How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

by Julia Alvarez

Book Overview

Uprooted from their family home in the Dominican Republic, the four Garcia sisters-Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia-arrive in New York City in 1960 to find a life far different from the genteel existence of maids, manicures, and extended family they left behind. What they have lost-and what they find-is revealed in the fifteen interconnected stories that make up this exquisite novel from one of the premiere novelists of our time.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0452268060
• ISBN13: 9780452268067
• Release Date: June 1992
• Publisher: Plume Books
• Length: 290 Pages
• Weight: 0.61 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

1/3 into book ~ doesn’t seem to be going anywhere.

After promising reviews I bought this book, but after reading the first third of the book I finally quit. It just wasn’t going any anywhere.

A Great Read!

How the Garcia Girs Lost Their Accents was a great book to read! It had adventure, culture, and laughter. The book journies the life of four Dominican-American sisters - Yolanda, Sandra, Carla, and Sofia. Yolanda is the rebellious tomboy of the family, who later turned into a poet. She is the main focus of the book with her trouble with men and nervous breakdown. Sandra is the second oldest daughter and was once the artistic one in the family until her curiosity caused her to break her arm. Carla is the oldest of the daughters and had the most trouble adjusting to American life. She later grew up to be a psychologist. Sofia is the baby of the family and is known as the rebellious one. She got into a big fight with her father and ran off and married a German man. Carlos is the overprotective father who treats his grwon daughters as if they were four, which makeds up some pretty funny stories. Laura is the mother who had a hard time adjustng to life in the U.S. She had much more in the Dominican Republic, therefore expected more when she arrived in the United States. The book is broken into stories according to age. It starts out when they are adults, and gradually goes through their lives backwards. After problems with the Domnican government, the family flees to the United staes where they must adjust to this new life style. The girls have to adjust to life about boys, make-up, school, and racial slurs. The book is filled wih hilarious stories about sex, boys, culture shock, and coming of age stories. I personally could relate to some of the stories. Although i'm not a child anymore, my parents treat me as though I am a child. I found myself laughing along and relating to spanglish when the parents are mad, the strict religion, and that latin pride that just never seems to go away. Althoguh the ending could have been a little better, the book was is one that can be enjoyed by all ages.

the most realistic book I've read in a long time

and for the record I'm not a kid I'm doing an english minor in college and had to read this and it's one of the best. Yolanda is very likeable and her sisters and parents are also unique in their own way. It's a perfect blend of culture and identity and how hard it is to immigrate to a new country and experience a culture shock and having to choose between your roots and western culture.

Beautiful book that transcends differences between people

I first read one of the short stories in this book, "Daughter of Invention," in an anthology called GROWING UP LATINO. I found the short story so humorous, touching and sensitive I wanted to read the book that it originally came from. What I admire about Julia Alvarez is her subtlety as a writer. I found myself chuckling to myself throughout the book, as well as learning more about her experience as a Dominicana told through the eyes of the four fictionalized daughters and the parents who raised them in a time of great political unrest. This was during the time of Trujillo, when their father got in trouble politically for attempting to overthrow his dictatorship. Hence, the reason for their exile to the Bronx, and the circular visits taken by the daughters returning from their schools in the U.S. back to the Dominican Republic. What I admire about this story (or series of short stories) that discuss and illustrate the challenge of assimilation, racism and identity, is that Julia Alvarez's characters are identifiable with anyone who had has to immigrate and assimilate to a new set of social expectations and assume a bicultural/biracial identity. I think specifically of all the different Latinos from all corners who immigrated here, fleeing social and political unrest, and other groups of people of color who came to this country seeking a better life for themselves and their families.I am also a great fan of Sandra Cisneros, the lively and biting Chicana writer based in Texas. I have to say that to compare Alvarez's work to Cisneros is impossible because the styles are so different. But, in all honesty, I found Alvarez less hard-edged and more accessible. I highly reccomend this novel as an introduction to a wonderful, vibrant and insightful Latina writer. I want to thank Julia Alvarez for sharing the experience of assimilation and adversity with us, her humble readers.

wonderful book for adults or teens

This book will appeal to people of all ages. While some of the men in my book club didn't find the subject matter interesting, I think most women will enjoy the book. It tells stories of their childhood in the Carribbean, and then growing up to adulthood in the U.S. Readers of Amy Tan will enjoy this book, with similar themes but with a Hispanic touch.Thoroughly enjoyable, I did not have to struggle through any part of the book. It is also an easy and quick read.

I have read Esmeralda, Isabel & Cristina. Julia is my voice.

There is a point on the first chapter when Yolanda's husband ask her what language did she love in. This was the point I knew this book was going to be a very personal experience. Coming from a Hispanic country to worked in the United States, it never ocurred to me that to live and love was also going to be part of the experience. Reading this book was like talking to the friend that went on the same trip as you, only the week before. Amazing how looking into somebody's soul can help you understand your own...