The Journey of the Garcia Girls: Coming of Age and Finding Identity in Julia Alvarez's Novel "How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents"

Turesa Lewis: Although I was initially intrigued when I started to read this story I started to get bored. The time-line continued to changed therefore my interest changed. Listening to the readings later helped a little.

United States on Nov 10, 2023

Una poetisa: What I liked was the realism in how the characters and events were portrayed. I felt the emotions as if the situations were happening to me. I couldn't put this book down! This is an excellent choice for anyone wanting to know about Dominican Republic heritage, or about family life in a complex social and religious culture.

United States on Jun 29, 2022

Russell J. Sanders: Julia Alvarez’s How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents is not your typical novel. A tale of four sisters who immigrated from the Dominican Republic, their father fleeing a dictator, is told in reverse order, with the first section set during their adult years in the US, the middle section their teen years, and the final section depicting all that led up to the defection. Furthermore, the tale is not a linear story, but rather a series of anecdotal stories, some in third person, some in first person (told by varied sisters,) and one that is told in the first person “we,” seemingly told by one of the sisters but all four are told about, and thus one gets the strange impression that all four are telling this part of the story. Strange indeed. But artful. Alvarez is a fine writer and this, her first of many books she has written in her lifetime, is a celebrated novel. First published in 1991, the story is still timely because the plight of the girls can be applied to those from any number of countries in our world today, and the immigrant experience not only appeals to immigrants but almost anyone who has grown up in the US amid racism, sexism, and anti-diversitysim. Alvarez is...

United States on Dec 22, 2021

Katie: One can only wonder how much of the novel is plucked from the author’s own memories. Fleeing persecution in the Dominican Republic, only to find taunts and relegation to secondary status in America, seems like a difficult trajectory. Trying to figure out your self identity when caught between two cultures would be a difficult task. No wonder Yolanda teeters on a psychiatric brink. And yet, the girls were already having a hard time reconciling their personalities with the Dominican expectations for women. In the US they are freed able to experience more freedom and their sibling “band of sisters” enables them to get mutual support.

United States on Jun 06, 2021

Robert Kloss: as described

Canada on Dec 27, 2018

MelzoMil: Haven’t read it yet. The reason for purchase is personal reading a life experience I lived through

Australia on Dec 20, 2018

Niketa: Great at the beginning, started to slow down towards the end. Great story however.

United Kingdom on Feb 24, 2015

Sandra Pauli de Campana: I have chosen this book because I have already read another one by Julia Alvarez and I have liked it very much. I can say I wasn't disapppointed: You can't stop reading it, It is really entretaining. It is not exactly a novel but stories whose characters era always the four García girls; they can be read independently if you wish. Another good point of the book is that the story begins with what is happening at present and then move backwards up to the moment when the girls are small and live in Dominican Republic. You will enjoy this book.

United Kingdom on Apr 20, 2014

Kate Hopkins: I must say that my feelings about this novel were largely coloured by the final chapter, which included a very unpleasant (and gratuitous) incident with a cat that upset me a lot and led to me getting rid of the book shortly after. This was a pity, as there was a lot to enjoy in this skilful story of immigration. And anyone who's not as fanatical about cats as I am might not find the last chapter mattered so much.

The Garcia girls - Carla, Sandra (Sandi), Yolanda (YoYo) and Sofia (Fifi) grow up in the Dominican Republic in a wealthy household, but their idyllic childhood comes to an end when their doctor father is threatened by the Trujillo dictatorship and the family is forced to move to New York. In New York, the sisters try to adapt to the American way of life in the Swinging 1960s and politically and socially conscious 1970s, to the suspicion of their very traditional father. The girls end up leading very different lives. All four marry, three get divorced, two (Sandi and Yolanda) have breakdowns. The youngest, Sofia, marries a German, and thus incurs her father's everlasting suspicion. Yolanda becomes a writer and later a university teacher. And, however American they...

United Kingdom on Feb 18, 2013

Sori_007: I'm not going to lie about being all excited and wanting to read the book because it was an AP assignment. However, I am a fan of reading books to allow you to portray yourself at least in some remote way. I loved this book. It talks about a family, the Garcias, who are living in the time of Trujillo in the Dominican Republic, but it bases more upon the infrastructure of the family, the structure, the base. The difficulties faced by the family, especially the four Garcia girls who want to get away from their native tongue, lose their accents. Overall, I would recommend people read this book. That is, of course, if one is able to handle it because just as the book is good, is good mostly, in my opinion, because it touches upon topics considered taboo or inappropriate for the other people to read. I enjoyed reading this book.

United States on Sep 12, 2010