How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

I read How the García Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez published by Plume in 1991. This book is about four sisters, Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia, who lived a happy and luxurious childhood in the Dominican Republic. Their father, Carlos, was part of a rebellion against the dictator of the Dominican Republic during the 1950's so they had do leave the country. They went to New York where they had trouble adjusting to the new culture and a new way of life. The mother, Lola, had a hard time keeping the girls out of trouble in the new country and sent them back to the Dominican every summer so they wouldn’t forget their roots and where they came from. The girls each had a very different personality and each had different problems throughout the book.
Carla was the oldest of the García sisters and had the most difficulty adjusting to her new school and speaking English. She was bullied at school by a group of boys, and felt out of place because she wasn’t very good at English. She grew up to be a psychologist. The second oldest daughter, Sandi, was a great artistic. She felt restricted as a child because she wanted to fit into American culture and her parents' wanted to stay with there Dominican roots. Sandi was criticized for expressing her own needs or hopes and she wasn’t able to express herself artistically or personally which eventually led to a mental breakdown. The rebellious tomboy of the family, Yolanda, got herself into a lot of trouble. She had difficulty interacting with men and had to divorce her first husband, John, because he couldn’t relate to her Spanish roots. This heartbreak let to a mental breakdown similar to Sandi’s. Once in the U.S., Yolanda developed a love for writing and became a poet. The youngest daughter of the García family, Sofia, was wild and rebellious during her adolescence. She disobeyed her father and ran away to marry Otto, a man from Germany. She had many boyfriends and did not get along with her father. The book was written from the present in to the past. It started with them as grown women visiting the Dominican Republic and each chapter went back to a different period in their lives. I would explain the book as a grouping of short stories about each of the four sisters. Each chapter would revolve around a different group of girls for example, the mother and Yolanda. The book was very family oriented and we followed the Garcia family through their good times, their bad times, and everything in between. As the girls matured, they grow more and more distant from one another, their parents, and their relatives on the Island. Sexuality also poses a problem for nearly every character in the novel.
I liked this book because I found it was written in a very artistic and poetic way. Julia Alvarez has a very unique style of writing that I enjoy to read. For example, this is a section of her writing that I found very poetic: “Don’t,” Yo mumbles to herself at the window, outlining her hairline with a contemplative index finger. It is her secret pride: her hair grows to a point on her forehead, arches up, semicircling her face, a perfect heart (68). Here is another example of a section of the book that I found poetic: He is dressed in white shorts and a white s***, an outfit that makes him look like a boy…a good boy…the only son of monied, unloving tycoons. Both of them are tycoons, Yo posits (69). I also like this book because it is very family oriented and it follows the García family through all of their experiences, the good, the bad, and the ugly.
I learned many new things about Spanish that were scattered throughout my book. There were Spanish customs, phrases, and names that I learned. For example, Concha is a Spanish name that means conchshell in English, and Paloma is a Spanish name that means Pigeon (111). A Spanish custom that I recognized in the book was that many Spanish men believe that women shouldn’t have that many rights and the men are very controlling of the women (121). A Spanish word that I learned was la chaperona which means ‘chaperone’. A Spanish phrase that I learned was Que pasa which means ‘what is wrong’.
I would recommend this book because it was a very interesting book that focused a lot on Spanish customs and way of life. I think that I learned some new things about the Spanish culture that I didn’t know beforehand. Also, the style of the writing was very new to me and I liked reading a new style of writing. However, I would only recommend it to high school girls who are interested in Spanish. It had some inappropriate language and I don’t think that it would be appropriate for a younger audience. Also, I don’t think that many boys would like this book because the book was about four Spanish sisters and it rarely had to do with boys.

I enjoy reading books from different cultures' viewpoints, so I picked this up in a bookstore down at the beach. The title grabbed me as I found it quite funny. I loved how the author showed the struggle of the four girls from all of their view points. There were a lot of things that I'm sure young girls, whether they're Latino or not, can relate to. The only thing with this book was how it went back in time. I'm not sure why the author chose to do the most recent first and then the days of them as children last. I thought it should have went the other way, but oh well. Some parts of the book went a bit slow but it didn't last long. I liked the whole plot line, how it didn't go "oh, my life sucks" the way a lot of books for teenage girls do. A cute and clever book, I'd recommend this to any of my friends.

In my own analysis of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents I would first off like to say its brilliantly written, and has just enough humor to keep the book from getting old. This book is perfect for any teenage girl, especially one of Hispanic culture. The Garcia girls let you into their world. In each of their adventures you can on some level relate. The way the book is written from present to past is a amiable way of writing this story. Knowing how the girls turn out in their lives then retracing step by step how they got to that point is fulfilling. Having a different person narrate each chapter is a way to find out more about each individual character and how they look at things. Complying with the Garcia family and their struggle to be "normal" in this new culture is part of what makes
the book so genuine. Alvarez uses great detail in helping you to feel as though your in the exact setting as the characters. Overall it was an excellent book. I give it a 4!

The book How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents was a great book about the American expierence. These 4 girls left their homeland of the Dominican Republic and went to America. They disobeyed thier old-world discipline, and went to America, and found who they truly were. America changed the four girls, into people that their parents never thought they would be. This novel compares to the "Joy Luck Club" there are many similiarities. This novel shows how *Americainizing* girls can be good and bad. There are humorous stories and some very seroius stories. This is a great book and everyone should read this book, to get a feel for what it is really like to come to America from a foreign country, and the expierences, and issues people have to deal with....Great Book:-)

The book "How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents" is a wonderful story of a familys struggles in moving to America. They had to move because of their dads rebellious acts against the government. The family encounters many problems with the new culture and society of America. The people in both countries think very differently about social classes and things like that. The story is kind of depressing because most of the characters become depressed ( have mental breakdowns... ) The stories of their hardships are told within different stories that kind of evolve with the girls. They have to go through a lot of things that many people never endure when growing up. This made the girls a little stronger and independant than a lot of people in society today, which is what their father was trying to keep them away from. This is also a story about a search for identity because they kinf of find themselves between the hardships and the major changes. They experience embarassment, racism, depression, and coming-of-age in this story of a families cultural change.

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents is a story that tells about the lives of four sisters. The book starts off in the present and travels in reverse chronoligical order telling about the Garcias' lives in the Dominican Republic and how they came to America.

The book addresses culture shock, and language barriers for that matter, in a major way. After the Garcias' are forced to leave the country due to problems with the Dominican government, the family had to adjust to life in New York. Two out of the four sisters had breakdowns, one chose to analyze her family's problems, and the other was rather rebellious.

Along with having to adjust to a new culture, the family is going through a hard time. With the girls growing up, becoming teenagers, like most families the family seems to grow apart.

Although at some times confusing, I really liked reading the book. Between the story itself, and the way the characters seemed to be so complex the book was really interesting.

(Submitted by: Kait Merriam)

The novel "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents," by Julia Alvarez is a truely remarkable story. The novel contains the life stories of four sisters (Carla, Yolanda, Sandra, and Sofia) and their parents struggle with their Hispanic heritage in the United States. There is plenty of tragedy, heart warming, and humorous stories that involve the sisters and their parents. This novel is a lot like the novel "Joy Luck Club," by Amy Tan. But, unlike the Joy Luck Club, Alvarez's novel is much easier to follow. So to conclude my review I totally enjoyed reading this book and I would definitely recommend other people to read this truely enjoyable novel.

I read this novel a few years ago when I was in high school and it is a beautiful novel. This novel is not intense. If I was not in high school, I would have not read this novel. Reason being is, I like intense-drama filled books that will entertain me. In addition, I get bored really easily. So, I cannot read novels like this, unless forced. But if you like soft books with a light drama, then this book is for you.

When their father is wanted by a repressive regime, the Garcia's are forced to flee their native Dominican Republic to the US where they settle in New York. Initially, the girls are homesick, their living quarters is modest, they made do with second hand stuff, a far cry from their affluent lifestyle where they live in a mansion and were attended to by servants. America is a different ball game for them initially, the girls endure racism, ethnic slurs, taunts from peers. But gradually, the girls begin to 'lose their accents' by developing a taste for the American life. They start smoking, apply hair removal creams on their legs (one sister, Carla, had been taunted by bullies for having 'monkey legs' because her legs were unshaven.) and smoke marijuana to the dismay of their parents. As they grow up, one sister becomes anorexic, another has a breakdown while the youngest sister scandalizes her parents by eloping to marry her German lover. With their gradual assimilation in their new homeland, they begin to lose touch with their ancestral home that when one of the sisters visits the Island down the road, she experiences a culture shock.The novel is very vibrant by presenting the recollection of each of the Garcia girls on adapting to living in a foreign land as well as presenting them as a collective unit.

This book is a completely readable amazing exploration of a family, it's journey to the USA, and its impact on all (especially one) of the daughters. I read this book on the heels of a book in which the author knew everything about why the characters did what they did but didn't bother to explain to the readers. This book completely made up for that by completely recounting the events. It starts at the present and makes a trek back in time stopping at high and low points in the Garcia Girls' lives. Eventhough I have lived in the USA all my life and am not of Hispanic origin, I completely identified with the Garcia Girls' experience. This book was a joy to read and one that I will quote from for a long long time.

