Book Review

For the past three weeks or so, I – along with my class – have struggled reading How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez. The book is structured into several vignettes, all in reverse chronological order, which made it horrifically complicated to understand. Alvarez's style of writing, according to my research, is intentionally a fictionalized version of her real life. Alvarez successfully includes various themes – such as sexuality, independence – and non-fictional ideas – such as the dictatorship in the Dominican Republic and cultural and societal differences in America – which all builds onto a really good book.

Myself and the entire class had struggles understanding the structure of the book. To my understanding, the Aristotelian theory of a well-knit plot is that it has an underlying structure that promises the reader that the author is in control, and any event an author is telling will eventually make sense. Alvarez however, takes on her own method by telling her story with fifteen vignettes, all in reverse chronological order, which obviously is not a “well-knit plot”.

Imagine trying to make sense of how one event has an affect on another event, because the first event mentioned is actually the result of the event that happened first, but the first event is not mentioned until after you found out about the result. Did that just confuse you? It confused me. Depending on the reader, and on the content, this can be a creative way to write and tell a story. This is essentially Alvarez's structural technique. I had trouble understanding it, but in the end was appreciative of it.

Alvarez's background history plays a major part in all of the books she has written. She was born in the United States, but grew up in the Dominican Republic because her parents favored a dictatorship over the life in America. When her father got involved with trouble however, their family was forced to flee the Dominican republic and head back to the US, to New York.

Her english was moderate, but she did not know enough to be able to communicate in school or with others who only spoke it. The most she picked up from others was that they were not very open-armed to new students, especially to someone who could not speak their language. Her mother encouraged her to believe that the hate remarks she received from other children, were actually statements for her to embrace. This later encouraged Alvarez to begin writing. Throughout high school she wrote stories, took creative writing classes, and didn't let the thought of never becoming a writer discourage her. Not knowing the language forced her to pay close attention the each and every word, resulting in being a great writer.

The “plot” of Julia Alvarez's life is very similar to the stories she writes. In this book, the main characters travel back and forth from the Dominican Republic to America because of the terrible dictatorship. When in America, each member of the family has difficulty adjusting to the language and the change of lifestyle. When traveling back to the Dominican Republic however, some characters find it hard to disregard American culture. Alvarez's style of writing is basically reflected off her childhood and teenage/adult life to the present day.

Although Alvarez uses her personal life as the baseline of the story, there are several underlying themes she brings up – such as independence, sexuality, and culture/society differences. For example, in the first vignette, Antojos, the readers meet Yolanda, one of the four sisters in the book. Yolanda returned to the Dominican Republic from America possibly to stay on a permanent basis. Over the time she had been gone, Yolanda forgot much of her native language, making it difficult to communicate with her family. She stuck out physically from the rest of her family because she dressed informally and wore her hair long and natural, whereas her cousins wore designer pantsuits and colored their hair. She didn't fit in linguistically because she forgot much of her Spanish and could not express herself well. She also had a dramatically different perspective on class than the rest of her family. For some reason I believe Yolanda went back to the Dominican Republic to find out who she really is, because if she was happy in America she would have stayed. This is somewhat opposite of Alvarez's story, but she uses the contrast to bring out the idea of the culture change between life in the DR and life in America.

In the second vignette of the book, The Kiss, Sophia – another sister – had an ongoing conflict with her father for a struggle over control of her sexuality. For a long period of time, Carlos (Sophia's father) forbade her from spending the night with her boyfriend. To enjoy any intimacy, Sophia had to go on vacation. Her desire for sexual relations frustrated her to the point where when her father denied them from her, she ran away. For so long she was denied sexual freedom, and it broke the relationship between her and her father. She believed it was her right to explore her sexuality however she pleased while also enjoying the privacy and independence of adulthood, while her father believed that the presence of a 'loose' woman in his house disrespects his parental and male authority. Nowhere did I find information on Alvarez's sex life, but as you can see she once again portrays a theme of both independence and sexuality in this book.

I could go on forever analyzing every vignette in the story, but my main idea is that although the structure of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents was grueling, the content and writing style was outstanding.

Book Post Tres

      Well, this time around I decided to take a different approach on analyzing this book. Writing about each vignette was, pretty boring. So here is/was my overall opinion of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents:


      First off,  as everyone has agreed, because of  how the book was structured, it was horrifically complicated to understand. I had struggles understanding how one event had an affect on another event, because the first event mentioned is actually the result of the event that happened first but the first event was not mentioned until after we found out about the result. Did that just confuse you? It confused me.


