Plantains and the Seven Plagues: A Memoir: Half-Dominican, Half-Cuban, and Full Life

Paz Ellis

Apr 2020 · Paz Ellis

About this ebook

Author Paz Ellis takes readers on a cross-cultural and trans-generational journey through her childhood in New Jersey to adulthood with Plantains and the Seven Plagues, A Memoir: Half-Dominican, Half-Cuban, and Full Life.

Paz insightfully describes, the complexities and contradictions of growing up in the United States to a Dominican mother and a Cuban father. From her mother’s obsessive cleaning rituals to her father’s remarkable knack for invention, this book beautifully explains what living a hyphenated-life means for so many Hispanics. She writes about what it means to be American, and Cuban, and Dominican, and having to be all of those things and only one of them… all at the same time.

Following the passing of her mother, the author finds herself on a search for meaning through not only her past, but also her mother’s. This book is about life, loss, memory, culture, and family, the glue that determines who your family actually is- love. Written with a healthy dose of wit and an abundance of sincerity, Plantains and the Seven Plagues is honest, painfully relatable, and deeply heartfelt.  

Ratings and reviews

I felt as though this book was somewhat racially baised and insensitive to other cultures.The author is overly critical in general and especially to people who do not share her own values and opinions. She makes snap judgments and draws fallacious conclusions.

This book gave me insight into a different culture and the life of first generation immigrant kids.

About the author

Paz Ellis has been writing since childhood. She began her journey as a writer with poetry and short stories. She grew up in a household of voracious readers. Her father used to write Cuban folk songs and one of her uncles is a poet. Like her older sister, she kept journals. When she was about twelve years-old her mother gave her a wonderful gift- her first hardcover book. It was a beautiful copy of "Little Women." She looked at it and realized that her name would be on a book cover one day.

However, her first book was a product of grief. She wrote a memoir, Plantains and the Seven Plagues several months after her mother passed away and has not stopped writing since that day.

Paz has also published a fictional book, "Just Finn". It is a story about an autistic young man, inspired by her brother who has lived with Asperger Syndrome for over forty-five years. "Just Finn" is the first of a two-part series. Part II will be available in the fall of 2020.

Paz was born and raised in New Jersey and currently lives in Florida. She lived on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma for twenty years with her husband. She has two teenage sons. Paz is also a photographer, a history buff and an avid reader.