How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

Hello dear readers,  is  been  been a long time since I've published an English book review and also in my blog... Here is the thing, I was very busy with school and (I still am). And I didn't have much time to read on February. This is the only book that I had read. Enjoy!

Book Report 

Title of the book: How the Garcia Girls lost their accent

Author: Julia Alvarez

Date started/Date completed: 02/12/2020/02/29/2020

Pages Read: 290

Rating of the book: 10/10

Genre: Novel of Learning, Reality

Author

Born on March 27, 1950, in New York City, Julia Alvarez was raised in the Dominican Republic, but had to leave the country when she was 10 years old; her family had supported an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow dictator Rafael Trujillo, and then fled to Brooklyn, New York. Struggling at first to adapt to her new home, Alvarez graduated from Middlebury College in 1971, and went on to earn a master's degree from Syracuse University in 1975.

The theme of being caught between two cultures can be found throughout Alvarez's poetry and fiction work. She explored this cultural divide in her first novel, How the García Girls Lost Their Accents, published in 1991, which garnered critical and commercial success. Her reading audience continued to grow with her second novel, In the Time of Butterflies, published in 1994. Several more works of fiction have followed, including Saving the World (2006), earning Alvarez more praise and fans worldwide.

A versatile artist, Alvarez has created books for children, including The Secret Footprints (2000) and Tía Lola Came to Visit Stay (2001) and a novel for young adults, Before We Were Free (2002). She also writes essays and poetry. Her latest volume of poetry, The Woman I Kept to Myself, was published in 2004.

Questions

Briefly sumarize the book 

This novel is about  The Garcia de la Torre family that is formed by Carlos, the father, Laura, the mother and their four daughters: Carla, Sandra, Yolanda and Sofia. They are a dominican family and they emigrated to the United States because of Trujillo s' goverment and also, they wanted a better life. It wasn't easy. because the four Garcia girls suffered a lot of bullying and many problems trough their lives. 

Also, when the became adults, they not only lost their dominican accent but all of them have changed and have very different lives. They didn't go to public American Schools because their parents feared that their daughters could have a rebellelious attitude. 

Finally they are adults,(Sofia is a teenager) each one with their families, problems and struggles living in the United States. A family united despite everyting they passed along their lives. 

Describe the character/person who changed the most from the beginning to the end of the book. Explain the change and what caused it.

I believe Yolanda is the one who changed the most, because before she was a girl who never studied, very tomboish and very impulsive, and she didn't liked to read. And now as an adult she reads a lot became a good student, writes and have very polemic ideals. What caused it was her moving to the United States. 

Describe a minor character/person in the book who had major importance. Explain 

Mundin, because he was the cousin who participated in most of the stories and also was very close to Yolanda. 

Describe one major external conflict and one major internal conflict found in this book 

One mayor internal conflict is the insecurities of the Garcia sisters and the external conflict is the being an imigrant in the United States.

Above you rated this book. Explain the detail why you gave the book that score 

I rated it a 10/10 because it reminds me of my dominican roots, and how families emigrated to the United States because they tought it was a country of opportinties. Also because the Garcia family have some traditional toughts about things such as sexism, religion and some tabus of females'. 

If this book had gone one more chapter, what would have happened? Explain 

Another story be will told, by any of the Garcia Family. About an anectode in the United States. 

Choose five (5) of the following sentence starters and write a brief reflection for each
I noticed that Fifi is immature
I wonder how Fifi dropped college
I was reminded of my enfancy
I think Sandra is very kind
I'm surprised that  Carla is smart 

Author s purpose 
The author is purpose is to entertain

Intended audiences 
The indented audiences are children of ten years old and above

Unknown words 

widens:extend 

Example : The books that she reads widen her knowledge.

corrugated: To shape into folds or parallel and alternating ridges and grooves.

Example: In my house there is a corrugated roof.

kindling:Easily ignited material, such as dry sticks of wood, used to start a fire

Example: Sandra went kindling in a summer camp. 

hobble: . To put a device around the legs of (a horse, for example) so as to hamper but not prevent movement.

Example: I hobbled with a stick, when I was riding the horse.

References

https://www.thefreedictionary.com

https://www.biography.com/writer/julia-alvarez

Read you later!

Sofia Books