A GOOD MORNING AMERICA COVER TO COVER BOOK CLUB PICK“Through a novel with so much depth, beauty, and grace, we, like Ana, are forever changed.” —Jacqueline Woodson, Vanity Fair“Gorgeous writing, gorgeous story.” —Sandra CisnerosNamed a Most Anticipated Book by The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, The Washington Post, O Magazine, Time, Seattle Times, The Baltimore Sun, Real Simple, Nylon, … Washington Post, O Magazine, Time, Seattle Times, The Baltimore Sun, Real Simple, Nylon, Instyle, BuzzFeed, Lit Hub, The Millions, Bustle, and more
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.
In bright, musical prose that reflects the energy of New York City, Angie Cruz’s Dominicana is a vital portrait of the immigrant experience and the timeless coming-of-age story of a young woman finding her voice in the world.
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A tale from that island called girlhood. Cruz describes this shipwrecked age with giddy accuracy. A season of hope, vulnerability, and disaster. Especially for a girl of color. Gorgeous writing, gorgeous story.
This story feels so right for this moment. Cruz captures the texture and tenor of being an immigrant woman, caught between worlds and loyalties.
From the very first sentence of Dominicana, we remember why we’ve missed Cruz. This coming-of-age novel with its unforgettable young heroine takes on the pressing questions of the day — immigration, identity, the claim to Americanness — with a deceptively light touch and a whole lot of charm.
I recieved a free copy through Netgalley and now I’m leaving a voluntary review.
This isn’t something I would normally read but from the first page it had me hooked.
I thought it was fun and lighthearted to read. The writing makes the story run smoothly and I couldn’t put it down.
While this is a tragic story and Ana has an incredibly hard life, her will and quiet strength do the heavy lifting for this book. She was an inspiring character, so young and incredibly brave. I was rooting for her all along and I loved reading about this specific and under-represented slice of life. It’s hard to imagine the level of self-sacrifice this young woman went through for her family, what an inspiration. Will be on the look-out for more from this author.
Angie Cruz’s Dominicana is one of my favorite books written by Latina authors. Her style is refreshing and unique. The cover is perfect. I love the time period, as it is the same time my own mother came to the US and lived in New York City. I cringed at the sacrifice that Ana was forced to make for her family. She was a child and was thrust into a world of violence and loneliness, but she was brave and determined to not disappoint her mother. As a child of a Dominican woman, I could relate to the duty that young Ana would not betray. The upheaval in the Dominican Republic was all too real for my own Dominican family and it added to the feel of “historical fiction.”
A young woman’s trials of making her way in life when she is taken from everything she knew. A new land a new language. A real thought provoking book showing the hardships of a young female immigrant who marries early and then has to learn to be a wife and more. A true contender for the women’s prize.
Thank you. to Flatiron Books for placing this wonderful book in my hands. This evocative story opens in the Dominican Republic in 1965. Fifteen-year-old Ana Canción is living with her parents and multiple siblings and cousins. She has a crush on her friend, Gabriel, often fantasizing about the kind of life they will have together when they are older. But when Juan Ruiz, a man more than two decades older than her, proposes and offers to take Ana to New York, Ana know she must accept for the sake of her family’s future.
Living in a small apartment in Washington Heights, Ana’s life becomes all about cooking, cleaning and sending money home to her family. She doesn’t love Juan, but she tries to give him the benefit of the doubt, even when his verbal abuse becomes physical. Her quick pregnancy is tinged with sadness and a looming sense of captivity, but the one light in her dark life is Juan’s brother, César. The more time Ana spends with him, the deeper her desire for his lithe, muscular body, his smooth dark skin and his thick curly hair. When Juan travels back to the Dominican Republic for two months to join the rebellion, Ana is free to spend time with César, but when Juan returns, Ana is forced to make a choice between the man she truly loves and her familial duty.
Cruz did a wonderful job using detail to bring the reader deep into the heart of the story. The luscious food descriptions, sounds of the city, and honest descriptions of Ana’s inner thoughts and feelings all make Ana’s story realistic and identifiable. Ana’s story is beautifully ordinary, likely playing out in similar ways in every corner of our country every day.
An important novel that illuminates a world and time with truth and originality. Cruz is a brilliant novelist and her characters are unforgettable.
Cruz shows how a moment in one country can reverberate for years in another. Dominicana is a fearless novel, laying bare the bewildering decisions made and revisited throughout the uncertain process of immigration and long after it ends.
Cruz is a hero, a heartbreaker, and a visionary. Dominicana is a thrilling, necessary portrait of what it means to be an immigrant in America.
Angie Cruz, I’m so glad the time has come. What a wonderful, nuanced, and insightful writer.
Cruz’s characters are authentic and complex, her writing is masterful, and there were times in the novel when the tension was so high I couldn’t stop reading. Dominicana pulled on my heartstrings from the very first page. A searingly beautiful novel filled with humanity and hope.
Dominicana is beautiful, engaging, and cuts right to the heart of what it is to be a dutiful young female from a poor country who is bright in every sense of the word, full of love and hope.
This gorgeous new novel by Angie Cruz holds an unflinching gaze on one young immigrant woman’s life — its hardships, its hopes, and its richly depicted loves. Ana’s story is filled with music and reverence for survival, and for joy. An essential read for our times.
Dominicana is a book that grabs you, that moves both quickly and deeply, as it explores how our very personal desires and destinies are shaped by forces of culture, politics, economics, language, migration. The kind of book I am always longing to read: a sexy book that is also meaningful. I couldn’t put it down.