has given us another character who I couldn’t help but root for as well.

I found the narrative structure so compelling. In order to continue her unemployment benefits, Cara must attend twelve sessions of a Senior Workforce Program intended to help her find a job. The result is a one sided conversation with Cara pretty much telling her life story to the counselor and of course to the reader. We also are are privy to her responses to various questionnaires, some were sad and others made me laugh out loud. She exudes an amazing confidence and self awareness as she talks about her life, why she left the Dominican Republic, about her son who left, her best friend, her sister and others, what she has been doing since being unemployed and what is happening with the rentals in her building. It’s funny, sad, enlightening and I loved getting to know Cara Romero.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Flatiron/Macmillan through Edelweiss.

[Elyse Walters · Rating 5 out of 5]

Audiobook…..read by Kimberly M. Wetherell, and
Rossmery Almonte
…..6 hours and 16 minutes

Audiobook listeners know it can be like panning for gold to find the next BEST OUTRAGEOUSLY WONDERFUL listening experience beyond average, beyond good, and even better than the ‘great’ ones!
THIS IS THAT AUDIOBOOK!!

The audiobook is so darn terrific, you’ll swear it was written ‘FOR’ the sole purpose to LISTENED to!!!

Cara Romero gets my vote for CHARACTER-of-the-YEAR!!!

Cara has something substantial to teach ….

It will be hard not to look at people of every race, color, height, weight, class, sexual gender, age, the same after finishing this powerful-affecting-uniquely crafted VERY ENTERTAINING novel.

Highly recommended…
….one of my top 10 - ever - Audiobooks!!!

And…..
when interviewing for a job….lol….
“Make sure to nod your head and smile occasionally to show that you are listening”. 😊

[aly ☆彡 (on vacation) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really love the session and I enjoy all the TMIs.

It was a great book with a good reality check during the Recession as well as the horror that comes with American Dream. It tells the tale of one woman's life, showing both her accomplishments and her setbacks which made this also heartwarming yet bittersweet.

Now, do I learn how not to drown in a glass of water? That's for another debate.

[emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

i could use this advice

(reading for a substack post)
(review to come)

[BookOfCinz · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW!!!! This book has everything! Stop what you are doing and go read this.

In Angie Cruz How Not To Drown in a Glass of Water we meet Cara Romero who is originally from the Dominican Republic, she's been living in NYC for decades after leaving DR and her abusive husband. She's hit a bit of rough patch with the great recession so she's now job hunting. In order to find a job she must go through an agency, Cara turns the agency interview into a therapy session that we get to listen (read) in.

Angie Cruz was showing off when she made the character Cara, this book is phenomenal, talk about a character you want to see win!

[Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the distinctive voice and structure of this book; it reminded me of the sharp characterizations in Weike Wang’s novels. In How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water, we follow Cara Romero, a Dominican immigrant living in New York City, who goes to career counseling after getting laid off from her factory job. Over 12 sessions with her career counselor, Cara reveals the story of her life, including her abusive ex-romantic partners and mother, her struggle to pay rent in a rapidly gentrifying city, and her estranged relationship with her son.

I found that the unique setup of this book worked. It’s rare that a novel told in second person doesn’t feel gimmicky to me, yet with this novel, Cara’s voice came across as authentic, funny, and full of energy. I think Angie Cruz’s use of vivid details and her consistency with the way Cara described both external events and her own emotions helped the book come alive. Though at times humorous, How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water touches on several important and oftentimes harrowing topics: abuse, gentrification, and discrimination against immigrants. I found the theme of intergenerational trauma the most poignant part of the novel, especially witnessing the separation of a son and his mother from the perspective of the mother, who hurt him.

I think the tightness of the prose loosened a little in the middle of the book which shifted my rating to four stars, however, I still enjoyed this novel and would recommend it to those interested in literary fiction.

[Diane Barnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up from the library yesterday, but was fully prepared to put it aside if I became bored with it. For whatever reason, that's been happening a lot lately with contemporary novels. But Cara Romero sat down to the first of her sessions with a counselor at the Senior Workplace Program, and I couldn't let her go. In an unusual technique, she tells her story of trying to get by as a Domenican in a NYC tenement in twelve weekly sessions. By turns, I wanted to shake her, warn her, berate her and help her, all the while my heart breaking for what she was dealing with and her persistence in helping those around her.

