March 8, 2010
Poet and immigration lawyer Gomez (When Comets Rained
) mines her own experiences in her enthralling fiction debut, the story of a family of Colombian immigrants adjusting to life in '70s-era Florida. Gabriela De la Paz has earned the nickname Auxiliadora (“the Helper”) for all her efforts translating and interpreting American culture for her parents. The frustrated daughter of Roberto and Evangelina, Gabi must act far older than her teen years when her Papi, schizophrenic and untreated, can't keep a job and gets into trouble with the police because of his violent behavior. Evangelina must hide her sewing and cleaning jobs to avoid Roberto's wrath (he disapproves of women working) while Gabi's brothers, Manolo and Pablo, fear his physical abuse. Gomez charts Gabi's challenges as she gains confidence, educates herself, and finds inspiration from Lara, a “modern” woman for whom she babysits, in this intense and sensitive tale with crossover YA appeal.
April 1, 2010
When Gabrielas father loses his job, the prospect of deportation back to Colombia threatens the teenagers newly immigrant Latino family living in Miami in the early 1970s. But even worse than the possible loss of their green cards is Papis mental illness, the explosive anger and simmering violence as he makes Gabriela write crazy letters to the government. Mami covers up everything, including the disgrace that she must work cleaning bathrooms. The story is built around this one situation; what holds the reader is the drama of each intense home scenario, scary and tender, told with spare prose from the teens viewpoint, which reveals that guilty secrets lock her in. The clash between traditional immigrant values and feminist independence is powerful, as the child translates not only the language but also the culture of their new country for her parents, but they forbid her to travel even when she wins a school-essay competition. In her debut novel, Colombian immigrant poet Gomez dramatizes the universal dilemma of a loving family serving as both joy and prison.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)