-
When I Was Puerto Rican
- Narrated by: Esmeralda Santiago
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $19.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Publisher's summary
“The jíbaro can never wash away the stain of the plantain,” declares Esmeralda “Negi” Santiago as she begins telling her story. In this poignant audiobook, the first volume of her memoirs, she explores what it means to be Puerto Rican in the United States.
Esmeralda Santiago reminisces about her childhood in Puerto Rico and her early years in Brooklyn as the oldest of seven (soon to be 11) children. Her upbringing is turbulent on account of her parents’ relentless fighting, which only ever seems to stop when they decide to have another baby. When her youngest brother has an accident, her mother decides to move to New York with her children to seek medical treatment. Arriving in the United States, 13-year-old Santiago experiences uprooting and a loss of identity while she tries to adapt to a culture and language that are foreign to her.
The author herself narrates the memoir, which provides an additional emotional element to the story. Hearing her talk about the taste, color and smell of guavas makes the listener almost feel the texture of the fruit on their lips. It’s inspiring to hear a female perspective of what it’s like to be an immigrant pursuing the American dream.
When I was Puerto Rican is not only the literary debut of an extraordinary author and an entertaining autobiography sprinkled with touches of humor, but it is also a cultural text. This listen’s themes are so relevant that many schools across the country include it in the curriculum. It has also been adapted for the stage on several occasions.
Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Las Madres
- A Novel
- By: Esmeralda Santiago
- Narrated by: Esmeralda Santiago
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the award-winning, best-selling author of When I Was Puerto Rican, a powerful novel of family, race, faith, sex, and disaster that moves between Puerto Rico and the Bronx, revealing the lives and loves of five women and the secret that binds them together.
-
-
Accurate information
- By Julian on 09-23-23
-
Clap When You Land
- By: Elizabeth Acevedo
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Acevedo, Melania-Luisa Marte
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, National Book Award-winning and New York Times best-selling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives.
-
-
Narration
- By VB on 06-05-20
-
America's Dream
- A Novel
- By: Esmeralda Santiago
- Narrated by: Esmeralda Santiago
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
América Gonzalez is a hotel housekeeper on Vieques, 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 14-year-old daughter thinks life would be better anywhere but with América. So when América is offered the chance to work as a live-in housekeeper and nanny for a family in Westchester, New York, she takes it as a sign to finally make the escape she's been longing for.
-
-
La Cultura
- By Amazon Customer on 03-01-24
-
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
- By: Erika L. Sánchez
- Narrated by: Kyla Garcia
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents' house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family. But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga's role. Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed.
-
-
FOR LATINAS WHO ARE OFTEN TOLD THEY "SOUND WHITE"
- By Alex on 12-14-18
By: Erika L. Sánchez
-
A Thousand Splendid Suns
- By: Khaled Hosseini
- Narrated by: Atossa Leoni
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss, and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them, in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul, they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation.
-
-
Completely brilliant
- By Suze Weinberg on 06-01-07
By: Khaled Hosseini
-
Legitimate Kid
- A Memoir
- By: Aida Rodriguez
- Narrated by: Aida Rodriguez
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aida Rodriguez has, to put it mildly, lived a whirlwind life. Her rags-to-riches story is mind-blowing: She was kidnapped as a child by her mother in the Dominican Republic and brought to the US. She was later kidnapped again by her grandmother and uncle and moved from New York to Florida. As an adult, she ended a difficult marriage and endured homelessness with her children in Los Angeles. But through it all she never lost her sense of humor.
-
-
Wow… this was a tear jerker but I thoroughly enjoyed it
- By Juan on 11-03-23
By: Aida Rodriguez
-
Las Madres
- A Novel
- By: Esmeralda Santiago
- Narrated by: Esmeralda Santiago
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the award-winning, best-selling author of When I Was Puerto Rican, a powerful novel of family, race, faith, sex, and disaster that moves between Puerto Rico and the Bronx, revealing the lives and loves of five women and the secret that binds them together.
-
-
Accurate information
- By Julian on 09-23-23
-
Clap When You Land
- By: Elizabeth Acevedo
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Acevedo, Melania-Luisa Marte
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, National Book Award-winning and New York Times best-selling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives.