This is a very short novel about a very special woman. The saddest part is that she's not really all that special, because so many women are living her same reality, just doing their best to put one foot in front of the other every day without giving up. Trying not to drown.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Her name is Cara Romero. She is the narrator of this novel, and the narrator of her life as told to a career counselor. This brutally honest lady tells it all, leaves no stone unturned. And what a story it is. I am sure it is unlike any the counselor has ever heard.

Cara, a Dominican immigrant living in N.Y.C., has tried hard to deal with what life has thrown her. When the recession occurs and an eviction notice arrives, she seeks help, not handouts but employment. She has always been the one who helps - family, neighbors, friends, hours given to others without compensation. She is not perfect. She has made plenty of mistakes. But she is wise, caring, and oh, so funny. I read her story and heard her Spanglish as if I was sitting next to her. I laughed, I nodded my ahead in agreement. I wanted to cry. Why don’t compassion and love get a free pass?

Angie Cruz has written a delightfully innovative novel about this warm, lovable lady who survives so much and yet remains hopeful. You can read this for its laugh out loud humor alone, and/or you can reflect on the brokenness of some of our governmental programs. Whichever, it is a very worthwhile and pleasurable read.

[Kelly Hooker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Write this down: Cara Romero will make a home in your heart. HOW NOT TO DROWN IN A GLASS OF WATER is a true delight and extraordinary audio experience.

Cara Romero is an immigrant from the Dominican Republic who finds herself looking for work when her job at a NYC factory she held for decades is eliminated due to the recession. The structure of the story is unique as Cara divulges her life to her job counselor over the course of 12 sessions.

Angie Cruz, has given Cara such a distinctive voice! With a zany personality, a tender heart for her estranged son, and a deep loyalty to those she loves, Cara is a character I won’t soon forget. This story is infused with so much heart and humor I actually laughed out loud (which never happens for this stoic reader!)

Taking in this story through your ears is undoubtedly the way to go; the audiobook experience is incredibly immersive. Cara’s accent and antics shine through the narration of Rossmery Almonte. The audio experience is completely immersive with various background sound effects that enhance the story such as footsteps, typing sounds, and of course swallowing a glass of water.

After finishing this story, I immediately added Cruz's DOMINICANA to my TBR. If you’re looking for a laugh out loud story with themes of found family and an #ownvoices immigrant experience, add HOW NOT TO DROWN IN A GLASS OF WATER to your *audiobook* TBR!
PUB DATE: September 13, 2022

Many thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for an ALC in exchange for an honest review

[Terrie Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unemployed, fifty-six-year-old Cara Romero had my full attention...

After losing her job during the Great Recession of 2008, Cara was forced back into a tenuous job market after many years. She is set up for twelve career counseling sessions where she shares her story—her relationships with family, significant others, neighbors and friends, and her estranged son, Fernando. She recounts her struggles, regrets, darkest secrets, and much more...

How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water is a creatively constructed novel with a main character that is hard not to care about, root for, and hope for the best. I was a fly on the wall listening to Cara, and while I expected to hear excuses, anger, and hopelessness, I heard a fighter looking for a new start. It was a refreshing first-person perspective.

An immersive read, the audiobook is narrated primarily by Rossmery Almonte, who does a superb job portraying Cara during her one-sided interviews and giving authenticity to this character. Kimberly M. Wetherell recounts details concerning the paperwork filed throughout the program, which reflects the superfluous repetition in the unemployment processes. There are also sound effects that add to the audiobook listening experience.

How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water is relatively short at 202 pages and 6H 16M, but full of heart and a realistic depiction of the immigrant experience. It's an excellent book, and my choice to read for the GR Fall Challenge achievement: "Hispanic Heritage"!

