PositiveThe New York Times Book ReviewThanks to Sahara’s creative eye and clever wit, her work resists ceremonious academic airs ... This thesis is not just a kind of Dear John letter to the world of white academia; it’s a farewell letter too ... Sahara is so open that her words feel like a diary — yet even in this presumed safe space, she’s still mindful of being too honest ... Moments of mirth are outweighed by the despair Sahara hides from everyone in her life.
Angie Cruz
RaveThe New York Times Book Review... taut and poignant ... What makes Cara such an appealing character is her willingness not just to step in muck, but to admit as much to a perfect stranger ... Through Cara, Cruz forces her reader to understand that life a little bit better. To see how Cara is forced to inhabit two worlds simultaneously, shifting seamlessly between English and Spanish. That we can still hear her above the deafening racket of gentrification, still feel her through the sterilizing wall of bureaucracy, is significant. In projecting Cara’s voice, Cruz prioritizes the importance of seeing an individual’s humanity even within the most impersonal of systems. The novel makes clear that the round-the-clock work Cara has done to better her Washington Heights community — often without compensation — is just as valuable as more \'traditional\' forms of paid labor ... A cynical reader might say things turn out a little too nicely for Cara in the end, or dismiss Cara’s past as unforgivable, generational trauma be damned. But like the novel itself, Cara resists classification. More than a job, or a cure, she requires a patient audience with whom she can share her most intimate secrets.