Julia Alvarez brings us the story of the four Garcia sisters, who are exiled from the Domenican Republic and have to start their lives over in the United States. The transition is narrated in reverse beginning with the present and ending with the past. We also are given different views of the story since all of the sister narrate at different times. I also feel that I have a new understanding of what life must have been like in the Domenican Republic under the rule of Trujillo.
The style in which this book was written is unique and refreshing. I truly enjoyed reading this book and would recommend it to anyone.

I had to read this for my Latino Studies class at the university. At first I was a little panicked, as I was in a deadline crunch and the book contains just shy of 300 pages (which is a lot when I also have to read and complete Uncle Tom's Cabin for another class, due the same day) but let me say that the book reads fast. I picked it up and could not put it down.

Some of the other reviews seem to focus on the plot involving the growing up of the Garcia girls. Of course this is an important staple in the book. Alvarez highlights the cultural differences with which these girls must deal, in and outside of the domestic sphere. However, Alvarez also focuses her last section of the book on a childhood youth in a society tainted by the terrors of the Dominican Republic dictator Trujillo and the secret police. These chapters recreate and reinforce this era of Dominican Republic history, with which some of the readers will be familiar. The references are historical and fairly accurate, and should not be lost to the main plot of the girls growing up.

A fast read, insightful, and interesting, this is definitely one of the better books I have read this semester, and well worth the few shekels it costs, if one is interested in Latin America.

After happening upon "In the Time of the Butterflies", I was delighted to find another Latin author who could mesmerize me as Gabriel Garcia Marquez had continued to do over the past 25 years. But after finally pulling this book off my shelf, I soon learned it could not hold a candle to "Butterflies" in its character development and story thread. I found the characters all blurred together and failed to distinguish themselves from one another and although the backward development of the story was unique, it was a bit confusing if I put the book down with more than a few days in between. All-in-all, I enjoyed this book, but encourage readers to continue on with "Butterflies" for a real treat.

This novel is both a family saga and a coming-of-age story. Each of the four Garcia sisters tells her own story of the family's flight from the Dominican Republic and their subsequent adjustment to life in the United States. The novel is largely set in the 1960's, a time of political upheaval in the country the Garcia family left and of great social change in the country they adopted. The novel treats on many themes common to the immigrant experience - intergenerational conflict, bonds to home country and culture, and cross-cultural misunderstanding -as well as themes that are more particular to the experience of political refugees. Because this novel contains some mature material, it is recommended for high school students.

I did not enjoy this book. The reverse order of chapters was confusing and unnecessary: more than once, the author mentions an event and then tells the entire story many chapters later. It was hard to keep track, and distracted from the story as a whole. My biggest gripe is that I didn't care for the sisters that much, I could barely tell them apart! They sounded the same, and I simply didn't get drawn into their lives and heads the way I hoped I would. The political events were interesting, and the social order in the Dominican Republic was a surprise to me, so I did learn something. However, the novel didn't flow for me and didn't hold my interest.

A nice breath of fresh air, this book focuses on the individual struggles of four fairly well-off dominican girls caught in between cultures, as their lives carry them from the Dominican Republic, to New York, and back.

Unlike many U.S. latina authors, Alvarez chooses not to focus on tired old cliches of inexorable racism or institutional opression as the only themes capable of producing a novel. Instead, she exposes the reader to the often complex inner world of the young female attempting to recalibrate her identity in a new culture during the bumpy transition to adulthood. Alvarez plays no favorites here: Old World traditions and empty American promises are equally ridiculed, while the evolution of the poetic inner self becomes the novel's focal point. The personal struggle is given precedence over the group struggle.

The realistic prose, absence of excessive description, and smooth sentence structure make it a fast and enjoyable read. The story, written in "reverse" fashion, begins at it's end, and then works it's way backwards into the past. Other than being a neat little narrative trick, I doubt whether this adds much to the esthetic value of the novel.

Overall, a nice contribution to the rapidly diversifying US latino literature canon.

Perhaps this is a story of sisterhood or identifiable more to a female reader, but in no way can these be represented as indicative of the experiences shared by Hispanic immigrants to the United States and specifically those from the Dominican Republic. Coming from a Dominican family that made this transition at approximately the same time (c. 1960) I was intrigued by this book but found it hollow; barely scratching the surface of the fears facing displaced children and extremely shallow in regards to the conflict Latin women faced (and still face) within the context of their own society let alone adjusting to a new one. Moreover, portraying the privileged Garcia family, albeit victim of sinister political intrigue, as representative of Dominican immigrants is insulting to the majority of hard working peasants that came here simply to be able to provide food and educations for their children. Certainly, the author's intentions are noble, but the results are thin and off the mark.

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, written by Julia Alvarez, was overall a very interesting book, and was very enjoyable. This story is about 4 sisters who are forced to flee their home country, the Dominican Republic, and move to New York. The story goes through the lives of the girls. The thing that makes these girls story seem very unique, aside from the fact that their family had to flee a country in order to escape a tyrannical dictator (Rafael Trujillo) who was after their father, is the fact that Alvarez tells us the entire story in reverse. The story talks about how these four girls become Americanized after being brought up with Dominican ideals, in which the women for the most part play an inferior role in society, and where people are afraid to voice their opinions for fear of being murdered by the government. The conflicts between the old way of life and the new American way of life make for a very interesting story. It's also interesting to see how much simply living in a different country can change what kind of person people end up being.
Alvarez does a very good job of telling these girls story. Despite the fact that we know where the family will end up due to the order of the book (end to beginning) the book still does an excellent job of holding the readers attention. This order however could also be considered the books downfall, because in the same way that it keeps the readers attention throughout the book, it also ruins the climax of the book due to the fact that the reader already knows where it is going. Despite this, the climax is still exciting, and fun to read. Aside from a somewhat dragging end to this book, it was a pleasure to read and I would recommend it to anyone interested in Hispanic, especially Caribbean because it offers a different point of view than most modern Latino novels. This book offers a look at not only the lower class Hispanics, but it also shows the reader the life of the upper class Hispanics. Even if this is not something that exactly sounds interesting to you as reader, I would still suggest this book, because it is very interesting and fun reading.

How the Garcia Girs Lost Their Accents was a great book to read! It had adventure, culture, and laughter. The book journies the life of four Dominican-American sisters - Yolanda, Sandra, Carla, and Sofia. Yolanda is the rebellious tomboy of the family, who later turned into a poet. She is the main focus of the book with her trouble with men and nervous breakdown. Sandra is the second oldest daughter and was once the artistic one in the family until her curiosity caused her to break her arm. Carla is the oldest of the daughters and had the most trouble adjusting to American life. She later grew up to be a psychologist. Sofia is the baby of the family and is known as the rebellious one. She got into a big fight with her father and ran off and married a German man. Carlos is the overprotective father who treats his grwon daughters as if they were four, which makeds up some pretty funny stories. Laura is the mother who had a hard time adjustng to life in the U.S. She had much more in the Dominican Republic, therefore expected more when she arrived in the United States.

The book is broken into stories according to age. It starts out when they are adults, and gradually goes through their lives backwards.

After problems with the Domnican government, the family flees to the United staes where they must adjust to this new life style. The girls have to adjust to life about boys, make-up, school, and racial slurs. The book is filled wih hilarious stories about sex, boys, culture shock, and coming of age stories. I personally could relate to some of the stories. Although i'm not a child anymore, my parents treat me as though I am a child. I found myself laughing along and relating to spanglish when the parents are mad, the strict religion, and that latin pride that just never seems to go away. Althoguh the ending could have been a little better, the book was is one that can be enjoyed by all ages.

I really liked this book! I first attempted to read it a couple of years ago, when I was a teenager and gave up around chapter 2 because the reversed order of the stories confused me....I do not think this is a young adult book, because it does deal with sex and with a lot of "grown-up" stuff and some of the metaphors are really deep:), especially when it comes to Yolanda. The book might seem a little bit confusing at first, but all your questions will be answered as you keep reading. I got to "know" the 4 Garcia girls pretty well by the end of the book and they are all very interesting/different characters( I even had a hard time picking a favorite out of the four). I enjoyed their childhood stories better, because Ms. Alvarez presents the reader with an incident in each girl's life that shows their personality. It was interesting to see the difference between the girls as adults and as children. I think Ms. Alvarez does a pretty good job at representing the immigrant experience, but her book mainly emphasizes the contrast between 2 cultures: Dominican and American. Plus, the author does not relate the Dominican immigrant experience in general, because most immigrants I know can not afford to move into an appartment building with a doorman as soon as they get to NY. Ms. Alvarez also does a good job portraying how the Dominican aristocracy lived during times of dictatorship. I really enjoyed reading this book and I recommend that anyone who wants to find out more about a different culture should try reading it:)

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, written by Julia Alvarez, was overall a very interesting book, and was very enjoyable. This story is about 4 sisters who are forced to flee their home country, the Dominican Republic, and move to New York. The story goes through the lives of the girls. The thing that makes these girls story seem very unique, aside from the fact that their family had to flee a country in order to escape a tyrannical dictator (Rafael Trujillo) who was after their father, is the fact that Alvarez tells us the entire story in reverse. The story talks about how these four girls become Americanized after being brought up with Dominican ideals, in which the women for the most part play an inferior role in society, and where people are afraid to voice their opinions for fear of being murdered by the government. The conflicts between the old way of life and the new American way of life make for a very interesting story. It's also interesting to see how much simply living in a different country can change what kind of person people end up being.
Alvarez does a very good job of telling these girls story. Despite the fact that we know where the family will end up due to the order of the book (end to beginning) the book still does an excellent job of holding the readers attention. This order however could also be considered the books downfall, because in the same way that it keeps the readers attention throughout the book, it also ruins the climax of the book due to the fact that the reader already knows where it is going. Despite this, the climax is still exciting, and fun to read. Aside from a somewhat dragging end to this book, it was a pleasure to read and I would recommend it to anyone interested in Hispanic, especially Caribbean because it offers a different point of view than most modern Latino novels. This book offers a look at not only the lower class Hispanics, but it also shows the reader the life of the upper class Hispanics. Even if this is not something that exactly sounds interesting to you as reader, I would still suggest this book, because it is very interesting and fun reading.