4.5⭐

[Rosh · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a Nutshell: A contemporary fiction presented in a creative interview-style structure. If you are tired of reading about Asian aunties, here’s a book with a South American "auntie". 😁 Interesting story and lead character, excellent OwnVoices authenticity (Dominican Republic). Starts off excellently, but gets a little bit repetitive and OTT after a while. If you want to read this, audio is the way to go.

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Plot Preview:

Fifty-six-year-old Cara Romero, an immigrant from the Dominican Republic, used to work at a factory but ever since its closure two years ago, she’s been jobless. Cara is now set up to meet with a job counsellor. Over a course of twelve sessions where the counsellor is supposed to evaluate Cara’s suitability as an employee and the industry where she might fit best, Cara ends up telling the counsellor about her life so far, including her years in the Dominican Republic, her reason for migrating, and her relationships with her younger sister Angela, her neighbour Lulu, and her estranged son Fernando.
The story comes to us in Cara’s first-person perspective, with the presentation being in an interview format, albeit one-sided.

We’ve recently seen a few quality books presented in documentary-interview format (‘Daisy Jones & the Six’ by Taylor Jenkins Reid and ‘The Favourites’ by Layne Fargo being the best.) This novel is somewhat similar in structure, but also different. This writing choice is what will make or break your reading experience.

Unlike the documentary narratives, we get a more realistic scenario of a candidate responding to practical questions related to employment. However, the questions are never a part of the narrative. Almost the entire book comes to us from Cara’s point of view and contains her responses to whatever was asked. This is where the format struggles a bit. As most of what we hear comprises Cara’s responses, the novel feels more like a first-person narrative than an interview, even though Cara speaks directly to the interviewer a few times within her answers.

My experience of the storytelling started off on a high note, but after a while, saturation set in. My feelings are hence somewhat mixed, though the audiobook was a winner in every way.


✔ The innovative storytelling structure. I especially enjoyed the interludes that highlighted the paperwork Cara needed to fill out; brilliant!
❌ The missed opportunity of including questions in an interview-format book to make it more well-rounded for the reader/listener.


✔ Cara’s larger-than-life personality, her sense of humour, and her gutsiness. She is a great lead in many ways. But more importantly, she is a flawed lead, which makes her even more compelling.
❌ One flaw is that Cara can be quite annoying. I was reminded of Vera Wong so many times! (Though, between the two, Cara is better, methinks.)


✔ Cara’s interview responses, which range from funny to emotional to even intrusive.
❌ Her answers are almost like stream-of-consciousness rambling: entertaining but also a bit tricky to follow. Further, she gets unrealistically TMI at times. Who wants to hear "he was sticking it in me" details during a job interview?


✔ Great themes. An excellent representation of various aspects of an America not covered in fiction.
❌ Everything happening to a single character beggars belief after a point.


✔ Many one-liner gems thanks to Cara’s earthy wisdom. Simple in language but deep in impact. Sample this: "If you try to fix something that somebody do [sic] not want to fix, they will hate you for it."
❌ The saturation in the experience, thanks to twelve non-stop sessions listening to Cara go on and on. The one-sidedness of the interview doesn’t help.


✔ The significance of the title, which comes out in one of the interviews. Suits the story well once you know what ‘drowning in a glass of water’ indicates.
❌ Not sure if this is linked to the title, but there are many scenes with Cara gulping water or asking for water. I failed to understand the deeper significance of this, if any. 🤔


✔ The OwnVoices representation of the Dominican Republic and of the undocumented immigrant experience in the USA. Cara’s replies are peppered with Spanish words, increasing the authenticity.
❌ No translation or glossary for the Spanish. You have to wing your way through it on the audio.


🎧 The Audiobook Experience:
The audiobook, clocking at 6 hrs 17 min, is narrated by Rossmery Almonte and Kimberly M. Wetherell. I had initially assumed that the two narrators would be for the two parties of the interview, but as I said, the story is mainly Cara’s. The second narrator is used for the interludes and the few non-Cara scenes.
Both the narrators are great at their roles, even though Wetherell has only a minimal presence.That said, the audiobook truly shines bright because of Almonte. A Dominican-American actress, Almonte doesn’t just narrate but brings Cara to life. The broken English, the accent, the emotions, the pitch, the changing moods, the vulnerability and the strength – she depicts everything perfectly with her voice!
The audiobook also has sound effects such as of crowd sounds, footsteps and water being gulped. I am absolutely sure reading the book wouldn’t have offered me the same experience. This is a novel meant for audio.