      Second: WOW. Excuse the cliche, but you seriously can not ever judge a book by its cover. This book took an unexpected route that I never imagined it would. From the conflicts between the family members to how sexuality poses a problem for nearly every character, to the cultural and societal differences, etc. It all just plays out so well for me. There were parts I got to while reading that I just set down the book for a moment and said, "The hell did I just read?" then went back again and said, "Wow, I know he/she did not just..." then kept reading and was like, "Damn dude, intense." Most books I read in school don't keep my attention long enough to stay awake - this did.


      I believe the title really fit in perfectly as well. Sometimes book titles are so abstract and seem to have no relevance, until you see the word on some random page in the book but still don't understand its purpose; this thankfully didn't happen with this book. The title did much justice because it was metaphorical-ish yet a literal expression of the overall theme of the story. The girls from the Dominican Republic at a point in their lives ended up in America, and the story just plays out from then on.


      So in the end, I fairly enjoyed this book. On a scale from one to ten, I'd rate it about a seven (points deducted for confusion), and i believe Mr. Sutherland has a way with choosing literature.

What I Want To Be When When I Grow Up

      Ever since I was old enough to understand what college was, I knew I wanted to go. I've always known what I wanted to do when I got older too,  and I have had my heart set on one school. I want to attend the Academy of Art University. I want to be an art teacher one day, and create my own art program in Oakland. But now that I'm older and getting close to leaving the nest, alot of conflicts have come up. 

      I was asked once, “Would you rather be poor with the job you love, or be rich with a job you hate?” It was something I had a hard time deciding, and to this day I still don't have my answer. With a job you love, you have the motivation to wake up in the morning and get to work. You don't stress too much on how much money you make because you have an intense devotion to what you're doing with your life. But with a job you loathe, what drives you to keep doing it? Everyday of you wake up and hate your life. Nobody ever sees you happy because...well, you aren't happy! Yeah, your bills are paid, but what then?

      With today's economy people don't have much leeway to "follow their dreams".  At young ages people have big ambitions, but as they get older, they don't seem to have the same intentions for their future that they once had. This somewhat upsets me because I don't know if I will be able to persue my career one day. Artists don't make much money. Teachers definitely don't make as much as the should. I have no idea what an art teacher will be making.

      I've never known what else I wanted to do with my life - art is my passion. And my even bigger passion is helping others express their creativity. I want to be an art teacher because art is an expression of creative skill and imagination. Art programs have sadly been cut from public schools, and my dream is to bring them back. In middle school I loved going to art class - it let me relax, unwind, and let loose all the stress I had from any academic classes. I want the next generation of kids to be able to have that same experience.

Book Post Numero Dos

The second section of the book was much more riveting than the first section.


      In A Regular Revolution, there were a lot of family conflicts. The four sisters were exposed to casual attitudes toward sex and drugs in the United States, which evidently did not go down well with their parents. The girls roam around freely and aimlessly as the parents try to find a balance between American culture and original culture, so that the family roots can be maintained , supported, and celebrated. Unfortunately, the girls disappoint their parents (the mother mostly) because they do not behave as good as she believes Dominican girls ought to. This confirms her fear that they have lost their connection to the culture, and that she has failed in her effort to instill in them the values they grew up with.


      In Daughter of Invention, the mother is trying to blend in with America like her daughters do. She attempts to invent useful and profitable gadgets to reflect her desire to find a place for herself within stereotypical America. Her role as a mother is different from when she was in the Dominican Republic, and now she wants to create a new identity. She supports Yolanda through her struggles at school with the satisfaction that with many trials and tribulations, she is now the best American mother she can be to her kids.


      In Trespass, Carla is terrified and humiliated by men in America. She is ridiculed by younger men for her accent and inability to speak or comprehend english. Carla longs for the familiar and comfortable home she left behind in the Dominican Republic, as any girl her age might after moving a long distance. She encounters a pervert, and though she was able to explain the situation to her mother, she had much difficulty explaining to the police. They did not have enough information from her to find a man, and Carla felt unprotected and humiliated. 


      In the last two vignettes of the section, Snow and Floor Show, Yolanda's vocabulary grows and better prepares her to interact with American culture, whereas a family outing turns out to be an enormous embarrassment for all involved with the family, despite them all being on their best behavior.

Not In the Mood for A Response Post

      After aimlessly searching, Kaila Belgarde's post caught my weary eyes with something like this:

There are two ways to handle situations in life; you can do things on your own or you can do what everyone else is doing.  I think that depending on the situation either can be a good idea. Doing things own your own is a good thing.  You learn independence and responsibility. Doing things on your own allows you to make wise decisions about things you do that can majorly affect your life. Unfortunately a lot of people are incapable of making their own decision and are forced to rely upon the capacity of others.  This can sometimes get people into trouble...In doing things on your own you can kind of learn from your mistakes and get a better sense of what the world is like for yourself.  You can also rely on our own knowledge and not have to go to others to ask.

