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Book Review By Daniella Pawl
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez

"How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" was written by the Dominican novelist and poet, Julia Alvarez. The book revolves around the life story of the Garcias, a family of sisters, a mother and father who emigrate from the turbulent Dominican Republic of the 1950s. Mr. Garcia, their father, is fleeing the imminent danger of his country, following the assasination of their cruel dictator, President Trujillo. Mr. Garcia was actually directly involved in leading the assasination of their president, and is, therefore, running for his life with his family in tow.

This book isn't solely about their plight as survivors of the regime, so much as a combination of themes. One central theme that emerges is that of coming of age. Yolanda, one of the sisters, is the dreamer and the schemer of the family. She lives between two worlds---the first being that of her Dominican identity, and the second is her new "American" status that she is just coming to terms with. The sisters don't look like or act like their "Yanqui" counterparts (i.e. U.S. born whites who make fun of their accents). They must struggle to gain acceptance and tolerance in a--sometimes--cruel and intolerant world.


Plot & Themes
Tone of book? - thoughtful
Time/era of story - 1960's-1970's
Ethnic/Regional/Religion
Other aspects:
Is this an adult or child's book? - Adult or Young Adult Book
Ethnic/regional/gender life Yes

Main Character
Gender - Female
Profession/status:
Age: - a teen
Ethnicity/Nationality

Main Adversary
Identity: - Male
Age: - 40's-50's
Profession/status:
How sensitive is this character?
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Smarter than most other characters

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 4 ()
United States Yes
The US: - Northeast
The Americas (not US): Yes
The Americas: - The Caribbean

Writing Style
Sex in book? Yes
What kind of sex: - vague references only - descript of kissing
Amount of dialog - roughly even amounts of descript and dialog
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