Yo!

This book is full of color and spirit, well written, and despite the disjointed nature is a good, enjoyable read.

Here's the premise. Yo(landa) Garcia has written a book that portrays members of her family in an honest light. (Honesty is not always flattering, as many of us know) In a series of short stories, we get views of her sisters, her parents, her friends, her teachers, her students, her exes, etc... The stories make up something resembling a coherent whole and the first and last stories tie the whole thing together in a satisfactory way.

Shifting abruptly to so many different points of view can be disconcerting. The book has a two or three story "flash forward," and then moves back to childhood through adulthood. But with the start of each story you wonder 'how old is she now?' and everyone has a different take.

I found myself gettind drawn into each person's own stories and found the main character to be merely tangential until the final few stories.

The colorful language and eloquently described scenery of both the Dominican Republic and New England and Alvarez creates interesting characters both separately and then brings them together. It'd be nicer if she gave you a complete picture of Yolanda, but some part of her is always obscured.

But still, this book is great fun, well written and entrancing. Because of the interconnected short story aspect, it's very easy to put down and come back to later.