How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

Rating:
Summary: The Garcia Girls
Review: This book was very well written. It was neat to experience Alvarez's interesting writing style. She wrote the book by starting in the 1980's and then it ended in 1956. As Alvarez begins the story it starts out at the island that they grew up on, the Dominican Rebublic. Then in the middle of the story the family abruptly leaves and flees to the United States were the story continues. There the family had to change there entire life style as they were thrown into New Yorks' "American Mainstream". The main characters of these fifteen short stories are the father Carlos, the mother Laura and their four children, Carla, Yolanda, Sandra and Sofia. The story was based around the years of their childhood into adult hood. This book of short stories was very entertaining and one could easily relate to each of them.

Rating:
Summary: Enchanted by the Garcia Girls
Review: How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents is a stunning post-modern novel that traces the lives of four sisters through the processes of conforming, unconforming and accepting the culture into which they are brought into in America. The novel becomes more interesting because of the way it is told. The book goes back in time beginning with the third sister's return to their island home, and traces the life of the sisters to back before their exile. Alvarez clearly exhibits the effects and problems of assimilation and dissilmilation of the girls. Each sister has a "story" to herself, but the biggest focus is on Yolanda, the third sister. This book is easily readable and beautiful novel of coming to terms with heritage and surroundings.

Rating:
Summary: How the García Girls Lost Their Accents
Review: Julia Alvarez's postmodern novel effectively presents the struggles of an immigrant to the United States through a woman's point of view. Each of her 5 main females characters (4 daughters and their mother) finds a way to assimilate to the modern culture of the U.S. while at the same time maintaining her inherent Latin American identity. Each woman subverts the patriarchal father in a different manner, but they continue to adhere to his old-world beliefs. Laura, the mother, adheres to her husband's old-world patriarchal beliefs despite her passion for inventing as she becomes more involved in her new surroundings. Carla, the oldest daughter, becomes a child psychologist so that she can try to understand her own loss of identity as a child. Sandra, the second oldest, becomes obsessed with her weight in a society that equates thinness with beauty. Yolanda, the third daughter and the primary narrator, becomes a poet, which is a profession usually reserved for men. Sofía, the youngest daughter, flaunts her sexuality in front of her father but still names her first son after him. Alvarez tells this story in an unconventional manner, as she tells it in reverse chronological order. This allows her readers to put the pieces of the García girls' lives together in a unique and unforgettable way.

Rating:
Summary: How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez
Review: How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, is an extraordinary book that symbolizes women's struggle in conforming to new ways of living from one culture to another. The book reflects on the life of the four Garcia girls; Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia and their parents. They are from the Dominican Republic and the girls move and relocate to the United States and settle in New York. The book was very well written and culturally educational. There are views of culture that were expressed through the novel as well as some history that occured back in that time. The story goes back in time, where the beginning starts at present time, which was the early 1970's to the late 1980's, and as you progress through the novel, it takes you to the past into the late 1950's and early 1960's. In the last section of the novel, which was the strongest, readers learn about childhood stories that allow us to understand later episodes in these girls' lives that were presented earlier in the first and second sections. This time was key to understanding the struggle the girls went through to try to fit into the "true American woman" stereotype.

Rating:
Summary: How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
Review: In this book, you can see how the daughters life's are changed as there culture was changed. I felt that even though the family doesn't live in the old culture you could still see the daughter's culture. Their family tries to represent the culture back into their lives. You can see many different gender roles and see how these girls experience life. For example, when the mom want to be involved in one of daughters life. So, she tries to attend some of her poetry readings. You can see how the daughter is starting to change from her own culture to a new one. During this the mom is denying that this is happening and you can see how she tries to keep the culture in her daughters life.

Rating:
Summary: How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
Review: I enjoyed reading this book. I liked the challenge it gave me. This was a book from a different culture and it was also written in a different way. The book did not follow in chronological order, instead it went backwards. This made the book confusing and interesting. The book was full of symbolism. I usually do not read into the symbolism but in this book it was clear to me that somthing stood for something else. I was not always sure what it would stand for, but I knew it was something. I also liked the way that the book was broken up. There was a chapter for each girl and it helped develop thier character. This book took place in the Domenicain Republic and the United States. This helped me get a sense of another country and their culture, but I did not get confused because they were also talking about the United States. I could relate with the character Yolanda. She wanted to stay true to her roots but also become an American she was divided in who she wanted to be. I am also that way with my heritage. I enjoyed reading about her. I really enjoyed this book because it was from a woman's point of view, it gave me a chance to see a different culture, and it did it all in a way that I did not get confused and I enjoyed it.

Rating:
Summary: How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents Review
Review: When I started to read this book, I didn't really like it. I have never had to read a postmodern book before, so I really did not know what to expect. However, I kept reading and I really got into the novel. I like how the characters are developed through the story. It allows for the characters to grow on you which maked me wanting to know what was going to happen next. I felt the patriarchy of the family molded the family. It made it very difficult for the Garcia Girls to adapt to the States. Yolonda was the most described character who delt with her morality throughout the novel because of her roots. I saw assimilation, dissimilation, and transcultural views through the novel. Transcultural view was the most found because of the Latin hertiage being so strong and then moving to the United States made it tough to keep everything the same. I really found this book to be very entertaining because it describes what it must feel like to be an immigrant in the 1950s through on today. I recommend this book to read.

Rating:
Summary: How the Garcia Girls Lost Thier Accents
Review: "How the Garcia Girls Lost Thier Accents," was a very enjoyable novel that was easy to read. The story was about four daughters (Carla, Sandi, Yolanda, and Sofia) and their parents who lived in the Dominican and moved to the United States. The story showed how each of the daughters changed and dealt with the adjustments of moving to a different country. It also shows how the parents raised their children, while trying to keep thier original culture instilled in them. The novel moves from back and forth in time allowing the reader to understand their lifestyle throughtout time. Each daughter had a unique personality, and the parent's had stories about each daughther that helped to describe them as individuals.

Rating:
Summary: How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
Review: The Garcia Girls was a very interesting book. It tells the story of four girls along with their parents that move from the Dominican Republic to the United States. The transition brings along heartache and happiness. The story compares and evaluates the two countries and their way of life. The story discusses issues faced by families that immigrate and the adjustments that become necessary. The family goes through changes and face uncertainties in this new land. The girls search for their identity, endure name- calling/stereotypes, and explore their new world living in the states. Assimilation,dissimilation, and transculturation are all present in the novel. The fear of lost identity overcomes their parents as the girls compare their traditional upbringing(strict) to the way of the wild, untamed United States. The book emphasizes the importance of family roots and not forgetting where one comes from.

Rating:
Summary: The Garcia Girls Gained Admiration
Review: The Garcia Girls not only represent their country they represent women of America. They have influenced me in so many ways because a lot of their experiences touch home in my heart. Each sister,Sofia, Yolanda,Carla, and Sandra are very unique. Being forced to leave their country, they tell us the story of how they've delt with the discrepencies in their life while living here in America. This story is very good and truly unique because the chapters travel back in time. At first I was confused but the way the story is written grabed my attention. I began to look at the book out of a total different eye. Yolanda is the narrator of this story. The story begans with her visiting her country. Sofia is a rebel. She has to deal with her father not associating with her but excepting her son. Overall this book is truly worth reading. You will find yourself, happy, sad, and even disapointed at some points but you will still close the book smiling.