How the Garcia Girs Lost Their Accents was a great book to read! It had adventure, culture, and laughter. The book journies the life of four Dominican-American sisters - Yolanda, Sandra, Carla, and Sofia. Yolanda is the rebellious tomboy of the family, who later turned into a poet. She is the main focus of the book with her trouble with men and nervous breakdown. Sandra is the second oldest daughter and was once the artistic one in the family until her curiosity caused her to break her arm. Carla is the oldest of the daughters and had the most trouble adjusting to American life. She later grew up to be a psychologist. Sofia is the baby of the family and is known as the rebellious one. She got into a big fight with her father and ran off and married a German man. Carlos is the overprotective father who treats his grwon daughters as if they were four, which makeds up some pretty funny stories. Laura is the mother who had a hard time adjustng to life in the U.S. She had much more in the Dominican Republic, therefore expected more when she arrived in the United States.

The book is broken into stories according to age. It starts out when they are adults, and gradually goes through their lives backwards.

After problems with the Domnican government, the family flees to the United staes where they must adjust to this new life style. The girls have to adjust to life about boys, make-up, school, and racial slurs. The book is filled wih hilarious stories about sex, boys, culture shock, and coming of age stories. I personally could relate to some of the stories. Although i'm not a child anymore, my parents treat me as though I am a child. I found myself laughing along and relating to spanglish when the parents are mad, the strict religion, and that latin pride that just never seems to go away. Althoguh the ending could have been a little better, the book was is one that can be enjoyed by all ages.

I really liked this book! I first attempted to read it a couple of years ago, when I was a teenager and gave up around chapter 2 because the reversed order of the stories confused me....I do not think this is a young adult book, because it does deal with sex and with a lot of "grown-up" stuff and some of the metaphors are really deep:), especially when it comes to Yolanda. The book might seem a little bit confusing at first, but all your questions will be answered as you keep reading. I got to "know" the 4 Garcia girls pretty well by the end of the book and they are all very interesting/different characters( I even had a hard time picking a favorite out of the four). I enjoyed their childhood stories better, because Ms. Alvarez presents the reader with an incident in each girl's life that shows their personality. It was interesting to see the difference between the girls as adults and as children. I think Ms. Alvarez does a pretty good job at representing the immigrant experience, but her book mainly emphasizes the contrast between 2 cultures: Dominican and American. Plus, the author does not relate the Dominican immigrant experience in general, because most immigrants I know can not afford to move into an appartment building with a doorman as soon as they get to NY. Ms. Alvarez also does a good job portraying how the Dominican aristocracy lived during times of dictatorship. I really enjoyed reading this book and I recommend that anyone who wants to find out more about a different culture should try reading it:)

Disappointment is the last thing that comes to mind when reading How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez. This is an excellent novel that writes of four sisters who are ripped from their wealthy upbringing in the Dominican Republic. In 1960, Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia are dropped in the middle of New York City (helpless of their parents' decision) only to discover that their lives were going to take a 180 degree turn in the wrong direction. The author writes in a unique style taking the reader from older to younger rather than from youth to adulthood. Their drastic changes in life are written from when 39-year-old Yolanda has moved back to the island continuing back to the days of their youth before the Garcias move to New York. Growing up in America during the '60s and '70s the girls distance themselves from their old, drab island life and try their best to fit in until they are officially Americanized. Although the girls' strict, old-fashioned parents do not approve of some American traditions, they grow to be bold women - sometimes going against their parents' rules.
This book is recommended because no matter what the age of the reader, anyone can relate to something the girls experience, or if not something that happened to the girls, something the parents went through or the cousins, or the aunts and uncles. The author brings it all close to home by expressing how Fifi (Sofia) felt under peer pressure, and how Yoyo (Yolanda) felt in elementary school when she was teased by the boys. The parents experienced the rebellion of the girls and the highs and lows of raising teenage daughters in America. Also, the author explores the other side, like the torture of always having to watch your back because of communists. The author's story is so personal that the Garcias feel like they are a part of the reader's family.
One argument to my recommendation is that it can get a little puzzling sometimes because the Garcia family is so large. The story gets a little off track by explaining which cousin does what and which niece belongs to which uncle and so forth. To understand the book during these points, read it very carefully and almost listen to yourself as you follow the words. That can get a bit agitating sometimes, but the plot is so intriguing that the reader will adapt to find out what happens next. This book was very impressive and really descriptive. It was interesting and I found it hard to put down. I look forward to reading the sequel.

What a disappointment! Halfway through, I considered quitting, although that would have been a mistake, since the novel does get better. It's just that it never becomes good. I understand the concept of inter-related stories forming a novel, but in this case, I suspect that Alvaraz was using this techniques as a shortcut. It seems that at the time that she wrote this book, she didn't have either the stamina or the skill to craft a true novel.
Technique aside, the story itself was lacking. I don't think Alvaraz understood what her story was. She touches on a lot of deep and fascinating subjects, and even has a few stories that showcase those subjects, but for the most part, she seems to miss her own point. The novel gets boring. One reason I suspected that she used the short stories as a shortcut is that the separate stories are supposed to be told from the point of view of the different sisters, but separate voices never emerge. There are differences that we are told about the sisters, but their own supposed voices never suggest those differences. (By contrast, think of the Poisonwood Bible, where each character has an unmistakable voice!) Also, since the characters are basically spoiled girly-girls, despite the contrast between them and their even more girly cousins, they're not that interesting in the first place.
Another complaint is that there are topics that glare in the book, but Alvaraz ignores. For example, the family is hurt and confused by the treatment they receive as Latinos in America, but it's clear that they've participated in thier own social crimes in the Dominican Republic, i.e. elitism and bigotry. It's hard to feel a lot of sympathy for them.
This just wasn't a very good book. I can't decide if it was really a waste of time, because as I said, Alvaraz touches on some fascinating subjects, i.e. the political situation in the Dominican Republic, of which I previously knew nothing, so this was somewhat enlightening. But another theme was feminism, and Alvaraz treated that in a most elementary way. There was no interesing discussion of what feminism really means to a modern Latina, or even what feminism is to anyone. She was very cliche.

Beautiful tales of living between different worlds... Even as an American who has lived in different states, always struggling to find a place in the subtly different cultures of different parts of the country, always being "the visitor" back to the family farm... many of the themes ring true.

The backwards timeline was a little hard to follow, and I was slightly frustrated by the difficulty of tracking which sister is which... but those are slight failings that don't really hinder the stories being told.

I would rank In the Time of the Butterfles as better, but I'm still happy I read this one.

Characteristic of the immigrant novel looking back upon one's beginnings, Julia Alvarez' novel begins in a reverse chronological order. The story introduces 39 year old Yolanda returning to her home in the Dominican Republic after an absence of five years. She is greeted by her extended family of aunts and cousins who still live a well to do lifestyle in a junta regime. It was the same Trujillo regime that caused Yolanda's parents and three sisters to flee their homeland in the early 1960's to the U.S. The story returns through a series of vignettes to the girls experiences and customs in a more genteel era. Where maids and chauffeurs were the order of the day, it lays the foundation for the sense of disillusionment and deprivation the girls feel in the United States where confrontations with schoolmates and unsavory exhibitionists only fuel their resilience. In addition to the normal difficulties associated with growing up, the girls contend with the confusion of having to forsake their native land with its Latin culture, tropical environment, extended family life, for a struggle with a strange language and even stranger culture. While in the Dominican Republic their mother, Laura, feeds the need in the "four girls" to seek their individuality by dressing them in identical outfits which differ only in color for each girl. The traditions and customs of the old both identify and isolate the girls in their new environment. The stories weave a tapestry of familial love, honor, confusion and tension. The girls are forever caught between who they were and where they came from, but never lose sight of who they have become. The author has presented a colorful tale in a semi-autobiographical work. Julia Alvarez had experienced being a minority living in the United States as a small child of 10 when she left the Dominican Republic. She touches the themes of minorities living in American society, the conflict of tradition versus change, and the role of the artist within society. It is an engaging and entertaining read, never boring, just like the Garcia girls.

