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ClareR (5879 KP) rated Dominicana in Books

Sep 8, 2020  
Dominicana
Dominicana
Angie Cruz | 2019 | Contemporary, Fiction & Poetry
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Dominicana is the story of 15 year old Ana. Her parents forcibly (well, they don’t give her the option NOT to) marry her off to a much older man, Juan, and they move to New York where she knows no-one else and doesn’t speak any English. I can’t imagine how isolated this child must feel. Ana grows up during this coming of age story. She must learn how to ‘manage’ her husband, who hits her on more than one occasion. She is completely at his mercy, living in a run down flat, told not to let anyone in unless they have an appointment to buy knock-off suits (I tried to think of a better phrase for these suits, but this is all I’ve got!), not to go anywhere except the supermarket by herself, and she’s given no opportunity to learn English - isolating her further.

Probably the best thing that happens to her is when Juan returns to the Dominican Republic to see his brother and sort out family money and properties. Juan’s younger brother, Cesar, stays to look after her and encourages her independence. I wish this part could have been longer. She starts to learn English, makes her own money, and probably unwisely forms an attachment to Cesar. She finds out she’s pregnant just before Juan goes to the Dominican Republic, and seems reluctant to tell him. And I can’t blame her. He really has no place marrying a 15 year old child, least of all making her pregnant.

I liked the way that this story was set against real historical events: Malcolm Xs assassination, the US troops going into Vietnam, the immigration bill where Hispanic people began to migrate to the US in greater numbers, and even more pop-culture events like The Beatles playing for the first time in New York and Dominican players in baseball. These events really helped to paint a fuller picture of Ana’s life. It’s easy for me to sit at home reading a book in 2020, saying that a 14/15 year old should never be able to marry a man much older than she is and be taken to a foreign country, but this book is set in 1965-66. It was a different world then (although I should say that this does still happen in some countries). This is what makes Dominicana such an enthralling read.

Many thanks to the publisher, Flatiron Books, and NetGalley for my copy of this book.
  
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