[.ca] Yo (ISBN 0452279186)

From Amazon.com:
The heroine of Julia Alvarez's Yo! is an author who writes what she knows--much to the chagrin of her close-knit immigrant family. During the first chapter, one of Yolanda (Yo) Garcia's sisters explains the basic problem: "I always was a reader, but now, whenever I open a book, even if it's something by someone dead, all I can do is shake my head and think oh my god, I wonder what their family thought of this story." Yo's friends and family members, many of whom appeared in Alvarez's earlier novel, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, take turns narrating this book. They draw a vivid portrait of the writer, describing her big mouth and high-strung nature as well as the details of her youth in the Dominican Republic. They're often more keenly aware of class, gender, and racial divisions than is Yo herself. When Yo returns to the Dominican Republic to spend a summer reconnecting with her roots, for instance, the servants at the family estate regard her as a very strange (but likeable) foreigner. In another segment, Yo's landlord, whose husband beats her, describes the writer's efforts to save her from the abusive relationship. In these episodes and others, Yo comes across as a woman who doesn't quite fathom the complexity of the events going on around her but has so much good will and verve that people forgive her small transgressions. It is a pleasure to hear all these diverse voices; some are funny, some wistful, but all of them seem to think Yolanda Garcia is the bee's knees. Yo! is a thoughtful, entertaining novel about the immigrant experience and the impact writers have on the lives of their peers. --Jill Marquis

my review:
I really enjoyed reading this book. I honestly was unsure at frist and i didnt think that i was going to enjoy a spanish based book, but i did. It had a lot of stuyff in it that interested me in real life. I thought that some part where a little bit slow, or uninteresting, but over all it was a good read. There where some parts of the book that i loved, for example, yo was almost always in the back round when it came to boys and socialising, and her sister would always be the one that had to boys asking her out. Now yo is the center of attention. This book started out when Yolanda and her family where younger Yo enjoyed doing things such as writing poetry and she really never had a boyfriend. She finally got one when she was older, YO and her sister almost battled each other when it came to boys. Yo finally got someone, as they grew older together, Yo was realizing that he was bad news, he was turning into a pothead and was never there for her as much as he should have been. Now other guys where looking at Yo, and wanted to know about her. In the end she finds she can count on her family. I think that the book was at times confusing, but i would recommend it to any one that likes a read that is always filled with action. There was occational swearing but it as an excellent book.

memoir masquerading as fiction:
I've never known anyone (clearly Julia Alvarez is writing about herself in this book, maximizing on the genre of creative nonfiction and morphing it into Fiction) with such an ability to see oneself as others see one. I've written a memoir myself (Baby Catcher: Chronicles of a Modern Midwife) about my 15 years as a homebirth midwife in Berkeley, and I could never come close to Ms. Alvarez's unflinching self-analysis through the eyes of others. Cudos to this prolific, entertaining, and self-revealing author. I have met her at bookstore reading events, and she is as delightful in person as she is in print. Write on!

Great book!!!!!!!!!!!!!:
Julia Alvarez is definitely a gifted writer, I have read before "In the time of the butterflies" and "In the name of Salome", both great books, and they were the whole reason I decided to buy "Yo", without knowing that I should have read first "How the Garcia sisters lost their accent", but anyway, this one is a great book, I really liked Yolanda García, I have to admit that in the preface I didn't like her, but as I kept on reading Yo started to grow in me... I liked all the chapters; it is incredible how someone can touch through out an entire life so much people without even knowing. I think Yo was a good person, it seems to me that she just wanted to be accepted and loved by the family she adored and some reassurance that writing was her destiny, and her father gave her that by blessing her with both hands in her head in the last chapter. "The Stalker" was the one chapter I didn't like; it took me days just to finish it... The others were amazing, specially "The wedding guests", I loved the way every invited guest gave their opinion about the others and talk about how their lives have being touched by Yo. Others chapters like "The father" were just a pleasure to read. This is a very good book by a very good writer and I highly recommend it. Now I am going to buy her other novels, in particular "How the Garcia sisters..." and "Before we were free". It is always going to be a pleasure to read one of Julia Alvarez books...

Entertaining, unusual format, fresh, funny, and touching:
This isn't my favorite book of all time, but I did enjoy this read. Despite the fact that I didn't particularly like Yo herself. The interetsing facet of the tale was how many people's lives she touched in meaningful ways--even though some of the encounters were brief and she had no idea. The book made me hopeful that perhaps my life is positively impacting others' even though I don't realize it. It also made me cautious about encounters that I give little attention to could be profoundly important to someone else. I am striving to be more conscious of the impact I could be having (i.e. negative encounters with clerks, etc.) on someone unnecessarily.

Arriba!:
On my daily treks to my local library, I searched for a novel by Isabel Allende. Once I found the desired Allende work, I noticed another name that sounded intriguing : Julia Alvarez. Hmm, that's a pretty cover. (Yes,it's true for me) This work didn't fail to please me. Reading this novel proved to be a delicious experience.