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Summary
Summary
An unforgettable YA debut about two Latina teens growing up in East Oakland as they discover that the world is brimming with messy complexities, perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Erika L. Sánchez.
Belén Dolores Itzel del Toro wants the normal stuff: to experience love or maybe have a boyfriend or at least just lose her virginity. But nothing is normal in East Oakland. Her father left her family. She's at risk of not graduating. And Leti, her super-Catholic, nerdy-ass best friend, is pregnant--by the boyfriend she hasn't told her parents about, because he's Black, and her parents are racist.
Things are hella complicated.
Weighed by a depression she can't seem to shake, Belén helps Leti, hangs out with an older guy, and cuts a lot of class. She soon realizes, though, that distractions are only temporary. Leti is becoming a mother. Classmates are getting ready for college. But what about Belén? What future is there for girls like her?
From debut author Carolina Ixta comes a fierce, intimate examination of friendship, chosen family, and the generational cycles we must break to become our truest selves.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up--This novel explores the coming-of-age of two Latina girls during their senior year of high school in East Oakland. Both Leti and Belén navigate a terrain that is saturated in casual racism, belittlement, sexism, and daily toxicity, but for Belén, all of these plus her father's abandonment have sent her into an emotional tailspin. As related by Belén, everyone else's lives and upheavals function as distraction from the heaviness of her own depression. Ixta explores the shortcomings of underfunded public education and a higher education system that wants trauma porn to inform student applications. For Leti's college essay, she must divulge her teen pregnancy. But Ixta upends the notion that teen girls who get pregnant have thrown away their futures. Readers see that Leti, for all of her shrinking self-consciousness, is a fighter. This realistic novel lays bare the ways in which some of the most harmful damage a young girl can experience happens in the home. Belén witnesses the infidelity of her father and that of Leti's father, as well as the abuse visited upon Leti's body. Belén, the observant one, is belittled and treated with contempt for the behavior of the father. Yet she can still love deeply and begin the act of forgiving and healing. This novel explores the effects of family strife, the behaviors children learn from their own parents, and what catalysts spark their evolution and journey away from those damaging situations. VERDICT Readers will be inspired by Belén's path to healing but not before it makes them ugly cry.--Stephanie Creamer
Publisher's Weekly Review
High school seniors and best friends Belén and Leti, the daughters of working-class Mexican immigrants, live in Oakland, Calif. Tenacious and hardworking Leti dreams of attending UC Berkeley, but when she finds out she's pregnant by her secret boyfriend Quentin, things get complicated. Leti fears the reaction of her racist parents, who don't know that she's dating a Black classmate. Belén, meanwhile, must navigate an unstable home life after her father abandons the family, leaving them in a precarious financial situation, while also contending with the fact that she might fail out of high school. As Leti and Belén confront their daunting circumstances, Belén reckons with the knowledge that "I know it isn't even all my fault--but somehow, it's all my responsibility to fix it," in this stirring novel about dysfunctional family dynamics, intergenerational trauma, and toxic parenting. Itxa steadfastly approaches sensitive topics such as abuse, anxiety, depression, teen pregnancy, racism, and sex work via compassionately wrought prose. Belén and Leti's affectionate friendship provides levity to the high-stress situations, and a charismatic supporting cast and sharp dialogue propel this unforgettable debut. Ages 14--up. Agent: Elizabeth Bewley, Sterling Lord Literistic. (Jan.)
Horn Book Review
It's senior year, and while Belen's classmates are focused on college applications, she's flunking school and struggling to cope with a shattered home life. Since her pa walked out on their family, her ma has been withdrawn, crying and seemingly overlooking the past-due bills piling up. Belen's best friend, Leti, is a straitlaced student determined to get into UC Berkeley, but now Leti is pregnant and worried that her boyfriend, who is Black, will be rejected by her racist parents. As Belen sinks into her loneliness, she seeks affection from a college guy to distract herself from the pain of her father's abandonment and the constant comparisons to him from unsympathetic relatives. Misogyny, racism, religion, and unjust expectations for girls like Belen and Leti are explored within their Mexican culture with sharp rebukes and meaningful introspection about identity and breaking out of toxic familial and cultural cycles. A cast of secondary characters bolsters Belen's development, though few (other than Leti) are given sufficient airtime to feel fully realized. The Oakland, California, setting is brought to life through rides on the BART and visits to the frutero that illustrate the city's diversity. The protagonist's strong narrative voice, the realistic emotional tone, and thematic touchstones will hook fans of Sanchez's I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter (rev. 3/18). Jessica AgudeloMarch/April 2024 p.93 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
When everyone tells you who you are, how can you figure out who you want to be? Ever since Belén's pa left, nothing's been the same. Her depressed ma is hardly home, and all older sister Ava does is berate Belén and accuse her of being just like their father. In danger of flunking out of high school, Belén fears Ava is right about her. With her best friend, Leti, pregnant and going through serious family problems of her own, Belén seeks solace in a questionable relationship with a college student. And when she sees her father at a restaurant with a much younger woman, but he doesn't acknowledge her ("his eyes remain flat. Lifeless. Like he is looking at a stranger"), the tenuous hold she had on herself slips. Everyone, it seems, abandons her; will Belén also give up on herself? Despite the book's exploration of painful subjects, Belén's strong, tell-it-like-it-is voice and wry humor don't court readers' pity. The novel treats issues of misogyny, domestic violence, and racism as realities to be dealt with, not character-defining moments of transformation, and the story's tension is rooted in the question of whether Belén and Leti will break free from cycles of generational trauma and forge their own futures. This addictively readable novel is a loving portrait of growing up Mexican American and female in Oakland. A stunning debut from a powerful new voice. (Fiction. 14-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
It's the last year of high school, and Belén avoids her worries by focusing on three things: train hopping, books, and her best friend, Leti's, unexpected pregnancy. Recently abandoned by her father, who absconded with his wife's savings, Belén, her mom, and her older sister all fall into depression. With little guidance from her mother and sister, Belén spirals into delinquency at school, to the point of almost not being able to graduate. Friendships become strained as Belén attempts to convince Leti to tell her terrifyingly pious parents about the approaching due date and have them meet her Black boyfriend. Feeling alone and despondent, Belén drowns her sorrows by rushing into a relationship with a college student, losing her virginity, and questioning her worth. It will take a class assignment and unexpected support systems to ease emotions and help Belén find her way. Ixta's debut will leave many shedding tears over this emotionally captivating tale about a tough, first-generation Mexican American who does her best to navigate life. Many readers will resonate with common themes, such as racism, machismo, financial instability, friendship drama, and high-school pregnancies. This story is a poignant reminder for young adults that resiliency doesn't mean being a pro at bottling up emotions; rather, it's knowing when to ask for help.
