📚 Dominicana: An Epic Novel of Dominican Culture and Migration Review

It was a must read in high school so as a mom I read it. I left appalled that high school students were being forced to read and discuss this without parental involvement. The situations are shocking, and that's fine as long as there's redemption and a shared moral theme. But it was neither one nor the other. I have tried to find legitimate reasons to have my son read this and my husband and I could not justify it. Papers” and the other apparent gratuitousness of some events opposed starting…

Anya Canción is 15 years old and grew up in the Dominican Republic in the 1960s when her parents married her to Juan Ruiz, twice her age. Ana's mother is a typical matriarch who wants the best for her daughter. She wants her daughter to go to New York, become the perfect wife, and bring her family to New York. Ana doesn't want to let her mother down. Ana travels to New York and discovers that her new husband only married her for the country. Juan abuses Ana verbally, emotionally, and…

QOTD: What was your favorite shortlisted book for the Women's Awards? Ana married Juan in hopes that she could move the family from the Dominican Republic to New York, where hope for a better future seems to be fading fast. A marriage of convenience, 15-year-old Ana thrives on the role of wife, although at times she looks more like a glorified prisoner than a partner. When Juan is forced to return to the civil war, Ana is cared for by her son-in-law Cesar. What happens between them may cause a…