Julia Alvarez's postmodern novel effectively presents the struggles of an immigrant to the United States through a woman's point of view. Each of her 5 main females characters (4 daughters and their mother) finds a way to assimilate to the modern culture of the U.S. while at the same time maintaining her inherent Latin American identity. Each woman subverts the patriarchal father in a different manner, but they continue to adhere to his old-world beliefs. Laura, the mother, adheres to her husband's old-world patriarchal beliefs despite her passion for inventing as she becomes more involved in her new surroundings. Carla, the oldest daughter, becomes a child psychologist so that she can try to understand her own loss of identity as a child. Sandra, the second oldest, becomes obsessed with her weight in a society that equates thinness with beauty. Yolanda, the third daughter and the primary narrator, becomes a poet, which is a profession usually reserved for men. Sofía, the youngest daughter, flaunts her sexuality in front of her father but still names her first son after him. Alvarez tells this story in an unconventional manner, as she tells it in reverse chronological order. This allows her readers to put the pieces of the García girls' lives together in a unique and unforgettable way.

This book was entertaining and interesting. Laura and Carlos represents what Americans think of parents in Latin America. Carlos and Laura has four daughters Carla, Sandi, Yolanda, and Sofia. Carla is the oldest of the four girls, therefore beinging somewhat of a mother figure. Carla seems to be the strongest and more independant of the four girls because she does not require much attention. Sandi is the second oldest with lighter skin than the others and has an eating disorder. Yolanda is the daughter most talked about in the book. She's a school teacher and poet. Sofia is the youngest and does not get along with Carlos(the Dad) because she left home to study abroad and fell in love with Auto. When she returned home her and Auto wrote each other and Carlos found them and learned that his daughter was not as "pure" as she was suppose to be. In this book both parents are dominating in some way. Each parent express there power in a different way. The mother shows her power by calling the girls by different names depending on her mood. One way Carlos expresses his power is by not ingoreing Sofia because she ran off to be with Auto. This book also describes the problems that can arise from being bi-cultural and trying to adjust.

I heard much about this novel and finally settled down to see what all the reviews were about. I really enjoyed this book and was amazed, which I shouldn't have been, about the island similarities to Puerto Rico. I believe every 1st and 2nd generations from countries, their parents homeland, can easily identify with Alvarez.Latino or not. I immediately read YO! the contined story of the Garcia Girls with the main focus on Yolanda. She did an excellent job in flashbacks and working her knowledge of the Domican regime with the Domican Republic realities. The runner up would be the world through the YOUNG Garcia girls and how they learned what it was to be Domican and American. I would definately recommend this book to those who can appreciate the sacredness of our cultural knowledge. --Sandra Concepcion, Age 20

What I liked about this book was that it was pretty interesting because it was based on four girls life. How they crossed the border from the Dominican Republic to the United states. The stories not only reveal their personalities, they also show the reader what their journey into adulthood was like. Their journey was a difficult one. The girls were growing up in the United States by conservative parents. They were expected to live by Old world rules of their parents. The girls of course all rebeal in their own way. These stories that make up a wonderful book that keeps the reader enjoying it all the way to the end.it's amazing how they all tell there own stories backwards. It's a good experience to read what they as teenagers when through house and gound rules they faced with there parents. I like to compare parents and my parents compare to them are cool(but in away it's cool to have your parents watching over u all the time. But this four girls have there own great stories that they have shared with us that's what makes this book interesting.

I read How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. This book is about four sisters that live in the Dominican Republic; they then moved to America. These girls go through obstacles that deal with their way of life and their accents. They have to speak and act like the rest of the Americans in the U.S. These sisters stick together to help one another, through very tough times. There story is not only written in one sister's perspective but by all three. They each tell their story in what they thought about their situation and how they felt about it as well. I personally did not like the story; I thought it was a bit boring and at times confusing. I did like some parts, how the girls got through their issues together; it related to me and my own sisters. This book would most likely relate to those with siblings because it makes you feel as if your one of the sisters, because you would know how it would feel about the obstacles you would have to take for one another. This book would also relate to those that have had a problem with people judging them for their lifestyles, how they were raised and how they speak and act. This book is a good book, just not the one that I was interested in. So if you are interested, just give it a chance.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It was very interesting to learn about and hear about the experiences that these 4 girls went through in their transition from living in the Dominican Republic to living in the United States. I really liked the way that at some point in the book, every girl told a story so we got to hear from each of Carla, Sandi, Yolanda, and Sofia's point of view. I could better understand and relate to each daughter this way. The book was very different from other books that I have read because of the fact that each story went forward in time, however each section and order of the chapters traveled back through time. It helps a person who has never experienced having to be forced to live somewhere else where everything is different, start to understand what it is truely like. I really enjoyed this book. It was hard to follow at some times, because of the way it travels through time and how it jumps around from story to story and daughter to daughter, but that just makes you pay more attention to what is happening and the message it is trying to get across. This book was very enjoyable and I would recommend it everyone.

The book How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents is a very interesting novel. This book is about the Garcia sisters who come to America. They had to leave from where they lived because they had conflicts. But since they're in America, now all they want to do now is forget about their old place. Throughout the whole book you'll find out how they feel; in America, how sometimes they would like to go back, and how they lost their accent. Since they were in America they wanted to try out different things. They wanted to forget their Spanish and act the American way. This might relate to many people who migrate from one place to another. This book is written on the four sisters' point of view. It involves two different cultures. It has some words in Spanish but you'll understand it. What I didn't like about the book was that the characters were telling the story in their own point of view. Which made it a little confusing and hard to understand. When you're reading the book it feels like if you were listening to four people telling the same story but in different ways. But after all it was an interesting book and you'll like it. I strongly recommend this book to people who like to read about different cultures.

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, is an extraordinary book that symbolizes women's struggle in conforming to new ways of living from one culture to another. The book reflects on the life of the four Garcia girls; Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia and their parents. They are from the Dominican Republic and the girls move and relocate to the United States and settle in New York. The book was very well written and culturally educational. There are views of culture that were expressed through the novel as well as some history that occured back in that time. The story goes back in time, where the beginning starts at present time, which was the early 1970's to the late 1980's, and as you progress through the novel, it takes you to the past into the late 1950's and early 1960's. In the last section of the novel, which was the strongest, readers learn about childhood stories that allow us to understand later episodes in these girls' lives that were presented earlier in the first and second sections. This time was key to understanding the struggle the girls went through to try to fit into the "true American woman" stereotype.

I enjoyed reading this book. I liked the challenge it gave me. This was a book from a different culture and it was also written in a different way. The book did not follow in chronological order, instead it went backwards. This made the book confusing and interesting. The book was full of symbolism. I usually do not read into the symbolism but in this book it was clear to me that somthing stood for something else. I was not always sure what it would stand for, but I knew it was something. I also liked the way that the book was broken up. There was a chapter for each girl and it helped develop thier character. This book took place in the Domenicain Republic and the United States. This helped me get a sense of another country and their culture, but I did not get confused because they were also talking about the United States. I could relate with the character Yolanda. She wanted to stay true to her roots but also become an American she was divided in who she wanted to be. I am also that way with my heritage. I enjoyed reading about her. I really enjoyed this book because it was from a woman's point of view, it gave me a chance to see a different culture, and it did it all in a way that I did not get confused and I enjoyed it.

I read How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents for a college course covering
Latinos and Latinas literature in the United States. Through the semester I read
many different books written by Latinos and Latinas. Alvarez's novel was the last
one read but it was extraordinary.
The novel is a story about four sisters and their lives in the Dominican
Republic and the United States. The women's lives are shared through their
memories from childhood and adulthood. The novel is unique in that it is told from
the present and regresses to their childhood.
The book begins with Yolanda, the third daughter, arriving in the
Dominican Republic from the United States. The stories then move back into their
childhood to the family's fateful move to the United States. The stories are very
compelling that lead the reader to this point. They give insight into the Garcia
daughters personalities and family life. Carla, the oldest daughter, is a psychologist
that is always giving advice and analyzing the family. Sandra was the beautiful
daughter that has an eating disorder. Yolanda, the writer, was the third. Sofia, the
baby, was the wild one that had the first son in a few generations.
The stories not only reveal their personalities, they also show the reader what
their journey into adulthood was like. Their journey was a difficult one. The girls
were growing up in the United States by conservative parents. They were expected
to live by Old world rules of their parents. The girls of course all rebelled in their
own way. These stories make up a wonderful book that keeps the reader enjoying it
all the way to the end.

The Garcia Girls not only represent their country they represent women of America. They have influenced me in so many ways because a lot of their experiences touch home in my heart. Each sister,Sofia, Yolanda,Carla, and Sandra are very unique. Being forced to leave their country, they tell us the story of how they've delt with the discrepencies in their life while living here in America. This story is very good and truly unique because the chapters travel back in time. At first I was confused but the way the story is written grabed my attention. I began to look at the book out of a total different eye. Yolanda is the narrator of this story. The story begans with her visiting her country. Sofia is a rebel. She has to deal with her father not associating with her but excepting her son. Overall this book is truly worth reading. You will find yourself, happy, sad, and even disapointed at some points but you will still close the book smiling.

This book was an inquisitive look on moving from one culture to another. This shows an interesting look at American culture as a new, undiscovered place. While moving backward in time, it shows that people can adjust to a new culture. While doing this, the book shows that even as children, people can learn to adjust to great change in their lifestyles. I suggest this book to people who are trying any sort of new literature!

There is a point on the first chapter when Yolanda's husband ask her what language did she love in. This was the point I knew this book was going to be a very personal experience. Coming from a Hispanic country to worked in the United States, it never ocurred to me that to live and love was also going to be part of the experience. Reading this book was like talking to the friend that went on the same trip as you, only the week before.
Amazing how looking into somebody's soul can help you understand your own...