Overall, the novelty of the presentation is both a plus and a minus for this book. Even with such brilliant narrators, I had difficulty keeping my focus throughout Cara’s meandering answers. It felt like a jaded strategy after a couple of sessions.

Regardless, the audiobook helped me navigate through the book’s structural shortcomings. The narrators and the production values were outstanding. Not a surprise as this is by Macmillan Audio; they are the best when it comes to sound effects in audiobooks.

Recommended, but strictly in audio format. If you aren’t an audio reader, perhaps try staggering the book over twelve days, reading one interview session per day. That might help (I hope!) with the repetitiveness.

3 stars. (Hitting the midway mark for the book as my feedback is fairly balanced between the ✔s and ❌s. However, the audio production gets 5 stars.)


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[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

short, powerful, and sometimes painful. the epistolary format of this novel is very effective: cara romero tells her story over a series of job counseling interviews during the 2008 recession. in her 50s, a dominican immigrant who has worked in the same NYC factory and lived in the same apartment for decades, cara is one of many whose life has been hugely disrupted by the economic downturn and simultaneous neighborhood gentrification.

the thing that struck me most while reading is the sense of community. cara lives close to her sister angela and her best friend lulu. she takes care of la vieja caridad, her elderly neighbor, every day. she has a sense of community with the other latinx tenants of her apartment complex. all of these connections feel essential. people rely on each other out of necessity, because it comes naturally to them, because it aids in their survival. and there is so much warmth in their relationships, despite the fact that everyone is struggling.

cara herself is an extremely flawed character. i think her confessional narrative is ideal for showing all the facets of cara. she makes fucked up decisions, but never without justifications. she is thoughtful, and even the most horrible things she does are understandable when we hear them from her perspective. i love the complexity.

one of my favorite parts of the book is how cara gets wisdom from scammy alicia the psychic, via clickbaity emails. she reads every word, and believes they are sent for her, but she doesn't send any money. she takes the wise words and manifests the predictions herself. i love how she takes her own meaning without being exploited like the emails intend her to be. there's something powerful there about using your agency to find the bright spots, even in the things that are trying to take something from you.

i need to read some analyses on the lgbt+ elements 0f this book, because i found them confounding. cara's son, fernando, is presumed to be lgbt+, and that is one of the reasons she pushed him away and fractured their relationship. not out of hate, but out of ignorance and fear for his wellbeing. there's also a scene where cara accidentally witnesses two teenage girls kissing and reacts in gasping horror, perhaps to further illustrate her ignorance? and finally, la vieja caridad, whom cara cares for every day, is a woman who was shunned by her family because she chose not to marry a man and to instead live with a female "friend," who has now passed. cara doesn't seem to care much about this, and treats la vieja with warmth. i'm really not sure what we're supposed to make of her varied reactions to evidence of non-hetero interactions around her. is it all just to illustrate an area where she willingly remains ignorant, and to reference the deep homophobia of some latin american cultures? or is there a deeper message here?

anyway. it's a very candid character study with a delicious format, and the sprinkled-in spanglish is joyful. cara is such a lively and fascinating character.

[Brandice · Rating 4 out of 5]

How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water is the story of Cara Romero, a woman ready to work! Cara moved to NYC from the Dominican Republic years ago and is now in her mid 50s. Cara has worked in a lamp factory for years but when she loses her job during the recession, she attends career counseling sessions, where she recounts her life story.

Cara shares updates about her past work experience, her love life, and her somewhat fractious relationships with her best friend, her sister, and her estranged son. She is a caring, hard working woman who’s experienced her share of hardships. Interspersed with Cara’s story are updates from the career counseling center including interview tips, forms to be completed, and evaluation updates, as well as updates on Cara’s living situation and finances — She has some debt and finds herself in the midst of gentrification.

I enjoyed the audiobook, Rossmery Almonte performed the narration very well. Despite not sharing some of the same views as her, I was rooting for Cara and her kindness throughout the story.