-
-
Narration
- By VB on 06-05-20
-
America's Dream
- A Novel
- By: Esmeralda Santiago
- Narrated by: Esmeralda Santiago
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
América Gonzalez is a hotel housekeeper on Vieques, 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 14-year-old daughter thinks life would be better anywhere but with América. So when América is offered the chance to work as a live-in housekeeper and nanny for a family in Westchester, New York, she takes it as a sign to finally make the escape she's been longing for.
-
-
La Cultura
- By Amazon Customer on 03-01-24
-
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
- By: Erika L. Sánchez
- Narrated by: Kyla Garcia
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents' house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family. But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga's role. Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed.
-
-
FOR LATINAS WHO ARE OFTEN TOLD THEY "SOUND WHITE"
- By Alex on 12-14-18
By: Erika L. Sánchez
-
A Thousand Splendid Suns
- By: Khaled Hosseini
- Narrated by: Atossa Leoni
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Born a generation apart and with very different ideas about love and family, Mariam and Laila are two women brought jarringly together by war, by loss, and by fate. As they endure the ever escalating dangers around them, in their home as well as in the streets of Kabul, they come to form a bond that makes them both sisters and mother-daughter to each other, and that will ultimately alter the course not just of their own lives but of the next generation.
-
-
Completely brilliant
- By Suze Weinberg on 06-01-07
By: Khaled Hosseini
-
Legitimate Kid
- A Memoir
- By: Aida Rodriguez
- Narrated by: Aida Rodriguez
- Length: 8 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aida Rodriguez has, to put it mildly, lived a whirlwind life. Her rags-to-riches story is mind-blowing: She was kidnapped as a child by her mother in the Dominican Republic and brought to the US. She was later kidnapped again by her grandmother and uncle and moved from New York to Florida. As an adult, she ended a difficult marriage and endured homelessness with her children in Los Angeles. But through it all she never lost her sense of humor.
-
-
Wow… this was a tear jerker but I thoroughly enjoyed it
- By Juan on 11-03-23
By: Aida Rodriguez
-
Once I Was You
- A Memoir of Love and Hate in a Torn America
- By: Maria Hinojosa
- Narrated by: Maria Hinojosa
- Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Maria Hinojosa is an award-winning journalist who, for nearly 30 years, has reported on stories and communities in America that often go ignored by the mainstream media - from tales of hope in the South Bronx to the unseen victims of the war on terror and the first detention camps in the US. Best-selling author Julia Álvarez has called her “one of the most important, respected, and beloved cultural leaders in the Latinx community”. In Once I Was You, Maria shares her intimate experience growing up Mexican American on the South Side of Chicago.
-
-
Fabulous!!
- By andrea L. on 01-13-21
By: Maria Hinojosa
-
Love, Lucy
- By: Lucille Ball
- Narrated by: Lucie Arnaz
- Length: 6 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Love, Lucy is the valentine Lucille Ball left for her fans—a warm, wise, and witty memoir written by Lucy herself. The legendary star of the classic sitcom I Love Lucy was at the pinnacle of her success when she sat down to record the story of her life. No comedienne had made America laugh so hard, no television actress had made the leap from radio and B movies to become one of the world’s best-loved performers. This is her story—in her own words.
-
-
What a great book
- By SCOTT on 07-11-18
By: Lucille Ball
-
How to Say Babylon
- A Memoir
- By: Safiya Sinclair
- Narrated by: Safiya Sinclair
- Length: 16 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Throughout her childhood, Safiya Sinclair’s father, a volatile reggae musician and a militant adherent to a strict sect of Rastafari, was obsessed with the ever-present threat of the corrupting evils of the Western world outside their home, and worried that womanhood would make Safiya and her sisters morally weak and impure. For him, a woman’s highest virtue was her obedience.
-
-
Beautifully written. Powerful story.
- By Brenda Barbour on 10-22-23
By: Safiya Sinclair
-
When We Make It
- By: Elisabet Velasquez
- Narrated by: Elisabet Velasquez
- Length: 4 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sarai is a first-generation Puerto Rican question asker who can see with clarity the truth, pain, and beauty of the world both inside and outside her Bushwick apartment. Together with her older sister, Estrella, she navigates the strain of family traumas and the systemic pressures of toxic masculinity and housing insecurity in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn. Sarai questions the society around her, her Boricua identity, and the life she lives with determination and an open heart, learning to celebrate herself in a way that she has long been denied.