I thought the book was pretty good. The reason it is not great is that the author starts from the beginning and works her way backwards, which makes it a little confusing. The reason it was good was main characters Carla, Sandi, Yolanda, and Fifi were very believable in the way they act in the book. I thought the pertrail of the girls from the Dominacan Republic to New York city was well thought out by the author.

As I started reading this book, I was absolutely hooked by the first chapter. It reminded me of my life and I compared the life experiences of the Garcia family to mine. The author, Julia Alvarez, did a fine job depicting the life of Hispanic immigrants arriving in the U.S. and surpassing the many trials and tribulations faced in a new country. Julia Alvarez does an excellent job of making the journey of the Garcia family into an outstanding literary adventure. The interesting aspect about the book is how Julia Alvarez travels from the present to the past. Books most oftenly commence from the past and conclude in the future, but Julia Alvarez did a brilliant job of completing this eccentric task. Her book is filled with many different emotions, which makes the book more pleasant to read, because of the everyday drama portrayed in every chapter. The best feature about her book is how the story can be compared to common life experiences of any Hispanic family new to the U.S., but seems like a drama filled soap opera that is not real. Julia Alvarez did an extraordinary job on her book, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents.

How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents was an extremely enjoyable read. While being quite entertaining, it also gave an excellent insight to traditional life in the Dominican Republic. The novel thoroughly delves into the controversial matter of being raised an extremely patriarchal society, adjusting to a more liberal one later in life, and difficulties one encounters when returning to his or her homeland. The reverse chronology the author used was primarily a bit hard to grasp, but became more natural as it progressed. When one usually reads a novel, he or she is always waiting to turn to the next page to see what will happen next, but here, the urge comes from the stylistic writing and intriguing character development. Overall, this novel is a fascinating analysis of what modern-day immigrants experience upon transplanting themselves to a new place and culture. Julia Alvarez has done a wonderful job with this educational yet delightfully fun piece of literature.

and for the record I'm not a kid I'm doing an english minor in college and had to read this and it's one of the best. Yolanda is very likeable and her sisters and parents are also unique in their own way. It's a perfect blend of culture and identity and how hard it is to immigrate to a new country and experience a culture shock and having to choose between your roots and western culture.

I read this in a book group, and was suprises at how many people found it "too light". I found her prose beautiful, the kind of writing that seems simple but is so hard to do well. The shifting points of view in what is really a collection of short stories, the movement of the characters backward in time as the book progresses are both used to good advantage to give the reader a picture of both Dominican society and our own. Don't miss this one!

This novel has become one of my favorites. Not because of the outstanding story line, because it is interesting - especially the use of reverse chronology and the contrasting settings, but mostly because of the wonderful characters.
Each character in this novel has a personality of their own and you grow attached to them as you follow them through their hardships and joys.
Overall - I would strongly recommend this novel for anyone looking for an engrossing and beautifully written work. Julia Alvarez is simply brilliant.

I was drawn to this book not only because it was by a woman author, but a Latin American writer. She writes of the story of four girls and their parents through their time in the Dominican Republic and the United States. Their father has to immigrate to the U.S. after only escaping death on the island becuase of his part in a conspiricay against the government. While having to grow up in the U.S., they change from their family back on the island. They had to deal with prejudice, their culture, and the U.S. culture. During the entire book, it skips from one flashback to another. There are different points of view in the chapters and details about each person and why they are the way that they are. There was a certain uniqueness about each character as the book went into each one with depth. I found this book to be very insightful and it deals well with the tribulations of immigration.

I don't really know what to say...But I feel disappointed that I didn't find How The García Girls Lost Their Accents to be the work that is proclaimed in the editorial reviews.

There are without a doubt parts that display Alvarez's talent with words...I enjoyed the very first episode of Yolanda and her craving for guavas. Some of the vignettes centering on Yolanda, I think, are some of the best in the book. But even then, there was something missing, and it was that I didn't connect with any of the characters as real people.

The sisters, we are told, all have different personalities, but essentially the only things that differentiate them in the reader's mind are their names. Carla, we are reminded many times, is the analyst in the family, the psychologist, which we can see in her comments, but she doesn't have a real voice; she isn't a real person. Mami, Papi, the aunts and uncles and the whole García family didn't come to life for me. At times, some of them were on the verge of coming off of the paper, but they never really did. Everything that is good in the novel is hard to appreciate as it is dampened by the rest.

Alvarez's exploration of some ideas, such as the displacement that immigrants experience, are not really effective...Sometimes she states things that we never really get a sense of and understand because we cannot sympathize with the characters. I think it is ultimately because of this that some parts feel contrived or not quite artfully done. As a whole, it is like a skeleton of a book. The organization of the vignettes (backwards in time) is creative but unmeaningful, and the vignettes themselves don't intertwine successfully to give us a "bigger picture" or insight or any sense of connection; rather, they are isolated, and as the narrator changes from 3rd person to Yolanda, the narration sounds the same. It doesn't captivate.

Right now I am more than halfway through the book, and I don't feel that it is worth finishing. I should pick up another of Julia Alvarez's but definitely do not feel motivated to at the moment...

For an American immigration story, The Joy Luck Club and The Namesake are two great novels!

I love this book so much. It is about four sisters who move to New York City with their family from the Dominican Republic in 1961, and the story moves backwards in time, each chapter in the point of view of a different sister. Julia Alvarez is an excellent writer, injecting emotion, humour and excitement in every page. I also recommend the sequel, "Yo", which is also a very good book.

When I started to read this book, I didn't really like it. I have never had to read a postmodern book before, so I really did not know what to expect. However, I kept reading and I really got into the novel. I like how the characters are developed through the story. It allows for the characters to grow on you which maked me wanting to know what was going to happen next. I felt the patriarchy of the family molded the family. It made it very difficult for the Garcia Girls to adapt to the States. Yolonda was the most described character who delt with her morality throughout the novel because of her roots. I saw assimilation, dissimilation, and transcultural views through the novel. Transcultural view was the most found because of the Latin hertiage being so strong and then moving to the United States made it tough to keep everything the same. I really found this book to be very entertaining because it describes what it must feel like to be an immigrant in the 1950s through on today. I recommend this book to read.

The Garcia Girls was a very interesting book. It tells the story of four girls along with their parents that move from the Dominican Republic to the United States. The transition brings along heartache and happiness. The story compares and evaluates the two countries and their way of life. The story discusses issues faced by families that immigrate and the adjustments that become necessary. The family goes through changes and face uncertainties in this new land. The girls search for their identity, endure name- calling/stereotypes, and explore their new world living in the states. Assimilation,dissimilation, and transculturation are all present in the novel. The fear of lost identity overcomes their parents as the girls compare their traditional upbringing(strict) to the way of the wild, untamed United States. The book emphasizes the importance of family roots and not forgetting where one comes from.

Resulta grandioso ver como J. Alvarez logra adentrarnos en lo magico que guarda cada nucleo familiar, en sus verdaderas historias, en las que todos y todas nos reflejamos de alguna manera; es poderosa la fuerza de sus palabras y el sentimiento compartido de educacion en dos culturas. definitivamente sienta un precedente como parte de la nueva literatura hispano-americana.

I really enjoyed this book. I could not put it down and was able to finish it in a week. I love the way Julia Alvarez had each chapter move backwards in time. The time factor gave a twist to the tale. You know how the sisters came out in the future but you were wondering how they had gotten there. I had to keep reading to see what happened to them in there lives to put them where they ended up.
This book is set primarily in after 1960 when the Garcia family immigrated to New York City. It is about how four sisters dealt with the life of growing up in America after a childhood in the Dominican Republic. You get to know each of the sisters throughout the novel and understand their problems understanding the American culture. The main characters of the book are of course each sister and the book goes into how each is different today as they where during childhood. It is a very enjoyable book and one that I was able to read a a very quick pace

I thought that this book was very good. The book showed the lives of four girls growing up and being exiled from the Dominican Republic to the United States. The only part about the book that I thought was confusing was the way the author used time. The book changes between different periods of time and does this often. The book starts when the girls are in America and goes to the past. I have never read a book that has done that before. Most books start in the past and continue into the future. This did not hurt the story once you figured out how she wrote it. I thought that it made the story more interesting because as I read the book I kept wondering what happened to make the family come to America. I think that this is a very good book to read. It shows a family trying to hold on and let go to the cultures that surround them at the same time.

This book I had found to be very good. It was a delightful book that takes you through the lives of four girls. Their journey begins in the Dominican Republic and as children they find themselves living in America. All of their troubles they endure both from living in America and no longer living on the island are discussed by each girl. This helps you understand how each girl stand out from the other. This books relates to so many people going through similar situations. Whether it is moving somewhere new or having to leave your family behind, this book helps people understand this story so much more. I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone. This story spoke to me because I went through something similar. Moving to somewhere completely different then from where you are used to isn't easy for anyone. Reading about what it was like for them, I feel can help ease anyone who is going through the same thing.

The Garcia Girls not only represent their country they represent women of America. They have influenced me in so many ways because a lot of their experiences touch home in my heart. Each sister,Sofia, Yolanda,Carla, and Sandra are very unique. Being forced to leave their country, they tell us the story of how they've delt with the discrepencies in their life while living here in America. This story is very good and truly unique because it is told from the present to the past. Yolanda is the narrator of this story. The story begans with her visiting her country. Sofia is a rebel. She has to deal with her father not associating with her but excepting her son. Overall this book is truly worth reading. You will find yourself, happy, sad, and even disapointed at some points but you will still close the book smiling.

