America's Dream
Am'rica Gonzalez is a hotel housekeeper on an island off the coast of Puerto Rico, cleaning up after wealthy foreigners who don't look her In the eye. Her alcoholic mother resents her; her married boyfriend, Correa, beats her; and their fourteen-year-old daughter thinks life would be better anywhere but with Am'rica. So when Am'rica is offered the chance to work as a live-in housekeeper and nanny for a family in Westchester County, New York, she takes it as a sign that a door to escape has been opened. Yet even as Am'rica revels in the comparative luxury of her new life, daring to care about a man other than Correa, she is faced with dramatic proof that no matter what she does, she can't get away from her past.
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Community Reviews
I will have to say right upfront that this should have a domestic violence warning. With that being said, I really enjoyed this book. Watching a mother, her mother and her daughter going through a life littered with teen pregnancies and trying to break generational curses was so deep and sad in ways. Trying to break away from a life with a man that was abusive did not help her cause. The moments that struck me the deepest were watching her not think she deserved a better life. I love Esmeralda Santiago's writing and thought this book was wonderful!
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