      Making the decision to be independent or to be a follower is much harder than it may seem. And this concept can apply to anything: for example, style of clothes. People have this obsession with Hollister clothes now, and when I ask people who have never worn it before that wear it now, I get responses like "Oh, I don't know. My friends were wearing it and I liked the style."


      Independence and responsibility rely on the person's ability to understand that it is important to develop leadership skills. Sometimes when one does things on their own, they can learn the hard way not to do them again, so maybe in this instance it is better to do that something with a friend. On the other hand, learning the hard way once allows one to educate others not to follow suit. Is that good? I think it is.


      My writing sucks. But I really liked Kaila's honesty and analysis on the idea of a leader versus a follower. I can expand better, at a different time.
      

I can't be proud anymore.

January 1st, 2009 at 2:15am, Oscar Grant was shot and killed at Fruitvale BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) Station, by BART police officer Johannes Mehserle. 

      Officer Johannes Mehserle and another officer were restraining Grant, who was prostrate and allegedly resisting arrest. Officer Mehserle stood, drew his gun and shot Grant once in the back. Grant turned out to be unarmed. During his court testimony, Mehserle said that Grant then exclaimed, “You shot me!” Grant was pronounced dead the next morning at Highland Hospital in Oakland. It was all caught on camera.

      In the days following, the citizens of Oakland took over the city in efforts to protest Grant’s death. In other words, they rioted. Breaking business windows, burning and flipping over cop cars, discontinuing public transportation routes; they caused mayhem throughout the entire city. Mehserle was eventually arrested and tried in court.

      On July 8, 2010, the jury returned its verdict: Mehserle was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and not guilty of second degree murder and voluntary manslaughter. Mehserle Initial protests against the ruling were peacefully organized; however, looting, arson, destruction of property - people broke the gate and windows of Foot Locker and cleaned the place out -, and small riots broke out after dark. Nearly 80 people were eventually arrested, though many of them were not originally from the area.

      Today is November 5, 2010 and the judge has decided to sentence him two years jail time with credit of 292 days, meaning he will serve under two years for killing Oscar Grant. Oakland is pissed.

      Now I don’t even feel safe stepping out of my house, because the citizens of Oakland do not know how to better express their anger for something. They destroy their own town and don’t realize how that makes us as a city look. I love my city, but I wish everyone in it knew that we aren’t getting anywhere by robbing Foot Locker and blowing up police cars. 

      It makes no effing sense, and I’m sick of it.

      Rest In Peace, Oscar Grant.

Book Post Numero Uno

      Love, independence, sexuality; these are very big themes within the first one hundred or so pages on this book, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents.

     In the first vignette, Antojos,  we meet Yolanda. Yolanda returned to the Dominican Republic from America possibly to stay on a permanent basis. Over the time she had been gone, Yolanda forgot much of her native language, making it difficult to communicate with her family. She stuck out physically from the rest of her family because she dressed informally and wore her hair long and natural, whereas her cousins wore designer pantsuits and color their hair. She didn't fit in linguistically because she forgot much of her Spanish and could not express herself well. She also had a dramatically different perspective on class than the rest of her family. For some reason I believe Yolanda went back to the Dominican Republic to find out who she really is, because if she was happy in America she would have stayed.

      In the second vignette, The Kiss, Sophia had this ongoing conflict with her father for a struggle over control of her sexuality. For a long period of time, Carlos (Sophia's father) forbade her from spending the night with her boyfriend. To enjoy any intimacy, Sophia had to go on vacation. Her desire for sexual relations frustrated her to the point where when her father denied them from her, she ran away. For so long she was denied sexual freedom, and it broke the relationship between her and her father. She believed it was her right to explore her sexuality however she pleased while also enjoying the privacy and independence of adulthood, while her father believed that the presence of a 'loose' woman in his house disrespects his parental and male authority.

      In vignette three, The Four Girls, childhood stories are told about all the girls by the mother. Some are positive - like when  Carla really wanted red sneakers, and the family improvised with white sneakers so she could have them - and some were negative - like when Sandra was in the mental hospital. Each of the stories were told with the mother's ability to create a reality and history for the family that is more comfortable and positive by redefining the more difficult moments her daughters experienced.

*I'm way over the word limit now.

      The fourth and fifth vignettes are about Yolanda – her descent into madness and her inability to communicate with other people, along with cultural differences between Dominican and American attitudes toward sex and relationships.