-
-
Excellent Narration
- By Anonymous User on 02-10-24
-
Big Chicas Don't Cry
- By: Annette Chavez Macias
- Narrated by: Vanessa Vasquez, Alessandra Manon, Aida Reluzco, and others
- Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cousins Mari, Erica, Selena, and Gracie are inseparable. They aren’t just family but best friends—sharing secrets, traditions, and a fierce love for their abuelita. But their idyllic childhood ends when Mari’s parents divorce, forcing her to move away. With Mari gone, the girls’ tight-knit bond unravels.
-
-
Painfully boring..
- By Monica Serrano on 09-24-22
-
The Secret Life of Bees
- By: Sue Monk Kidd
- Narrated by: Jenna Lamia
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Sue Monk Kidd's ravishing debut novel has stolen the hearts of reviewers and readers alike with its strong, assured voice. Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed.
-
-
Awesome narrator
- By Joey on 05-17-10
By: Sue Monk Kidd
-
Breath, Eyes, Memory
- By: Edwidge Danticat
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 6 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At the age of 12, Sophie Caco is sent from her impoverished village of Croix-des-Rosets to New York, to be reunited with a mother she barely remembers. There she discovers secrets that no child should ever know and a legacy of shame that can be healed only when she returns to Haiti - to the women who first reared her. What ensues is a passionate journey through a landscape charged with the supernatural and scarred by political violence in a novel that bears witness to the traditions, suffering, and wisdom of an entire people.
-
-
Amazing Narrator
- By Luis on 04-03-16
By: Edwidge Danticat
-
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
- By: Betty Smith
- Narrated by: Kate Burton
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A moving coming-of-age story set in the 1900s, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn follows the lives of 11-year-old Francie Nolan, her younger brother Neely, and their parents, Irish immigrants who have settled in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Johnny Nolan is as loving and fanciful as they come, but he is also often drunk and out of work, unable to find his place in the land of opportunity.
-
-
Book: flawless. SKIP THE RECORDED INTRO!!
- By Wild Wise Woman on 09-04-11
By: Betty Smith
-
Mom & Me & Mom
- By: Maya Angelou
- Narrated by: Maya Angelou
- Length: 4 hrs
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The story of Maya Angelou’s extraordinary life has been chronicled in her multiple best-selling autobiographies. But now, at last, the legendary author shares the deepest personal story of her life: her relationship with her mother. For the first time, Angelou reveals the triumphs and struggles of being the daughter of Vivian Baxter, an indomitable spirit whose petite size belied her larger-than-life presence - a presence absent during much of Angelou’s early life.
-
-
Never Enough Mom Books
- By Syd Young on 02-04-14
By: Maya Angelou
-
Angela's Ashes
- By: Frank McCourt, Jeannette Walls - introduction
- Narrated by: Frank McCourt, Jeannette Walls - introduction
- Length: 15 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: There’s no gentle way to put this – Frank McCourt’s performance of Angela’s Ashes is just better than the Pulitzer Prize-winning book. Frank McCourt shares his sometimes heartwarming, sometimes heartbreaking story of growing up poor, Irish, and Catholic in the Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Angela's Ashes.
-
-
A classic book *and* a classic audiobook
- By Karen on 01-30-03
By: Frank McCourt, and others
-
Sisters First
- By: Jenna Bush Hager, Barbara Pierce Bush
- Narrated by: Jenna Bush Hager, Barbara Pierce Bush
- Length: 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A young girl's wish is granted when a new sister arrives. While the baby can't do much, over time the big and little siblings become inseparable, playing and dancing, imagining and laughing. By each other's sides, they are smarter, kinder, and braver than they ever thought they could be. And they are forever sisters first.
-
-
A great book
- By John A. on 03-03-22
By: Jenna Bush Hager, and others
-
Purple Hibiscus
- By: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Narrated by: Lisette Lecat
- Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Purple Hibiscus, she recounts the story of a young Nigerian girl searching for freedom. Although her father is greatly respected within their community, 15-year-old Kambili knows a frighteningly strict and abusive side to this man. In many ways, she and her family lead a privileged life, but Kambili and her brother, Jaja, are often punished for failing to meet their father’s expectations. After visiting her aunt and cousins, Kambili dreams of being part of a loving family.