[Betsy Robinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh what a beautiful book with a happy, happy ending that is not saccharine but fantastically sweet.

Reading this was such a personal ride for me. I had a long office friendship with a woman who reminded me so much of Dominican-woman-made of rock-and-sweet roses Cara Romero. Something about this culture creates women who are monolithic, unmovable. But when they move, oh my. I relived my impatience in the face of this stuff with my office friend (thereby making me identify with the unseen Senior Workforce Program counselor who is the other end of Cara’s endless monologues). I felt all my frustration of the past. Sometimes wanted to wash my hands of Cara. But boy was it sweet to ride this out with her.

If this book hasn’t already been optioned for theatrical rights, I hope it is. This is a dream of a role for an older Hispanic actress and a creative director (maybe using overhead video for the interstitial official forms that separate the sessions Cara attends, ostensibly to find her employment after losing her job in the Recession (another point of personal identification. Ouch!).

[Dona's Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

My name is Cara Romero, and I came to this country because my husband wanted to kill me. Don't look so shocked! You're the one who asked me to say something about myself. ch.2

I was given an audiobook ARC of Angie Cruz's HOW NOT TO DROWN IN A GLASS OF WATER by NetGalley and MacMillan Audio and I was so impressed with this listening experience. It was more than just a great narrator in Rosemary Alente, although she was brilliant. There were also sound effects, which enhanced transitions and even character building. I was totally entertained and hooked on this story from the first chapter.

This is the smart, evocative story of Cara Romero, a mid-50's casualty of the 2008 recession, estranged from her gay son Fernando, jobless, and trying to navigate the bureaucratic maze separating her from the social benefits she needs to keep her rent controlled apartment in New York City. It's a tense, dramatic story that includes details about her professional life, her sex life, her abusive nuclear family, and her violent first marriage. In fact, the excerpt I shared above is the very first thing the main character says!

Cara's unemployment provides the fresh and clever form for this story, which is explained in the opening chapter: Cara tells her story to the woman who meets with her for twelve interviews to determine her fitness for job placement through New York's job and family services department. Cara rather defies the established form of those interviews, I'm sure; but the story she tells and the woman she presents are both unforgettable.

I highly recommend the audiobook for this one!

Rating 5 stars
Finished October 2022
Recommended for fans of literary fiction, women's fiction, feminist/intersectional themes; readers seeking lgbtq rep, poc rep, immigrant rep, older characters, realistic portrayals of motherhood
TW domestic violence, violence against children, narcissistic abuse (mostly off page or described), queer antagonism

[Sonja Arlow · Rating 2 out of 5]

This story seems to have pulled on the heartstrings of many readers. For grumps like me it felt like a story that has been told, many many times before

The audio narration does however add some atmosphere but it was not enough to win me over.

The story centers around Cara Romero, who recently got sacked from her factory job and her history unfolds during job counselling sessions in an attempt to find new employment.

I was a recruiter many years ago and I would have nipped conversations like these in the bud very quickly. Who tells their job counselor that their husband fucked other women (not my words), she is very shy (not true) her son has a restraining order against her and her sister's husband makes googly eyes at her? Well actually I have heard worse but it does not make for authentic reading.

The format felt gimmicky just to tell the story.

I appreciate that there is an audience for this type of story but for me it was a let down.

[jay · Rating 1 out of 5]

the things i put myself through to collect all the goodreads achievements

[Kate · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not sure what book the other reviewers read, it seems unlikely it was the same one I did, or perhaps receiving the book for free swayed their views but this was a painful, boring struggle to read. If you relate to this character in any way, personally or they remind you fondly of family, go to therapy. The characters and narrative format where wholly uninteresting.

[chantel nouseforaname · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible. I loved this story. Definitely one of the best books that I've read this year. Cara Romero is a character that you won't forget, maybe because you know her or you've met her in your life somewhere along the way.

The layout of the story was fascinating, the escalating sessions and the momentary revelations. The complexity of a woman, a survivor, a mother, a sister. Angie Cruz did something special with this one. I can't wait to read it again, this time I've got to get the audio!

