But, the main reason I hated this book is that Julia, the main character, is completely insufferable. The narration is okay, but the narrator mispronounces the names of many of the streets in Chicago, which, as a Chicagoan, was annoying to me. This book came up in my recommendations, so I bought it. I had read The Book of Unknown Americans and I really enjoyed it.

I wish this book or audiobook adds a TRIGGER WARNING in the beginning about suicide and family death! Finally, a book that shows that talking to a mental health professional is ok! Usually, mental health professionals are depicted as useless or unaware of teenage life. This book is for Latinas who know they are good enough to leave a neighborhood and challenge a system that usually doesn't accept brown girls. This book is for any Latina who feels that she doesn't fit anywhere because she 'talks white' according to her community and she's just 'too hood' in white spaces. Or represent just one certain dialogue when the Spanish language differs according to region and education level. What does that mean? What does it mean to sound 'Mexican'? Social media often depicts a falsely view of how Mexicans speak in Mexico. So I am reading the reviews and many disliked the narrator for falsely making a 'Mexican' accent. Was Olga really what she seemed? Or was there more to her sister's story? And, either way, how can Julia even attempt to live up to a seemingly impossible ideal?įOR LATINAS WHO ARE OFTEN TOLD THEY 'SOUND WHITE' With the help of her best friend, Lorena, and her first kiss, first love, first everything boyfriend Connor, Julia is determined to find out. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed.īut it's not long before Julia discovers that Olga might not have been as perfect as everyone thought. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family.īut Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. And they do not move out of their parents' house after high school graduation.

Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian meets Jane the Virgin in this poignant but often laugh-out-loud funny contemporary YA about losing a sister and finding yourself amid the pressures, expectations, and stereotypes of growing up in a Mexican American home.

Not your perfect mexican daughter