Sunday, 24th November 2002, 6:01pm
An opinion by: Rascal

 

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez

Does all this work as some kind of comment on the book itself? A little bit. The particulars in each chapter really speak of an authenticity of experience. Maybe because this novel is so obviously drawn from the author's memory, I got confused. And let me add that it is pretty clear Alvarez (oops I mean Yoyo) doesn't relate too much to Carla, whose notable only for her eldest child style of goody-2-shoes bossiness. Fifi, Sandie, Yoyo, Mami and even Papi get more thorough character treatment. This novel spoke to me both as a fictionalized peep into other people's lives, but it also spoke to my own experience and identity, as the daughter of an emigré from Puerto Rico, another Caribbean island. The foreigness/familiarity was most obvious in the chapters that are set on the island, which is why they were my favourites. Alvarez does a great job of representing a wealthy cosseted culture that is as constricted as the Garden of Eden. It's a culture in which extended families live butt-up against each other in lavish compounds. This offers a network of supprt as well as endless little frictions and gossip. Nothing like my own northern nuclear-family experience, but not far from my father's childhood, echoes tell me.

But my absolute favourite chapter is "Mami, Papi and Yoyo", which is as funny and loving a portrait of any mom I've ever read.

"Ay Cuco! Remember how I showed you that suitcase with little wheels so we should not have to carry those heavy bags when we traveled? Someone stole my idea and made a million!" She shook the paper in his face. "See, see! This man was no bobo! He didn't put all his pokers on a back burner. I kept telling you, one of these days my ship would pass me by in the night!.... ¡Ya, ya!" She waved them out of her room at last. "There is no use trying to drink spilt milk, that's for sure.""

All in all, you can tell from the title what you're gonna get from this book. It's funny and honest and tinged with adventure. -- RBR

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