[Lisa (NY) · Rating 4 out of 5]

[3.5] I don't think I've ever read anything quite like this monologue of a book, narrated entirely by the appealing and spirited Cara. The problem with a one way conversation though is that it can get monotonous and my attention waxed and waned. But a strong ending left me happy.

[Phu · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Lulú says that a person is never too old to do anything, especially to study."

Sau khoảng gần ba tháng, đây là cuốn sách Ngoại văn mà mình hoàn thành nhanh nhất (tính tới hiện tại). How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water mang đến một câu chuyện của Thời đại trước nhưng vẫn có thể khiến mình liên tưởng đến thời điểm hiện tại.

How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water lấy bối cảnh thời kỳ đại suy thoái Kinh tế. Cara Romero, người phụ nữ hơn năm mươi - người đã gắn bó lâu dài với công việc trong nhà máy sản xuất những chiếc đèn nhỏ, giờ đây Cara hay những người lao động khác đã thất nghiệp.
Cara bắt đầu tham gia vào một chương trình Hỗ trợ việc làm sau hai năm thất nghiệp.Trong mỗi phiên phỏng vấn, người tham gia sẽ phải trả lời các câu hỏi về thế mạnh/yếu của bản thân, để có thể tìm ra công việc phù hợp.

Với lối kể là các buổi phỏng vấn, và chỉ mỗi Cara là người kể xuyên suốt cuốn sách. Trong mỗi phiên phỏng vấn, Cara đã kể lại tất cả những gì đã xảy ra trong đời bà ấy: Làm thế nào bà ấy lại chạy trốn người chồng muốn giết bà ấy? Em gái thì lạnh nhạt? Con trai của Cara thì bỏ bà ấy mà đi?...

Với cách kể hài hước, châm biếm thì mình rất thích cuốn sách này. Từ những câu chuyện của bản thân, Cara đưa ra những điểm mạnh/yếu của bà ấy. Cara Romero là một nhân vật thú vị, bà ấy khiến mình đồng cảm và liên tưởng đến những người phụ nữ khác rất nhiều. Một cuộc sống đầy thăng trầm, hy sinh vì tất cả cho những người thân, bạn bè; bà Cara cho đi mà chẳng hề có suy nghĩ sẽ nhận lại. Là một người phụ nữ mạnh mẽ, đúng kiểu chơi "hệ tâm linh" :))) đôi lúc tình yêu thương của Cara cũng thái quá.

Không chỉ là mỗi "câu chuyện của Cara", Cara cũng kể về những người quen khác của bà ấy - những người có cùng hoàn cảnh với Cara, họ không hề có quan hệ máu mủ nhưng vẫn đối tốt với nhau. Dù những nhân vật phụ chỉ được nhắc trong "lời kể" của Cara nhưng họ vẫn để lại cho mình ấn tượng.

Sau tất cả những phiên phỏng vấn là những mất mát, vui cười đã và đang xảy ra trong cuộc sống của Cara Romero. Như đã nói, bối cảnh cuốn sách được đặt ở Thời kỳ suy thoái Kinh tế, và mình nghĩ cũng chẳng khác với hiện tại là bao, có rất nhiều nơi xảy ra tình trạng thất nghiệp, hay thậm chí là những kẻ dùng thời cơ để chuộc lợi cá nhân. Nhưng hy vọng mọi người vẫn giữ được sự lạc quan, như cách mà bà Cara Romero đã làm ♡

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The setting is a career counselor’s office in Upper Manhattan, where a Dominican immigrant, our protagonist, Cara Romero bares it all.

“My name is Cara Romero, and I came to this country because my husband wanted to kill me.”

How can you not love the beginning of this short novel?

Cara is a 56-year-old woman struggling with motherhood, acceptance, loss, and change in the midst of the Great Recession of 2009. She had worked in a fish factory for 25 years, until it relocated to Costa Rica.

And now…She has been unemployed ever since and living off of “El Obama checks.”

But…She knows this won’t last.

So…She is at this Senior Workforce Program to receive career services and unemployment benefits and to attend the 12 sessions to get “job ready.”

