Expectations can be challenging
Book review: I am not your Perfect Mexican Daughter
People believe they know us, but are we what they want to see?
Plot summary: “Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents’ house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family.
in Erika L. Sanchez’s I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga’s role.
Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed.
But it’s not long before Julia discovers that Olga might not have been as perfect as everyone thought. With the help of her best friend Lorena, and her first kiss, first love, first everything boyfriend Connor, Julia is determined to find out. Was Olga really what she seemed? Or was there more to her sister’s story? And either way, how can Julia even attempt to live up to a seemingly impossible ideal?” (https://www.nationalbook.org/books/i-am-not-your-perfect-mexican-daughter/)
Review: I was able to relate to the culture in this book. Even if I wasn’t Mexican myself, Erika L. Sanchez did a great job in describing our culture, from making tortillas, to the beliefs of a woman in a Mexican household, to how things actually are in Mexico.
Something I didn’t like about this book was how there are sexual aspects because they are so young.
The title goes with the plot of the book. Throughout the book there are multiple issues that occur between Julia and her mother because she is different from her older sister and does things her mom doesn’t want. The mom wants her to be like Olga but little does she know that Olga herself was even “worse” than Julia in following the house rules.
I also didn’t like how the mother never found this out because she was putting so much pressure on Julia to where she was lead to depression and attempted suicide.
Read the story yourself and make the decision: is it best to follow the expectations set upon you honestly or are you willing to create your own path? If you choose to create your own path, what might be the consequences of honesty? What might happen if that path is a secret?
