The blurb for this one promised telenovela levels of drama with a super-unique narrative style (a one-sided phone conversation). I mean, what more could a reader want? So, thanks to NetGalley for approving my request for the eArc. 

 

Luciana is the baby of her Colombian American family. Her mother is always on her about her weight and planning for her future. Her sister (Mari) is away at college and, as it seems to Luciana, is leaving her family behind. Her grandmother (Abue), it turns out, is quite ill and has been either downplaying or hiding it. Oh, and she came out recently, but it seems like everyone is just going to be pretending that never happened. So, basically, Luciana is feeling alone, and overwhelmed, and as her grandmother gets worse and her sister get more distant and her mother's "help" isn't what she actually needs...she's facing down oncoming adulthood in formidable fashion. 

 

Well, the little blurb that promised drama and originality was right. I have never read anything at all like this one-sided phone conversation narration and it was so incredibly creative and unique and compelling AF. It’s moving with speed and interest and it sucked me in so strongly, I couldn't have pulled out of the stream if I'd wanted to. Luciana’s voice - a sort of hypochondriac, low-key-out-but-not-really queer, second sibling with overbearing mother, senior year of high school and unsure of the future, Colombiana living in Florida vibes - is marvelously frantic. I loved the random connections/remembrances/stories, narrated in a stream of consciousness way on phone calls to fill her sister in on everything that's going on (in the recognizable way conversations between boisterous family members can be). It's like a Mrs. Dalloway for the modern day and I was totally here for it.  

 

Thematically, this was such a fantastic view of the nuances of female family relationships - intergenerational and international and all dealing with complicated situations and emotions in such dramatically different ways. The sister dynamic is gorgeously authentic, flawed but still tender at heart. And the grandmother-granddaughter relationship (Luciana and Abue) was just spectacular. An absolute jewel of complexity and humanity and it did some very real things to my heart. And in all cases, as we do in real life, each woman does not always seeing how each other is handling it as “legitimate” or "correct," especially our narrator, whose perspective we have the most insight into, as she is drowning in fear and grief and confusion, over her sisters distance and mother's overbearance and grandmother's illness and her own future and identity (and inability to openly acknowledge it), and feels so alone with it all. Luciana's voice is one that will resonate will many readers; it certainly did with me. 

 

Finally, the plot was absolutely hella telenovela-y. The twists and turns of Abue's story about her youth/family were so melodramatic, so good. And it self-recognized the melodrama, which I extra appreciate. Just, incredibly entertaining. Overall, this was just a phenomenal coming of age. For a narrative style choice like this, the nuance of character development for all these women is stunningly full. And it was truly great as an audiobook (shoutout to the passionate voice acting).