Ordinary Girls : A Memoir

"Jaquira Díaz writes an unflinching account of growing up as a queer biracial girl searching for home as her family splits apart and her mother struggles with mental illness and addiction. From her own struggles with depression and drug abuse to her experiences of violence to Puerto Rico's history of colonialism, every page vibrates with music and lyricism"--;Girl hood -- Origin story -- El Caserío -- La otra -- Home is a place -- Monster story -- Candy girl -- Ordinary girls -- Fourteen, or how to be a juvenile delinquent -- Girls, monsters -- Beach city -- Battle stations -- Secrets -- Mother, mercy -- Returning -- Ordinary girls One of the Must-Read Books of 2019 According to O: The Oprah Magazine * Time * Bustle * Electric Literature * Publishers Weekly * The Millions * The Week * Good Housekeeping “There is more life packed on each page of Ordinary Girls than some lives hold in a lifetime.” —Julia Alvarez In this searing memoir, Jaquira Díaz writes fiercely and eloquently of her challenging girlhood and triumphant coming of age. While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, Díaz found herself caught between extremes. As her family split apart and her mother battled schizophrenia, she was supported by the love of her friends. As she longed for a family and home, her life was upended by violence. As she celebrated her Puerto Rican culture, she couldn’t find support for her burgeoning sexual identity. From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto Rico’s history of colonialism, every page of Ordinary Girls vibrates with music and lyricism. Díaz writes with raw and refreshing honesty, triumphantly mapping a way out of despair toward love and hope to become her version of the girl she always wanted to be. Reminiscent of Tara Westover’s Educated , Kiese Laymon’s Heavy , Mary Karr’s The Liars’ Club , and Terese Marie Mailhot’s Heart Berries , Jaquira Díaz’s memoir provides a vivid portrait of a life lived in (and beyond) the borders of Puerto Rico and its complicated history—and reads as electrically as a novel. One of the Most Anticipated Books of 2019 According to Time * Publishers Weekly ?*? The Millions ?*? The Week * Good Housekeeping "There is more life packed on each page of Ordinary Girls than some lives hold in a lifetime." ?Julia Alvarez? In?this searing memoir,?Jaquira D?az writes fiercely and eloquently of her?challenging girlhood and triumphant coming of age. While growing up in housing projects?in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, D?az found herself caught between extremes. As?her family split apart and her mother battled?schizophrenia, she was supported by?the love of her friends. As she longed for a family and home, her life was upended?by violence. As she celebrated her Puerto Rican?culture, she couldn?t find?support for her burgeoning sexual identity.?From her own struggles with?depression and sexual assault to Puerto Rico?s history of colonialism,?every?page of? Ordinary Girls ?vibrates with music and lyricism.?D?az?writes with raw and refreshing honesty,?triumphantly mapping a way out of despair toward?love and?hope, to become her version of the girl she always wanted to be.?Reminiscent of Tara Westover?s? Educated ,?Kiese Laymon?s? Heavy , Mary?Karr?s? The Liars? Club , and Terese Marie Mailhot?s? Heart Berries ,?Jaquira D?az?s?memoir?provides a?vivid portrait of a life lived in (and beyond) the borders of Puerto Rico and?its complicated history?and reads as electrically as a novel "A powerful memoir, heart-wrenching, inspiring, thoroughly engrossing, reminiscent of Mary Karr's The Liar's Club, Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and more recently Tara Westover's Educated. Through one family's story, we learn about challenges of poverty, migration, uprootedness, addiction, sexism, racism- but also about the triumphant, spirited storyteller who survives to tell the tale."--Julia Alvarez, author of How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and In the Time of the Butterflies Acclaimed essayist Jaquira Diaz writes an unflinching account of growing up in the '80s in Puerto Rico and Miami as a queer, biracial girl searching for home as her family splits apart and her mother struggles with mental illness and addiction. As Diaz tells the story of her own struggles with depression and drug abuse and her experiences of violence woven in with Puerto Rico's history of colonialism, every page vibrates with music and lyricism. Ordinary Girls is a fiercely passionate, groundbreaking memoir about girlhood in a dangerous world, about how we're not defined by the worst things we've ever done, and about surviving, even as we're losing the people we love "In this searing memoir, Jaquira Díaz writes fiercely and eloquently of her challenging girlhood and triumphant coming of age. While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, Díaz found herself caught between extremes. As her family split apart and her mother battled schizophrenia, she was supported by the love of her friends. As she longed for a family and home, her life was upended by violence. As she celebrated her Puerto Rican culture, she couldn't find support for her burgeoning sexual identity. From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto Rico's history of colonialism, every page of Ordinary Girls vibrates with music and lyricism. Díaz writes with raw and refreshing honesty, triumphantly mapping a way out of despair toward love and hope to become her version of the girl she always wanted to be."-- Provided by publisher