I chose not to finish reading the book. I really liked "Finding Miracles" and was looking forward to another novel by Ms. Alvarez. I like to read cultural or time-period novels, I like to read of others' experiences and backgrounds, however- for me, I just didn't care about these people. Maybe I am naive, but these are lifestyles for which I had no appreciation (maybe I lack understanding). I wanted more of a description of life and culture, not poor choices, poor language and poor examples. I tried to plug along, but I will find another Alvarez to read.
I hate to think this would be on anyone's high school reading list. This is not for teenager's consumption.

This book is about the Garcia family, Mami, Papi, Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia, they are forced to flee their home the Dominican Republic, because of their father's part in a plot against a cruel dictator. The Garcia family is forced to leave behand a life of maids, grooming, loving family, political exposure, and wealth. Once in America the Garcia girls try to adapt to their surroundings by changing their appearances and who they truely are: by straightenong their hair, forgetting their Spanish, and meeting with boys without permission. Through it all they remain caught between their old lives, and their new lives.

The quote below expresses how the Garcia girls had to adapt to their new home and how people acted towards them,''Here they were trying to fit in America among Americans; they needed help figuring out who they wer, why the Irish kids who's grandparents had min mics were calling them Spics.''

Relatively Julia Alvarez is a good author. In most of her novels you can relate to some of the characters.

I would recommend it to young women who are going through a stage of finding their true selves.

This book was very well written. It was neat to experience Alvarez's interesting writing style. She wrote the book by starting in the 1980's and then it ended in 1956. As Alvarez begins the story it starts out at the island that they grew up on, the Dominican Rebublic. Then in the middle of the story the family abruptly leaves and flees to the United States were the story continues. There the family had to change there entire life style as they were thrown into New Yorks' "American Mainstream". The main characters of these fifteen short stories are the father Carlos, the mother Laura and their four children, Carla, Yolanda, Sandra and Sofia. The story was based around the years of their childhood into adult hood. This book of short stories was very entertaining and one could easily relate to each of them.

I read, "How the Garcia Girls lost their accents" for my " Women of Latin America" class. This book was very interesting. This book is nothing like anything that I have read before, but I was still able to gain something from reading it. This is a wonderful story of how the Garcia de la Torre girls acclimate themselves to a new way of life when they are abruptly uprooted from their home. The United States and its culture are difficult for the girls to understand. The book takes us in to their lives and tells of the trials and tribulations of starting over. The best thing about this book is how the author is able to write the girls so accurately. I have two sisters, and I felt as if the things that the Garcia girls did were things that I can remember, or picture my sisters and I doing. The book is very easy reading and it is worth your time.

Have you ever been in a situation where you were living large, but til on day you have to leave all that behind in order to save your life and other's from dangerous issues? If you haven't been in that situation well then be prepared to see How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents by Julia Alvarez. This book is about how these four girls Sandra (Sandi), Carla, Yolanda (Yo-Yo) and Sophia (Fi-Fi) them and their mother and father are forced, have to run away from where they are living to some where else. Do you no where from to where to? Well I'll tell you they have to leave from the Domican Republic to New York City, but that is when it gets harder for the girls when they realize it is a lot different there then home. The girls have to blend in and meet new and different kinds of people. Do you think the girls and there parents can deal with living somewhere uncomfortable where there not use to?

From my experience of How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents by Julia Alvarez I didn't like much, because this wasn't my type of book to read it had a boring beginning but then as you read the book you'll get into more but you have to pay really close attention to it.

This book was a somewhat hard, difficult to read. This reason I say that this book is written very unusual, because in the book there are different sections where they talk about one story then to another it was probably for a good reason. In every section (or every story the author talks about) it related to mainly either one of the girls or all of the four girls about there little problems or small ones wondering how to solve them in a complete satisfied way. I can recommend this book for anybody and everybody that are willing to learn more about this book, well then go ahead and give it a shot.

I devoted myself to this book, beginning to end. However, when it came to the end, i said "that's it?" I expected much more from the book. I think that Alvarez is a talented writer, for she did a great job with illustrating each one of the stories. I was on the edge of my seat just waiting for the climax. I feel, however, that there was no climax. Each story had it's rising moments, but there was no climax. You're left wondering what happened and by the end you feel as if you went nowhere. It was a little hard to follow who the speaker was throughout the novel yet it kept me attatched. I just feel that there should have been more resolvement or more understanding of what happened with the Garcia family. Or, at least, each character's stories should have tied together somehow.

Julia Alvarez tries so hard to make us understand the Garcia family, through the experiences of Yolanda(who is the best of the Garcias), Sofia, Sandra and Carla. She starts in the present with Yolanda or "Yo" exploring the island her family had to flee. Then the stories move back in time, and all are either too short, or spoil the mood by making you hate the characters. Alvarez does try to tell us the truth about the Domincan republic and the immigration experience, but writes a medicre series of stories instead.

In the book, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, there are four sisters, Carla, Sandra, Yolanda and Sofia. They used to live in a sheltered home in the Dominican Republic. Their childhood was very luxurious. They were often rewarded for the things that they did. It didn't have to be a big thing but they were rewarded for it anyways. When their father ran into a problem with the police they were forced to move by the help of the CIA. They had to move to New York where things there weren't much better either. They had trouble adjusting to the culture and the environment. Back in the Dominican Republic they were a pretty wealthy family. When they moved to the United States it was hard to adapt because the things they had in the Dominican Republic were not the same as they had in the United States. Laura, their mother wanted to make a good impression on everyone and pressured the girls to behave themselves and not ask for too much. While Yolanda was in college she had trouble relating to men by the words they used to describe sex. Although she liked someone she was not interested in having a relationship with him yet at this point. The main conflict with the family was when the family had to move from the Dominican Republic to the United Sates. It was hard for the family to fit in. It was hard for the family to live life without the royalty status that they had back in the Dominican Republic. As the girls got older they grew away from each other, each of them going in different ways.

While reading the book I found that some parts were very eventful and then there were others where it wasn't so much. The book was a very good book and the overall plot of the book was a good idea. For girls the book can be more enjoying than it could be for guys. The book relates more to the ideas and life long events of a woman than it does for a man but I still greatly encourage both men and women to read this novel. If you are truly interested in a variety of books this is a great one to read. When reading the story you can really visualize what is taking place and the surroundings they are experiencing. When reading the book you experience a variety of emotions that occur throughout different events in the book. It is very easy to imagine the actions that are occurring because the text of the book has great detail and much depth to it.

This is truly a magnificent book. This book tells the story of the Garcia family who moves from the Dominican Republic to the United States in the 1960's. Alvarez uses the four Garcia sisters to tell the story of this family. These stories are told backwards in time, and from a different sister's perspective. This is what I really enjoyed about the book. Alvarez's use of different perspectives allows the reader to understand how everyone is feeling. Alvarez also does an excellent job showing the transition this family must make while living in the United States. When reading this book Alverez makes it so that one can feel what these people are going through. One can see the difficulty of these girls trying to fit into the United States mainstream culture and remaining caught in their old culture. I would strongly suggest this book to anyone, for it is a powerful book.

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents is a stunning post-modern novel that traces the lives of four sisters through the processes of conforming, unconforming and accepting the culture into which they are brought into in America. The novel becomes more interesting because of the way it is told. The book goes back in time beginning with the third sister's return to their island home, and traces the life of the sisters to back before their exile. Alvarez clearly exhibits the effects and problems of assimilation and dissilmilation of the girls. Each sister has a "story" to herself, but the biggest focus is on Yolanda, the third sister. This book is easily readable and beautiful novel of coming to terms with heritage and surroundings.

This book is about the Garcia family who left their home in Dominican Republic to come to New York. The Garcia girls were Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia. They had to accustom to their new lives. They try to fit in with the American people. The girls had problems and obstacles to go through. They lived there for two years now. They went to school, their parents led them on to the right tracks. I think this book is great because it relates to what has been happening many years ago with immigration. This book was good but at the same time it was little bit confusing because it was written in different first person point of view, but other than that it was ok. I really enjoy reading this book even though it was a long book. I think it would be hard for people to read this book who don't speak Spanish. But I defently recommend this to people. I think they would really like this book especially Dominicans who would to read about people from their culture.

In this debut novel, Julia Alvarez is kidding herself and her readers if she thinks she's getting away by calling this fiction. What a wonderful, rollicking, emotional, roller-coaster of a story about the assimilation of a family - focusing mainly on the four de la Torre daughters - from the Dominican Republic into America after they fled for political reasons.
Enough time has passed that Alvarez's stature and place in the ranks of authors to become firmly established, but this book is still one of her best.

"How the Garcia Girls Lost Thier Accents," was a very enjoyable novel that was easy to read. The story was about four daughters (Carla, Sandi, Yolanda, and Sofia) and their parents who lived in the Dominican and moved to the United States. The story showed how each of the daughters changed and dealt with the adjustments of moving to a different country. It also shows how the parents raised their children, while trying to keep thier original culture instilled in them. The novel moves from back and forth in time allowing the reader to understand their lifestyle throughtout time. Each daughter had a unique personality, and the parent's had stories about each daughther that helped to describe them as individuals.

