One of the Must-Read Books of 2019 According to O: The Oprah Magazine * Time * Bustle * Electric Literature * Publishers Weekly┬а*┬аThe Millions┬а*┬аThe Week * Good Housekeeping
тАЬThere is more life packed on each page of Ordinary Girls than some lives hold in a lifetime.тАЭ тАФJulia Alvarez┬а
In this searing memoir, Jaquira D├нaz writes fiercely and eloquently of her challenging girlhood and triumphant coming of age.
While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, D├нaz found herself caught between extremes. As her family split apart and her mother battled schizophrenia, she was supported by the love of her friends. As she longed for a family and home, her life was upended by violence. As she celebrated her Puerto Rican culture, she couldnтАЩt find support for her burgeoning sexual identity. From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto RicoтАЩs history of colonialism, every page of┬аOrdinary Girls┬аvibrates with music and lyricism. D├нaz writes with raw and refreshing honesty, triumphantly mapping a way out of despair toward love and hope to become her version of the girl she always wanted to be.
Reminiscent of Tara WestoverтАЩs┬аEducated, Kiese LaymonтАЩs Heavy, Mary KarrтАЩs┬аThe LiarsтАЩ Club, and Terese Marie MailhotтАЩs Heart Berries, Jaquira D├нazтАЩs memoir provides a vivid portrait of a life lived in (and beyond) the borders of Puerto Rico and its complicated historyтАФand reads as electrically as a novel.