-
-
Could improve sound quality
- By Brisa A. on 03-14-15
Featured Article: The top 100 memoirs of all time
All genres considered, the memoir is among the most difficult and complex for a writer to pull off. After all, giving voice to your own lived experience and recounting deeply painful or uncomfortable memories in a way that still engages and entertains is a remarkable feat. These autobiographies, often narrated by the authors themselves, shine with raw, unfiltered emotion sure to resonate with any listener. But don't just take our word for it—queue up any one of these listens, and you'll hear exactly what we mean.
Related to this topic
-
Fruit of the Drunken Tree
- A Novel
- By: Ingrid Rojas Contreras
- Narrated by: Marisol Ramirez, Almarie Guerra, Ingrid Rojas Contreras
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seven-year-old Chula and her older sister, Cassandra, enjoy carefree lives thanks to their gated community in Bogotá, but the threat of kidnappings, car bombs, and assassinations hover just outside the neighborhood walls, where the godlike drug lord Pablo Escobar continues to elude authorities and capture the attention of the nation. When their mother hires Petrona, a live-in-maid from the city's guerrilla-occupied slum, Chula makes it her mission to understand Petrona's mysterious ways.
-
-
Maybe better to read this book than listen???
- By Amazon Customer on 12-12-18
-
Promise
- A Novel
- By: Minrose Gwin
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the aftermath of a devastating tornado that rips through the town of Tupelo, Mississippi, at the height of the Great Depression, two women worlds apart - one Black, one White; one a great-grandmother, the other a teenager - fight for their families' survival in this lyrical and powerful novel.
-
-
Mostly Disappointing
- By Anjoli on 06-15-19
By: Minrose Gwin
-
Esperanza Rising
- By: Pam Munoz Ryan
- Narrated by: Trini Alvarado
- Length: 4 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Esperanza Ortega possesses all the treasures a young girl in Aguascalientes, Mexico could want. But a sudden tragedy shatters that dream, forcing Esperanza and Mama to flee to California and settle in a Mexican farm labor camp. There they confront the challenges of hard work, acceptance by their own people, and economic difficulties brought on by the Great Depression. Pam Munoz Ryan eloquently portrays the Mexican workers' plight in this abundant and passionate novel.
-
-
GET THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW
- By Laura on 04-14-16
By: Pam Munoz Ryan
-
Sold
- By: Patricia McCormick
- Narrated by: Justine Eyre
- Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut on a mountain in Nepal. Though she is desperately poor, her life is full of simple pleasures, like playing hopscotch with her best friend from school and having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all that remains of the family's crops, Lakshmi's stepfather says she must leave home and take a job to support her family.
-
-
Perfectly Haunting....
- By Theodore on 01-13-13
-
Caramelo
- By: Sandra Cisneros
- Narrated by: Sandra Cisneros
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lala Reyes’ grandmother is descended from a family of renowned rebozo, or shawl-makers. The striped (caramelo) is the most beautiful of all, and the one that makes its way, like the family history it has come to represent, into Lala’s possession. The novel opens with the Reyes’ annual car trip - a caravan overflowing with children, laughter, and quarrels - from Chicago to “the other side”, Mexico City. It is there, each year, that Lala hears her family’s stories, separating the truth from the “healthy lies” that have ricocheted from one generation to the next.
-
-
Love, family, history, and fantasy, Caramelo
- By Michele on 08-07-20
By: Sandra Cisneros
-
Brick Lane
- By: Monica Ali
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Sastre
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nanzeen's inauspicious birth in a Bangladeshi village imbues in her a sense of fatalism that she carries across continents. Married off to a man old enough to be her father, Nanzeen moves to London and cares for her family. But gradually she begins to question whether fate controls her or whether she has a hand in her own destiny. She discovers both the complexity that comes with free choice and the depth of her attachment to her husband, her daughters and her new world.
-
-
A truly wonderful book!
- By A M on 11-24-03
By: Monica Ali
-
Fruit of the Drunken Tree
- A Novel
- By: Ingrid Rojas Contreras
- Narrated by: Marisol Ramirez, Almarie Guerra, Ingrid Rojas Contreras
- Length: 12 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Seven-year-old Chula and her older sister, