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I‘m glad I read this. It gave me insight into Puerto Rico and its complex & painful history. There was a lot of jumping around that sometimes made it hard to follow & was repetitive.

I just couldn‘t hang with this one. While she is a good writer, this memoir was just too sad and depressing for me to handle right now. #BookspinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

#BookspinBingo list for March! @TheAromaofBooks

Found the audio of this memoir in hoopla - Jaquira Díaz shares the story of her childhood in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, struggling with less than present parents and a lot of challenges. Good for fans of Educated and similar books.

This book was ROUGH!!!So much heartbreak, yet always a glimmer of hope. The title so jarring, because for too many this dangerous messy life may be “ordinary” and that‘s the sad truth. Jaqui shares her story with such vivid honesty, that every painful memory became seared into my mind.The writing is stunning, the story devastating.👇🏽

I decided to switch to the print format. This book jumps chronologically and it wasn‘t working for me in the audio. Now, with the visual breaks the storytelling feels more harmonious, although this is NOT a pretty story💔#ReadingUSA2020 #PuertoRico #DoubleSpin

“We were trying to live, while the world was trying to kill us.”‘ Sheesh, this book is incredibly brutal but man, can Jaqui write. I‘m getting @tkmadden vibes 🙌🏻💜 #ReadingUSA #PuertoRico

This book should be titled “a study in what a person can handle and someone still survive.” Diaz grew up in poverty with a schizophrenic, drug-addicted mother and herself experienced drug use, run-ins with the law, repeated sexual assault and more. And yet she manages to be fairly matter of fact about her life, with palpable anger simmering beneath the surface. Not for the faint of heart.

Jaquira Diaz can write, a talent for setting a scene and adding details to create immediacy. But I found this memoir so upsetting I almost wished she wasn't so good at making it feel like you are right there. Parental neglect, emotional/physical abuse, rape, drug use, suicide attempts, mental illness. It was a hard book for me to read. I found myself dreading going back to it. Glimmers of queerness and an aptitude for writing were the only light.

A fantastic memoir at a ridiculous sale price of $1.99!!
(All the trigger warnings)

I was going to read something romantic for Valentine‘s Day but I read one paragraph of this and was instantly hooked. These biographical essays of a Puerto Rican woman, who grew up raising hell while dealing with tremendous trauma in Miami Beach, are “a whole mood.” How Díaz made it with all these strikes against her is beyond me. Stellar writing. Wow. #latinaauthor #blackauthor #lgbtq #memoir #strongwomen

Jaquira Diáz‘s memoir of growing up in Puerto Rico and in Miami is both gut-wrenching and hopeful. Diáz focuses much more on her friendships and the hopeful moments then on the bleak reality of poverty and severe family disfunction.

#ThatBookStore #birthdaybooks #celebrate
Took myself to That Book Store in Wethersfield today for my birthday gift to myself- a Tarot reading & A session with a medium. I had such fun!!! Great energy & spot on experiences. Lots to think about. Happy Birthday to me!!!!🎂

Diaz's writing is sharp as she recounts her girlhood, a Puerto Rican girl growing up in Miami with a schizophrenic, drug addicted mother, a womanizing, drug addicted father, lived through so much trauma, and not just her family but herself too. Her only constant, the one thing she could always count on was her friends. This memoir is full of grit and resilience, highly recommend checking this one out!! #bookreview #bookblogger #bookstagram

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Heard this author on the radio. She led a life of poverty in bad neighborhoods with drug-addicted and neglectful parents, yet somehow managed to survive it and write a book. It was too much for me and I bailed halfway through.

This exceptional memoir was my libro.fm audiobook pick and it‘s amazing to finally get to hear the voices that have been missing from publishing. This one, like How We Fight For Our Lives, will long stay with me. And I‘m looking up the narrator bc I‘ll read any book she narrates.
(All the trigger warnings)

🎉IT‘S NEW BOOK DAY!🎉 Here are some of the week‘s new books! There are several more out today that I am excited about, including Eat Joy, Blood: A Memoir, The Factory, Home Now: How 6000 Refugees Transformed an American Town, Time Is Tight: My Life, Note by Note, A River of Royal Blood, The Beautiful Ones, Full Disclosure, White Elephant, Girls Like Us, and Hymns of the Republic. What are you excited to read? 📚❤️📚

Growing up in Puerto Rico and Florida in a poor family that struggles through divorce, mental health issues, and addiction crisis, Diaz hasn‘t had an easy life.
It‘s a memoir full of strife, abuse, drugs, and poor decisions.

I found the time-jumping writing style difficult to read. I had to set the book aside several times for a break. But ultimately I think it‘s a good book, from a point of view I‘d not heard before.

Bookmail! Thank you Library Thing Early Reviewer‘s Program and publisher Algonquin Books for this free review copy! It sounds like an excellent and informative read, and I can‘t wait to start it. (Publication date set for October 2019)

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