The book, "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents," is a tremendous book. It is very comical, yet has some heart to heart moments. The story is one that you can relate to your family and find something from almost every character that relates to your life in some way. I enjoyed reading of the four sisters different adventures and how they were all very different but could come together and seem like they were the same person. It shows truths such as the fact that no family is perfect and has flaws. The parents of the story were very interesting as to you could see how important family was to them. They took pride in everything. This story was adventurous and very humorous. Definitely an enjoyable book!

This book is very compelling in the sense of how the story begins to develop. It really gives space for the reader to make a lot of connections and understand the book better. I like how in the end there's a moral which a lot of people can follow including myself. It really is a one-of-a-kind book. You'll love it nomatter how old you are, you will learn to like it...

I think that this is a very well written book. The descriptions of the four Garcia girls is so intricate that I could picture each girl vividly. The story is written differently than other books I've read in that it doesn't go from their childhood to adulthood, but vice versa. This just added to my interest in the story. It was somewhat difficult to keep each of the girls straight at times. Each chapter is like a short story, and I confused some details after awhile. I think if I had a more thorough understanding of the Dominican Republic history, I may have understood things on a different level. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would definately recommend it.

This book poignantly describes the challenges of trying to assimilate into a new culture while maintaining the old. Alvarez does an exceptional job capturing the difficulty of trying to fit in, while trying to follow the beliefs and culture of the old country.

This is definitely a book to consider, for it will reveal the complications of assimilation, the love for our family, and the bond of sisterhood. Overall, this is a novel that provides insight towards a new culture.

I really enjoyed this book. Alvarez's unique stle of writing makes the book very interesting and gives you many different perspectives to see the situation in which they lived. Although this is a fiction book, Alvarez gives insight as to what the times were like in Dominican Republic when it was under the rule of Trujillo. In following the lives of these four sisters, you will see the hardships and joys of growing up. This book also does a great job of showing the how these girls were able to adapt to a new culture, and shows the different cycles they go through as they adapt to the United States. I recommend this book very highly. It's different, but enjoyable.

I found Julia Alvarez's book to be a perfect example of the struggle between whether or not to assimilate. By showing the hardships the Garcia girls go through in their new life in the United States, she shows how adopting a new language and starting a new life in a different culture can leave one afraid to resort to their old past and home language in order to be able to survive in a new life. Through each girl's memory, a new problem is presented,leaving the reader overwhelmed at all the complications moving to a new society can bring. I highly recommend this book to anyone who holds their heritage dear and to anyone who has moved to the United States to start their life anew.

In this book, you can see how the daughters life's are changed as there culture was changed. I felt that even though the family doesn't live in the old culture you could still see the daughter's culture. Their family tries to represent the culture back into their lives. You can see many different gender roles and see how these girls experience life. For example, when the mom want to be involved in one of daughters life. So, she tries to attend some of her poetry readings. You can see how the daughter is starting to change from her own culture to a new one. During this the mom is denying that this is happening and you can see how she tries to keep the culture in her daughters life.

This book touch on many great themes and topics many of which I haven't read about since my college days! I would recommend to other young Latinas in my network. I think it would be more meaningful to someone in their teens/early 20s.

The novel, How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, reflects on the four daughters, Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia's transformation from their culture in The Dominican Republic to life in America. They tried to leave their culture behind them and make new with the Amercian customs. They still seemed to carry their old culture with them, and they faced many struggles along the way. They went from having very tight rules and very high expectations and morals (especially for women) to a society that wasn't as concerned and was more free spirited. They experimented with new things, but still kept the basis of their old culture, because it was in their hearts and would always be an important part of them.

I would rate this book an 8 out of 10 (10 being the best), beacasue it really gives us a feel for what it is like to experience a transformation like that. It helps us realize what it is like to carry around two different cultures and how much each one impacts a person.

Bitias Diary is a very interesting book. This book is categorized as a testimonial so it is very interesting to see how this girl grows into a woman and the challenges she goes through. Bitia is an African American child in 1915. She later in her childhood becomes educated. Through out her childhood she is not seen as a normal girl. She asks a lot of questions and demands respect from white kids. As a woman she goes to different houses and cleans to make a living. At one point she was working at a convent. She ended up leaving to find her self and to act her age as a young adult not wanting to be grown up yet. This book gives the reader a good idea of what African Americans at that time went through and the challenges that she went through can be generalized to all people.

I would give this book 4 stars. It was very interesting knowing how women feel when they get treated like nothing. This book specifically showed how men act like when given a chance to show their sensitive side. The women were very strong and didn't let the males mess up their lives. They kept their composure, their individuality and their character, showing us what every women is like. A specific part that stuck out was when Carla was being stalked by a man. The man wanted to use Carla, but Carla knew what she had to do to get out of the situation. She was a very strong person because of how she reacted.

This is a book that I think women will enjoy more than men as it reflects on their struggles and aspirations once moving from a caribbean country to the united states. there n easy flow to this author's writing. She is compassionate and desperate when she needs to be and that emotion is compelling to me, the reader.

I thought that "How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents" was a great story. The depth of each character made me empathise with them. However, the way the book was written was distracting at times. It starts in recent times and then as the book progresses, the time for the Garcias degresses. This was very interesting, but confusing at first. I thought that the cultural detail was also very interesting. I have never taken Spanish and was still able to understand the whole book and relate to girls in the book. I would definatly recommed this to anyone who is able to think abstractly about time.

I read this book as part of an assignment and fell in love with it. Anyone who opens its pages is welcomed into take a glance at the lives and worlds of the Garcia sisters.
Alvarez does a wonderful job of weaving the stories together in a massive tapestry that spans twenty/thirty years. She has a wonderful knack of capturing the heart and soul of her characters at every stage of life, from childhood through adulthood.
After reading this book one can not help but feel that she/he has been intimated with the Garcia girls in a way they will never forget.

This book was confusing and vague with seeminly little purpose and a low grasp on reality. It starts in the future with Yolands in the DR and follows her and her sister's trail back into how they came to the US. It does not highlight enough the adolescence rebellion that most immigrants have with their parents and it also is just not very intresting. I do not recomend this book.

Garcia Girls was my first introduction to Julia Alvarez, and I have become an avid fan ever since.
Garcia Girls offers the reader an insider's view of a writer's journey to find her voice. I connected with this novel in a way that is personal and life changing. I was able to identify with Yo's need to express herself and be heard. I found myself examining similiar needs within my own life.
I would consider this a must read for anyone trying to understand not only the creative process but also how life experience shapes a writer.

The book started off at an etremely slow pace, and builds up some emotion for the character Yolanda, a depressed young woman who can't find her niche in society,then too often jumps back in forth between the other sisters. We don't learn anything really about the other sisters, and if we do its a paragraph or two.The author can't hit our emotions with the other characters and the ideas seem a bit contrived and unorganized. The last five chapters are a complete bore. I was dissapointed extremely because the book peeked WAY too soon.

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents by Julia Alvarez certainly does give one an accurate idea of a Latin-American family. I feel that that is the only benefit of this book. This book is categorized as young adult, but there are many sexual situations as well as multiple expletives. I also feel that the author tries too hard to sound different and interesting. Many of her descriptions are forced and out of place. While I don't feel that this is a worthwhile read, it does give one a better understanding of a different culture.

There were a couple of chapters that I enjoyed and found humorous but the rest of the book was not very good, in my opinion. I didn't like the reverse chronological order of the stories. I don't think it added to the book in any way, in fact I think it made it worse. I finished this book and wondered what the point of it all was.

My first written review ever, I don't write reviews on anything but . . .

I just finished this book and I am extremely upset I invested my time when there is SO much else to read. The ending is what prompted this review. It was the worst ever. As if Ms Alvarez just realized her deadline was in an hour. As if she ran out of paper to write on. As if she herself were bored and couldn't think of anything else to write. . . . and damn the reader. I felt cheated.

I write this first review because I am upset an author would compose pages and pages of useless and unnecessary thoughts and think it a novel. And not wrap up any lose ends, and there were many. I am upset a publisher would allow a book to be printed with no formula, no message, no cohesiveness, no closure, no substance.

In conclusion, save your time and money.

This book is motavating. It gives an insight about the reality immigrant children have to deal with in this country. It's a pretty interesting book. Alvarez sets a different tone for each section in the book and gives every one of the chacrthers a distnict personality that decides their fate in life. So let me tell you guys, get this book and read it. Once you do, there's no stoppin ya!

I read Alvarez's In the Time of the Butterflies and I loved it! So, I decided to buy How the Garcia Girls lost their accents and it is far from what I expected. I have never read a book that had so much hate towards a race. As most people may know, Haiti and The Dominican Republic aka Hispanola share the same island. DR use to be run by a bad Haitian ruler and then by an evil dominican dictator Trujillo. In the book the family had a maid who was Haitian and the other maids despised her because she was dark skinned instead of fair skinned like the rest. Trujillo had ordered the execution of all BLACK HAITIANS on their side of the island to be murdered by dawn. They hid a Haitian girl and she became their maid. Maid or slave I ask? Then, a family member had stated pity for her, she won't get that far with that skin. Not interested in YO YO!

