I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

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The evidence that I have presented to you, shows how Julia’s development impacts the text. Without every piece of evidence, the outcome of the story would’ve probably been different. Each event impacts the other, especially the event where she cuts herself. That impacts the entire book. The other events collectively contribute to Julia’s change for the better. I actually am an old grandma when it comes to this but I CANNOT take it when teens , kids, literally anyone is rude to their parents. I did understand where Julia was coming from because her parents literally couldn’t look past the “perfect” standards of her older sister, Olga. But I still don’t take it. This is just a personal thing though, Julia’s anger comes from somewhere and isn’t just her being rude. She sees herself pretty clearly sometimes, along the way: “It’s easier to be pissed, though. If I stop being angry, I’m afraid I’ll fall apart until I’m just a warm mound of flesh on the floor.” What seals the 5th star for this title for me, however, is the complete and utter ease that Sanchez weaves English and Spanish throughout the narrative, sometimes translating the Spanish and sometimes just leaving it out there because maybe the reader SHOULD be expected to speak and read a language other than English for once. Julia's accounts of her family's undocumented status and their harrowing journeys from Mexico are heartbreaking and 100% necessary and relevant, both for readers who are themselves living this life, but also for readers who struggle to understand the reality of living it. For example, Julia meets a boy at a bookstore. He is wealthy and white and different from her in each and every way. And yet, they attempt to date and be together. The problem with this trope for me is that it isn't really adding anything to think about. It's almost as if it is just an element to develop the idea of the mentality that Julia finds herself plagued with in her life.

Julia comes from a low-income family and a lot of her struggles with that deeply resonated with me. The suicide, rape, and cutting in this book was very unexpected. When I got to those parts in the book it unsettled me because I wasn't expecting it; I guess you could call it a plot twist, but I don't really see it as that. It was more of an unpleasant surprise. I know people deal with these issues, and I have read books on these issues in the past, but for a reader that could have PTSD because of issues like these, and not know it would be in the book, it would not be the best situation. I just wish I would have known there was sensitive topics in this book is all. This well-drawn debut YA novel from Sanchez should delight readers who loved Gabi, A Girl in Pieces. Also, a moment to drool over that cover!Happiness is a dandelion wisp floating through the air that I can’t catch. No matter how hard I try, no matter how fast I run, I just can’t reach it. Even when I think I grasp it, I open my hand and it’s empty. Olga is dead. Olga, the perfect daughter, one who was both innocent and wore clothes that made her look ugly. She died in a bus accident. She was perfect. She was the perfect daughter . Lund, Elizabeth (July 17, 2017). "Why W.S. Merwin endures, and other best poetry to read this month". Washington Post . Retrieved 6 October 2017. As the final season of Superstore comes to a close, America Ferrera is setting her sights on a new chapter. Deadline reports that Ferrera will make her feature directorial debut with an adaptation of 2017 New York Times bestselling novel I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter. The book's author, Erika Sánchez, will act as co-producer on the movie, which is set to premiere on Netflix.

From 2017 to 2019, Sánchez was an arts fellow at Princeton University, teaching poetry and fiction writing. [3] As of 2020, she serves as writer-in-residence at DePaul University, teaching English and writing. [2] Personal life [ edit ] In 2021, it was announced that America Ferrera will direct a film adaptation of the novel for Netflix, with a script by Linda Yvette Chávez. [17] This book was really incredible in that way. It was a whole portrayal of Mexican culture, the good and bad. There was a beautiful mix of English and Spanish that felt right for the story. The characters were well written and well developed. I'm really grateful to read a book about Mexicans, not just vaguely hispanic or have hispanic side characters, but actually be about Mexicans.

Finalist, National Book Awards 2017 for Young People's Literature

Spears, Brian (18 May 2017). "Why I Chose Erika L. Sánchez's Lessons on Expulsion for the Rumpus Poetry Book Club". The Rumpus.net . Retrieved 6 October 2017. Erika L. Sánchez (born c. 1984) is an American poet and writer. She is the author of poetry collection Lessons on Expulsion and a young adult novel I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, a 2017 finalist for the National Book Award for Young People's Literature. She was a professor at DePaul University. There were scenes that involved rape and attempted suicide. I don't understand why these were included. They did nothing for the story and the characters. They could be removed and the characters and the ending would still be the same. They didn't grow from these experiences. I felt that these were incorporated just to make this book more edgy or intense. These scenes can be so harmful to others when not dealt with properly. They should not be carelessly thrown around as a plot device. I feel like there is so much going on with Julia: dealing with the death of her sister and subsequent depression, the trip to Mexico, the reveal of what her parents endured to get to America, the gay friend dealing with an abusive parent, the teacher that takes "an interest" in Julia because she is "the best student" he's had .... it all gets to be too much.

Sanchez really digs into the relationship between immigrant Mexican parents who are firm in tradition and first generation children who are "Americanized." Julia's parents struggle to hold on to and instill values and traditions into her as she veers away, striving for the better life they came to America to find. Through the process of learning to live without Olga, Julia slowly begins to better understand why her parents, both immigrants, are the way that they are. More, Julia begins to unravel the deep secrets that her sister kept. And it’s during a trip to Mexico to visit family that Julia begins to learn how much her parents sacrificed for her and Olga, as well as how much she has to step up and take control of her own life and future. That it’s OKAY for her not to be someone she isn’t. I wanted so badly to like this book, but I honestly don't think I would have even finished it if I hadn't been reading it for class. There are some major problems with it: Finally, and this is a smaller thing after all that, I thought that the whole mystery around her dead sister was totally unnecessary. It would have been much more powerful for her to grapple with her already complex emotions. It also bothered me because Julia kept claiming that no one really knew her sister, based on the thing she eventually discovers. Julia never really knew her sister, but the discovery she makes does not actually erase everything else that her sister was to all the other people in her sister's life (or even in Julia's life). The whole thing just cheapened her sister's death. The most potent theme throughout Erika L. Sánchez’s I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter is that of secrets and lies. As the novel unfolds and Julia digs deeper into the secrets her recently-deceased older sister Olga left behind, she comes face-to-face with more and more unsettling truths about her family’s past. In the end, Sánchez ultimately suggests that some secrets are too painful to share—and that some lies are actually a mercy, meant to protect people from hurtful, devastating truths.This book will change everything. . . . A perfect book about imperfection.” —Juan Felipe Herrera,Poet Laureate of the United States Rebecca Rubin (February 24, 2021). "America Ferrera sets feature film directorial debut with Netflix's 'I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter' ". The Chicago Tribune . Retrieved March 25, 2021.