Lyrical and Compassionate
When a flight from New York to the Dominican Republic goes down, Camino and Yahaira both have to deal with the loss of their father.
In the DR, Camino struggles not only with missing her papi, but also with the gaping uncertainty the future now holds without her father to provide for her.
In New York, Yahaira faces the difficulty of life with her mother who she has never been close to, and struggles to deal with her extended family.
Neither girl is prepared for the revelation of their relationship, but death is unforgiving and families can only keep so many secrets.
Elizabeth Acevedo has such a beautiful and compassionate voice. She writes characters with fierce self knowledge and purpose, but with empathetic words and soft, loving descriptions.
This is my first novel in verse, and I really enjoyed it. The way it makes timing and flow an element of story, and leaves room for colourful and smudged sentence structure; the narrative becomes a carefully painted picture, one that needs to write it's own rules in order to portray it's heart and meaning fully.
I truly enjoyed this journey between Camino and Yahaira, as each of them came to terms with who their father had been, and opened themselves up to be able to accept their new sister. There were a lot of moments when this story could have turned for the worst, and I appreciate each time Acevedo chose not to go there. There is a sense of realism in this story, showing the cracks and damage people live with every day, the fears and the failures. And mirrored to that, it shows the small graces that we are each afforded; the kindness of loved ones, the daily miracles and the comfort of nature.
I loved Acevedo's last book With The Fire On High, and I loved this one as well. She has a beautiful voice, and her characters are wonderfully crafted.
