Voices in First Person: Reflections on Latino Identity

By Manuel Rivera-Ortiz

WANTING TO BELONG. WANTING TO GO HOME. LOVE. REGRET. FAMILY LEGENDS. DREAMS. REVENGE. ENGLISH. SPANISH. This eclectic, gritty, and groundbreaking collection of short monologues features twenty-one of the most respected Latino authors writing today, including Sandra Cisneros, Oscar Hijuelos, Esmeralda Santiago, and Gary Soto. Their fictional narratives give voice to what it's like to be a Latino teen in America. These voices are yearning. These voices are angry. These voices are, above all else, hopeful. These voices are America.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416906355
• ISBN13: 9781416906353
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 8.1"
• Age Range: 12 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 7 and higher

Customer Reviews

A book written by Latino adults for young people?

Having grown up in a white, middle class environment this book was surprisingly interesting to me. I didn't know if the stories, poems and musings of adult Latino writers about growing up Hispanic would resonate with me. However I found some of the same angst and frustrations that are so universal to all teenagers in addition to the special pain (which I only imagine) that comes from growing up poor or as a minority. However, I am still wondering who this book was written for. If it was for adults, Latino or otherwise, I think that it is a little light and left me wanting something with more weight and depth. If it was written with a younger audience in mind it might be perfect for them. Offering shared experiences in words and images that might speak to their world. I have a very close friend who was born in Mexico but raised in Texas for over 50 years. She enjoyed the book so much she bought her own copy. All in all an interesting but not a fully engaging book for me.

Voices - wonderful sounds; exceptional illustrations, great Latino authors!

I cannot express how wonderful this book is! How wonderful to compile voices from the greatest in Latino literature or from those with special voices but are lesser known. Regardless of where the authors originated, the voice is still Latin, and here the origins vary from Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Bolivia, and America. These are expressive fictional accounts. The short monologues derive from published literary works, ranging from the well-known, like Sandra Cisneros, Oscar Hijuelos, Gary Soto, poets, playwrights, children's authors, fiction writers, professors etc. The freedom of voices This is a smaller hardback, attractive design with a soaring bold red bird flying, symbolic to me meaning our freedom of voice. The illustrations, both photos and drawings have been carefully selected to reflect the monologue. The photos are touching, I especially love the drawings of the descriptions of varying barrio sights in "Barrio ABC's". In "I'm Mad at My Father", the photo is of belts simply hanging, depicting the power and pain of a belt used as an abusive tool. From chickens to crime The varying types of monologues range from fun, "Poultrymorphosis" - a metamorphosis act when a young boy eats chicken all the time to folkloric "The Evil Eye". There are stories with a harsher realistic tone, like "Mujeriego" - burning down a building. Nothing is offensive here; these fictional accounts are expressions, and an expression is one's voice! Several voices reveal pride, prejudice, fear, and love or whatever you, the reader, make of it. For those offended: When when I speak of "nothing offensive" here, I refer to the book as a whole. To further explain, (Muriergo) a man burning down a building and 33 people killed in a fire is not merely 'offensive'; it is a crime, an act of cruelty, an expression of pain that isn't resolved, the extreme, and it is life! These lives that some teens experience are not to be brushed aside, nor offensive material that we need to be embarrased by or "shocked". Every race has its good and bad, and until we stop cringing, the younger generation can hopefully learn and not react poorly. I take umbrage with those who would rather hide this book, but would allow their teens to watch or emulate the abominable behavior depicted in today's movies for teens. We are who we are folks, listen to your children, your teens. I pride this collection for anyone, not just the younger audiences. This is a special group of selected authors with much more to tell. ......Rizzo

Funny Poigant prose

The short stories and poems that are in this book are great because they reflect the many facets of Latino heritage. Bolivia, Cuba, Mexico, Puerto Rico, etc. The book is a quick read. Some stories are dark, others are funny (Those who have been priveleged enough to eat a good pernil will get a kick out of reading that one author compares the smell of this tasty treat to "God") but they are all poignant.

Reflective, certainly.

I can see where some would be dissappointed that these essays are not written by teens but they do reflect the authors' own experiences as young latinos. I grew up in a primarily latino area of South Texas and I found the essays to be quite moving and interesting. From foods of their youth to relationships with family, friends, and foes, their heritage and pride is rich. I was particularly moved by Trinidad Sanchez' "I Am Mad at My Father" in which a young boy is revealing that he is a victim of physical abuse. It reminded me of a classmate that I knew in high school whose mother would use the iron's electrical chord to punish her. I thoroughly enjoyed essays that mixed Spanish and English because that is the way many latino teens speak today. I recommend that you pick up a copy and get a feel for what it was like for these authors to grow up as latinos in the States.

Lavishly illustrated monologues and essays

The beautiful macaw on the cover is an indication of what's inside VOICES IN FIRST PERSON. This is a lavishly illustrated and highly stylized collection of pieces by first rate Hispanic/Latino authors. I was a little disappointed when I realized that they are in fact fictionalized essays about the lives of teen Latinos, but the fact remains that they these pieces are still well written pieces. Topics range from dealing with racism, Mexican folklore and magical beliefs, teen pregnancy, life in exile from one's homeland, etc. Though I am not biologically Hispanic/Latino, my stepfather was Mexican-American and many of my friends and family are as well. Therefore, I feel that I can speak to the authenticity of a lot of what is written here.