Of course…This could all be a routine interview…

But…Cara likes to over share…

So lucky for us readers, we get to stick around and listen to her tell her interviewer – and us…everything…about her life…

Drawing us in with her captivating storytelling and entrancing self-confidence.

And then, of course…We finally learn why her husband wanted to kill her.

Cara is a very appealing character. How many Cara’s will we meet who are willing to open themselves so much to a perfect stranger?

And…As readers we witness the bureaucracy of paperwork and gentrification. In projecting Cara’s voice, the author prioritizes the importance of seeing how an individual’s humanity works through the impersonal system that is placed through so many trying to manage to just make it in this world.

But…This is still about Cara.

And…Cara is not completely innocent. The more readers get to know her the more complicated she becomes.

Generational trauma?

Forgivable?

Was everything wrapped up too nicely in a big bright red bow?

Or…Are we as readers all going through a therapy session as we read this book?

Still…With therapy…patience is always the best medicine.

But in really considering this book…

Did we just have the opportunity to be a listening ear to someone’s long ago secrets?

And, if that is all it was…

Consider it an interesting journey, with a very dynamic character.

[Maxwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

[3.5 stars]

I really enjoyed the audiobook for this! The narrator did a fantastic job performing the story and they included elements like sound effects and other narrator's for things like formal documents, etc. that elevated this.

The story follows 56 year old Cara Romero who has been unemployed from her job at the factory of little lamps for the past two years after working there for 25 years. It's 2009, the great recession, and she's meeting with a counselor from a workforce program to find a new job. Each chapter of the story is one of her 12 sessions over the course of a few months with her counselor, as she is supposed to be talking about ways in which she can find a new form of employment based on her interest and skills, but accidentally ends up using them more as therapy sessions. She's a stubborn but generous Dominican woman who raised a child on her own and takes care of her elderly neighbor and her sister's kids.

Cara's voice is so strong and clear, and that's where the book really shines. She's funny and witty and also vulnerable, surprising even to herself at times, as she begins to recognize some blind spots in her thinking and ways of being. She reflects on how she came to the U.S. and how her childhood impacted her own ways of raising a child, and what she regrets or is proud of in those experiences. It's a short and clever story that feels very reflective of reality and one that I think many people will feel seen by or recognize someone in their lives within it. I definitely recommend!

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Top Tier Audiobook Performance!

Legit some of the best voice acting I've ever heard.

The story was insanely well written.

An intensely accurate depiction of a baby boomer immigrant with generational trauma trying to adjust to life in America.

My family is from an entirely different island in an entirely different body of water with a very different language, and yet this story was so relatable.

The responsibility to one's community/codependency, the casual emotional abuse, the love/hate relationship with American culture, and the refusal to accurately see how one's actions impact others.

I wasn't sure how I would feel about the format before I started the book, but it roped me right in.

I will say that if you're the child of an immigrant, you have to be in a specific part of your relationship with your parents to enjoy this book. You have to be past the part where you've made excuses for your parent's behavior and then past the part where you're justifiably mad. You have to at least be at the stage in your relationship where you can calmly see that they tried to be better parents then they had, but their unwillingness to deal with their own trauma caused them to pass some on to you and they're responsible for that.

[Monica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time well spent on this undocumented immigrant tale. I loved the weaving of Cara's resistance to assimilation as the folks around her give in. How poverty and lack of choices affect a single mother. Manages to be an uplifting story though one can imagine that these are common circumstances. What people endure trying to live and survive...sigh rtc... maybe

Almost 4.5 Stars

Listened to the audiobook. Superb performance by Rossmery Almonte and Kimberly M. Wetherell! Elevated the material!!

[Belle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me to Google: What does it mean to drown in a glass of water:

Google to Me:

Spanish speakers use this idiom to refer to someone who gets overwhelmed by ordinary circumstances. The person may not see it, but the situation they are in is not as dire as they think. In other words, they can't see that they're not alone in the ocean, simply in a glass of water.

Ah okay yes. I certainly get this now. This was a beautiful book about a strong lady of a certain age struggling with her circumstances.

