When I Was Puerto Rican | 
| Author: Esmeralda Santiago
Publisher: Da Capo Press
Category: Book
List Price: $14.95
Buy New: $0.93
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Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 54232
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
ISBN: 0306814528
Dewey Decimal Number: 974.71004687295
EAN: 9780306814525
ASIN: 0306814528
Publication Date: February 27, 2006
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Product Description
Esmeralda Santiago's story begins in rural Puerto Rico, where her childhood was full of both tenderness and domestic strife, tropical sounds and sights as well as poverty. Growing up, she learned the proper way to eat a guava, the sound of tree frogs in the mango groves at night, the taste of the delectable sausage called morcilla, and the formula for ushering a dead baby's soul to heaven. As she enters school we see the clash, both hilarious and fierce, of Puerto Rican and Yankee culture. When her mother, Mami, a force of nature, takes off to New York with her seven, soon to be eleven children, Esmeralda, the oldest, must learn new rules, a new language, and eventually take on a new identity. In this first volume of her much-praised, bestselling trilogy, Santiago brilliantly recreates the idyllic landscape and tumultuous family life of her earliest years and her tremendous journey from the barrio to Brooklyn, from translating for her mother at the welfare office to high honors at Harvard.
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| Customer Reviews:
Wonderfully Honest Memoir November 14, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I enjoyed this memoir. It was honest. Esmeralda talks of her childhood, and unlike some memoirs does not portray herself to be anything but what she was. There were times she was a spoiled brat, times she embarassed herself, times she was scared. She lays it all out there. The memoir covers her childhood from I'm guessing 5 or so till age 14 or 15. I was not clear on what age she was when or what year it was at the time. That would be my only complaint. I felt as tho I was really getting to know her throughout the book, feeling her frustration at being the oldest of eleven children (must not have manufactured condoms yet), the difficulties of being poor, and her embarassment at going to the welfare office with her mother. Truly, not an easy childhood at all, especially being uprooted and moved every year or few months. Esmeralda definetly overcame all obstacles and became an amazing writer, injecting humor into truth.
Honest Portrait of Growing Up In Puerto Rico November 6, 2008
This book begins the author's autobiographical series and speaks of her early childhood in Puerto Rico. The book centers on a relatively happy upbringing in a poor family living in mostly rural areas. Her mother offers the strongest pillar of support and provides consistency and dependability while at the same time dealing with issues of infidelity and inconsistency in her spouse. The books depends for its considerable success on intimacy, honesty and an abundance of details, and it provides all three for a stirring account written in a straightforward and simple style.
 Looked forward to this book but found myself bored January 3, 2008
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
Great Title but maybe because the books speaks of being "Puerto Rican" in a different time- probably around 2 generations before mine- that I couldn't relate nor found interest in it. I think it would be a fabolous story if its one that has similar previous acquired knowledge or a personal understanding of having lived through that period of time. I think this is the type of story that one does or doesn't relate to and thus does or does not enjoy. I do however recommend it for those seeking to understand how life was for previous generations.
 THE AMERICAN DREAM... February 27, 2006
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
This is a rich and evocative memoir of the author's chaotic childhood. Growing up in rural Puerto Rico, while often living in primitive conditions, the author's lush and lyrical prose paints a vivid picture her early life. The flavor and rythms of her island home come alive under her expert hand, creating an unforgettable picture of her early childhood.
The author grew up in a poor family. During her childhood, she lived in Puerto Rico with her unmarried parents, who were always at war with each other, as her father was a somewhat irresponsible philanderer. It was her mother who centered the family and who always sought a better life for all of her children. When an irrevocable break occurred between her parents, her mother moved to New York during the nineteen sixties, eventually settling with her seven children in the mean streets of Williamsburg, Brooklyn in New York City.
The author details her life's journey from rural Puerto Rico to Brooklyn. The author was transplanted to Brooklyn at the age of thirteen, and her description of her life in Brooklyn is every bit as interesting as that of her life in Puerto Rico. Her oftentimes bewildering transition from her native, Spanish speaking Puerto Rico to an English speaking environment is engagingly chronicled. The author takes the reader on her journey through Brooklyn's public school system to the prestigious High School of Performing Arts, where she graduated and went on to attend Harvard University on a scholarship.
This coming of age memoir is so engagingly written that I was left with the desire of wanting to know more about the life of this remarkable woman. I was also very taken with her writing style. So, I went ahead and bought every book that this author has ever written and look forward to reading each and every one.
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