Book Review: Dominicana by Angie Cruz

Book: 34/100

Rating: 4/5

Summary: Fifteen-year-old Ana Cancion never dreamed of moving to America, the way the girls she grew up with in the Dominican countryside did. But when Juan Ruiz proposes and promises to take her to New York City, she has to say yes. It doesn’t matter that he is twice her age, that there is no love between them. Their marriage is an opportunity for her entire close-knit family to eventually immigrate. So on New Year’s Day, 1965, Ana leaves behind everything she knows and becomes Ana Ruiz, a wife confined to a cold six-floor walk-up in Washington Heights. Lonely and miserable, Ana hatches a reckless plan to escape. But at the bus terminal, she is stopped by Cesar, Juan’s free-spirited younger brother, who convinces her to stay.

As the Dominican Republic slides into political turmoil, Juan returns to protect his family’s assets, leaving Cesar to take care of Ana. Suddenly, Ana is free to take English lessons at a local church, lie on the beach at Coney Island, see a movie at Radio City Music Hall, go dancing with Cesar, and imagine the possibility of a different kind of life in America. When Juan returns, Ana must decide once again between her heart and her duty to her family.

Thoughts: This book has been on my radar for a while and I'm really glad I finally got to read it. I have been looking to read more #ownvoices stories, and Ana's immigration story was based on Cruz's mothers own story about coming to America.

This was a beautiful, heartbreaking, coming of age tale about Ana and her story of immigrating to New York City with her much older husband she was forced to marry. It is a story that is at many times tragic and sad, but also a beautiful story of a woman finding her place in the world, and fighting against and standing up to the forces that try and keep her down.