So, my only regret is that there were a lot of Spanish words mixed in with English words and I missed some of the context. Read this with your translator near by!

All of the following was written personally to me. Cara is my age and I get her straight up:

“I’m lucky because I’m fifty five years old—wait, did I say fifty-five? I’m fifty-six! I stopped counting. If I don’t, I’ll be in a coffin sooner than I’m ready.”

“I did it because I wanted to change my life. We step in the shit on purpose so we’re forced to buy new shoes”

“You can plan all you want, but nature will always show you who’s el jefe.”

“We should be like the animals, she said. The animals don’t think of the future or the past; they pay attention to what is happening in the present….we can’t fight what we can’t control. She said she missed her friends last breath because she was busy with the hope. She should have been breathing with her.”

“Learn this from me: sometimes when you can’t change your animo you have to have people like Hernan to remind you about the important things in life. Sometimes we need help to not drown in a glass of water.”

“Leave no space for negativity. Focus on the positive. Focus on love. Focus on what is possible. And then if you do that, the good things will fill your life and there will be no space for the bad things”

“It is not a surprise that it is the grandmother [whale] that makes sure that every whale in the family eats. That they prove their value after la menopausia. Because not having to make babies makes them focus on taking care of the community. Which tells me women of a certain age are more valuable to the community. Isn’t that incredible?”

“I asked La Vieja Caridad many times if losing the connection to her family to live a different life valio la Peña. She said who wants to live a lie? Freedom is being able to live your truth without having to apologize for it.”

“If anyone asks, tell them that I died without regrets.”

“Don’t live with regrets. Be present. Trust yourself.”

[Bharath · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am afraid this was a disappointment, though clearly many loved the book. It also appears that audio may have been a better option in this case, based on other reviews.

Cara Romero is the predominant character in this story. She runs aways from her husband (in the Dominican Republic), who she believes would have killed her, and settles in the US. She works in a factory for many years and raises her son, who is no longer close to her. She also has a complex relation with her sister. Out of a job in her 50s, she is looking to find ways of getting way to working, but it is tough.

I appreciated that this book portrayed Cara as a person of great resilience who weathers great many challenges in her life. There are also issues of racism, immigration and support systems the book references. The book is told entirely from Cara’s perspective (including sessions with a job counsellor) and I found her musings and responses to be pretentious. Her entries in application forms, for instance, I suppose should be viewed as a mix of her humble background and some humour but did not jell with me. I feel what could have been a story of a strong character was undermined by poor writing.

[Holly R W · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the heart of this novella is Cara Romero. She is 56 years old, living in NYC (circa 2008) and originally from the Dominican Republic. Cara is enrolled in a job placement program, due to having lost her factory job and running out of her unemployment benefits. We as readers learn her life story through the talks that Cara has with her vocational counselor. Cara is a lively, self-taught woman who in many ways, is a survivor.

The story is narrated exclusively by Cara herself. We hear her thoughts and conversations through Cara's monologues. Unfortunately for me, I would have preferred to hear real dialogue with the other characters in the story. Cara's family and friends are a colorful bunch. It would have been interesting also, to hear the young counselor's reactions to Cara.

I was more sympathetic to Cara during the first half of the story. She had been abused first by her mother and then by her husband. She left them behind in the Dominican Republic to carve out a better life for herself and her young son in the U.S. Later in the story, Cara regretfully divulged that she herself, had been abusive towards her son and nephew on occasion.

Cara emerges as a passionate woman with strong attachments to her son, sister and neighbors in the apartment building. She finds the time to cook dinner every night for an elderly neighbor, pick up her sister's children from school and look after them, and help a mother in the building with her disabled middle-aged daughter. She is also sly like a fox. When the vocational counselor selects jobs for Cara that Cara doesn't really want to do, she finds ways of flubbing her job interviews.

Readers who enjoy character studies will like meeting Cara.

3.8 stars

Content Warning: Domestic and Child Abuse

[dovesnook · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Cara Romero is still here. Entera.”

Broooo, who’s got you crying like that??? ANGIE CRUZ!!
Raw, vulnerable, and honest. I have no words to describe how amazing this book is. READ IT 🙌😩