America's Dream

Rating:
Summary: Domestic Violence: it was a good ending
Review: What Esmeralda Santiago portraits in this book is the reality of millions of women, not only Hispanic but from every race and every country. The main theme of the book is the violence that surrounds America. Her relationship with her mother and daughter is affected tremendously. Her mother is an alcoholic perhaps as a result of living in a house that she owns but does not rule; America's lover is the "man of the house", the one who bought the furniture and goods, the one who comes and goes as he pleases but expects the refrigerator full of the kind of beer that he likes at all times. The daughter chooses sides between mom and dad: mom is weak, dad is strong and violent, so she becomes dad's alcahueta.
America has the opportunity to leave and she takes it. The author provides us with a realistic vision of the division of clases, the immigration problem, the suffering of mothers apart from their kids in order to provide for them, the unity of the Puerto Rican family, and the loneliness of being in a foreign country.
I like the ending. America fought back. She won.

Rating:
Summary: America's Dream
Review: When I picked up this book I had no intention of ever finishing it. I thought I would read it for the twenty minuets I was required to, and later find a book I actually wanted to read. I couldn't put this book down.
America's Dream is about a woman from Puerto Rico that has been stepped on all her life. Her mother is an alcoholic that is constantly nagging at her. Her daughter hates her and would love nothing more then to leave her forever. And her "man" lives by the old rule that a man should control a woman. So when she gets the chance to leave for a better life she takes it.
What I liked about this book is that I could have totally mixed emotions about the same character. I started off feeling sorry for America, but at the same time a bit aggravated with her. I felt bad that she had to put up with such bad abuse from those that loved her. But at the same time I wanted her to change it and stand up for herself. I also enjoyed the detail that the author went into. I could see everything so vividly, I felt like I was in Puerto Rico.
The only thing that I didn't enjoy was how stereotypical the book was. All the white people seemed stuck up, and all the Latinos were nannies and had very little education. Looking back now I realize that the author did it to separate them into their own "worlds." And to show the extreme differences in their cultures and how they live their everyday lives. But to me it made the people seem ignorant.