America Gonzalez is a hotel housekeeper on an island off the coast of Puerto Rico, cleaning up after wealthy foreigners who don't look her in the eye. Her alcoholic mother resents her, her married boyfriend, Correa, beats her, and their fourteen-year-old daughter thinks life would be better anywhere but with America. So when America is offered the chance to work as a live-in housekeeper and nanny for a family in Westchester County, New York, she takes it as a sign that a door to escape has been opened.
Life in Westchester seems strange, though, to someone who has never left the tropical island where she was born. America quickly learns from the other housekeepers in her neighborhood that the superficial perfection of life in the suburbs is easily scratched. And even as America revels in the comparative luxury of her new life, daring to care about a man other than Correa, she fights to resist the feeling that no matter what she does, she can't get away from her past.
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Review:
America Gonzalez has more than her share of concerns. She is a hotel housekeeper on an island off the Puerto Rican coast with an abusive lover, a drinking mother and a 14-year-old daughter who's run off with her boyfriend. So Gonzalez takes a drastic step by taking a job as a housekeeper with an affluent couple in Westchester, New York. Running away from her problems doesn't really work, though, as new worries arise and old problems rear their ugly heads. The novel is Esmeralda Santiago's second consecutive acclaimed work, following on the heels of When I Was Puerto Rican.
About the Author:
Esmeralda Santiago has written for such publications as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The Christian Science Monitor. Born in Puerto Rico, she is a graduate of Harvard University and lives in Katonah, NY. When I Was Puerto Rican. América's Dream is her first novel.
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- PublisherHarperCollins
- Publication date1996
- ISBN 10 0060172797
- ISBN 13 9780060172794
- BindingHardcover
- Edition number1
- Number of pages325
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Rating