¡Yo!

Julia Alvarez, author of "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents," brings Yolanda Garcia to life again in "¡Yo!" This intelligent and refreshingly funny novel addresses the plight of a young woman struggling to find her place in the world while staying true to her spirit. When Yolanda Garcia, a fiction writer, publishes her most recent book, family and friends are outraged. Her sisters, parents, aunts, uncles, lovers and friends easily identify themselves in the book. As a close-nit family, they all quickly jump to tell their own versions of each episode and the real drama begins.

Julia Alvarez skillfully incorporates the immigrant experience into the fiber of her novel. She depicts the subtle nuances that Yolanda experiences as a result of her Dominican heritage, her New York City upbringing and her New England schooling. Follow "¡Yo!" through the impulsive and sometimes quirky, yet reflective journey from her beloved Island home, to the States and back again. Her navigations through love and loss, career and family, truth and fiction are bound to charm and even inspire!

For everyone who can relate to multiple cultural identities and for everyone who is curious about how authors’ works effect personal lives, "¡Yo!" is a must read.

Highly recommended by Liz Cleveland of AmeriSpan.