If you like reading books that tell a story, have a main point and come to a perfect, nice, neat ending then you shouldn't read this book. This book contains a bunch of stories about a family and their struggles and how they deal. It brings up many issues that make it interesting to read but it has no plot. Just as a family there is no beginning or end and there for when you write a book on a family there is no beginning and no end, you can talk about family members before you but that's it. And just as this book had no plot but only stories, families have no plot and have memories and each other to stay close to.

This was the first book I read by Julia Alvarez, it was not as good or exciting as I expected. It dragged in the beginning. It took over 100 pages to get interesting and it's not a long book. I bought another book by her at the same time don't feel like even reading it.

I was assigned to read this book for my college class--the history of the women's movement. It was very good and funny. I laughed out loud in many places. I finished the book in two days which is good for me since I am a slow reader. It held my interest the entire time.

This book was very interesting. There were many parts in this book that proved points. There were also many instances in which people can learn real life incidents and how to act with them. The one part that stuck out to me was when Sofia moved away to Germany, and basically ditched her family. This was wrong and she learned in her later life that it was a mistake and it shouldn't be done again

Julia Alvarez writes from the heart in her stunning novel "How the Garcia Girls Lost their accents". Based on dominican republic life, the book gives us a chance to reveiw our own culture. The many changes the Garcia girls go through while in the United States shows how much of an impact our culture has on society. A facinating book!

This is a wonderful Book. The Story of the Four Garcia sisters is told by going back in time from how they came to live in the United States and adapt to this new country to little girls living in Dominican Republic and growing up there, and how they came about to moving to America. Julia Alvarez is an amazing author the book is not only funny, but you can always relate to some part of it. An essay book to read and a lot of fun for people of all age!

Well.... I read this book as a indidviual choose in my Honors English class.... I was really disappointed in how the book ended. I think that the most irritating thing was that I hated was just ending with a pointless story that didnt even end the book. I guess I was looking for more closure to this book that was so strongly opioniated towards the american race and religion. At the beginning of the book; the stories were really grabbing my attention. Then as the story progressed, the stories went back to when they were younger and confused me on what the story was actually striving for.

The way that Julia Alvarez established such a bond between the reader and the story is a style of writing that I am not familliar with. When reading this book you feel as though you have been a close friend or relative of the Garcia family. I will never forget this book and the story of how the Garcia girls grew up in a foregin land.

This book is about the Garcia family, Mami, Papi, Carla, Sandra, Yolanda, and Sofia, they are forced to flee their home the Dominican Republic, because of their father's part in a plot against a cruel dictator. The Garcia family is forced to leave behand a life of maids, grooming, loving family, political exposure, and wealth. Once in America the Garcia girls try to adapt to their surroundings by changing their appearances and who they truely are: by straightenong their hair, forgetting their Spanish, and meeting with boys without permission. Through it all they remain caught between their old lives, and their new lives.

The quote below expresses how the Garcia girls had to adapt to their new home and how people acted towards them,''Here they were trying to fit in America among Americans; they needed help figuring out who they wer, why the Irish kids who's grandparents had min mics were calling them Spics.''

Relatively Julia Alvarez is a good author. In most of her novels you can relate to some of the characters.

I would recommend it to young women who are going through a stage of finding their true selves.

I read this back in 1995 and I find myself still recommending it to people. It has even gotten to the point where I don't remember many of the details of the book and have to read it again, but it made such an impression on me that I still remember it as a really good book. To me that overall impression is the most important thing.

The characters are multi dimensional, the writing is captivating, the story is thought provoking, the scenery draws you in and in the end you are left feeling like your life has been enriched by reading about the trials of the Garcia girls. Julia Alvarez instantly became my new favorite author after reading this book. I have bought 4 more of her novels since reading this one!

I was hoping for more out of this book. This is the first I have read by Julia Alvarez, and I doubt I will read another by her. It just did not grab me and pull me in. I did not feel much of a connection the characters. It was simply a relaxing read, and nothing more.

This book saved me growing up. It's so well written and it helped me through similar experiences I was facing as a daughter of two Colombian immigrants. The cultural schizophrenia experienced by hispanic children of imigrants is depicted spot on in this book. Overall a very entertaining and strong book.

I found this book to be well enough written but the story was so-o-o whiny. Somehow I had trouble empathizing with these poor little rich girls who have to move away from their fancy lives but soon enough spend summers back on the island, go to New England boarding schools and live well again, albeit with fewer servants.

What can we say about this chapter? Nothing nice! Although we did not read the entire thing, we read the chapter about "Snow". NO offense to the author or anything but it was horrid. No plot, theme, no point at all. The story was hard to follow because of it's dullness and lack of substance. An easy read, sounding as though it was written by Yolanda herself (a 4th grader). This story on "Snow" was thought-provoking-less! We both apologize to Mrs. Alvarez for this harsh review but we completely missed any meaning or point of the story "Snow". Thank you.

Our book club chose this book, because it sounded intriguing and had great reviews. What a waste of time...

A compilation of short vignettes is a great idea...but unfortunately, this collection went no where. The characters were dull, and the stories had no depth or interconnection.

I thought I was the only one who felt this way about this boring book until our group met. Half of them didn't even finish it. We all agreed it was a bad choice, and wondered WHO in the heck could give it five stars???

this is a good book to experience what the immigrants went through regards to culture difference. The quality is not really good because the paper is cut in waves. I don't know if it supposed to be like that or not. But i am not used to turn over such book.

I am 1/3 of the way through this book and I am stalled -- I have read 2 other books since starting this work. It just isn't a rewarding experience for me. There is no driving beat in the book to drive me on.

Our book club chose this book, because it sounded intriguing and had great reviews. What a waste of time...

A compilation of short vignettes is a great idea...but unfortunately, this collection went no where. The characters were dull, and the stories had no depth or interconnection.

I thought I was the only one who felt this way about this boring book until our group met. Half of them didn't even finish it. We all agreed it was a bad choice, and wondered WHO in the heck could give it five stars???

this is a good book to experience what the immigrants went through regards to culture difference. The quality is not really good because the paper is cut in waves. I don't know if it supposed to be like that or not. But i am not used to turn over such book.

The book I read is called How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. The book is basically about these four sisters named Carla, Sandi, Yolanda and Sofia, and their mother and father, Carlos and Laura. They wanted to move away from their little island to live a better life. Once they moved to New York, the girls got homesick, and they hated the fact that they are living there. People called them hurtful names and that made it worse for them, and they didn't feel very welcome. The chapters are set up differently then most books I've read. Each of the chapters are about how each character feels about New York, and what they did to fit in. Honestly I didn't really like the book because, first of all, it dragged and the author Julia Alvarez didn't get to the point right away. Also, the way she did the chapters was so confusing because she kept on switching the characters. I would recommend this book to people who speak Spanish. I wouldn't recommend this book to people who don't speak Spanish or people who hate books that drag.

I am 1/3 of the way through this book and I am stalled -- I have read 2 other books since starting this work. It just isn't a rewarding experience for me. There is no driving beat in the book to drive me on.

This book was one that I chose from a list for my Soc 101 class. Had I read the reviews that said that the book was slow and that the characters were disconnected, I would never had read the book. This book is very hard to analyze because it doesn't move anywhere, and is often confusing due to changing time, character, and language. Although I know that the book is obviously going to use Spanish, this was a bad example of how to use it.

How the Garcia Girls lost their accents by Julia Alvarez , is about a coming of age story of a family moving from one country to another. The Garcia girls face daily stuggles with being different. They move from Puerto Rico to the united States and face challenges.

A significant moment is when they leave their Island. The father has gotten into some trouble with the government and the family needs to leave. After a long process, they move to New York, where the girls face different bumps in the road by being different.

The author tended to be random, saying things about a girl who was an anorexic monkey, but talking about one of the girls.

We would not recommend this book to anyone. The way she uses her words and describes the character is not at all engaging. Quite frankly we found the book boring. All in all if you have a strange urge to read a book of randomness, then go to the library, but this book is really not worth your dollar.

How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

By: Julia Alvarez

This book is about 4 sisters, who come to America, New York, and leave everything behind. They have to get used to living in America, in which they have to do many sacrifices to fit in with others. They have to learn to talk a new language, they never talked before, (English) which is difficult for them to do. They have to get rid of their Dominican accents. The book is written in Dominican Republic and then in New York and it goes back and forth. The book is told by all four sisters. I personally didn't really like this book because it talks about many details that were not important. The book talks about many examples that were important like what they had to go through and how difficult it was to get rid of their accents, which I thought were not really important. What makes the book unique is the story because 4 girls have to basically change their lives around, learn how to be Americans and how to act, which is very difficult for someone to do when they have different customs that they have to get rid of.

The four Garcia sisters, Carla, Sandra, Yolanda and Sofia, enjoyed a fairly sheltered and luxurious childhood in the Dominican Republic. When their father, Carlos, got in trouble with the police for agitating against the military dictatorship, the family was forced out of the country. Now they have to move to America (New York). The sisters now have to change their language because they don't want to have the same accent they had when they were living in their country.

To me i didnt like this book alot because the sister's had to go through alot of obstacles to change their life's just to fit into a new county.

Read from page 24-191 the rest isnt worth it.

The ending is just boring and confusing, all you need to know is that the father gets in trouble with the government and they have to move to New York. Thats it.

How can this book provide a liberal dose of the F**K and S**T words and still make it onto Jr High and Sr High school summer reading lists? Is ther no place I can find a "safe" list of books for my child to read without them being bombarded by profanities?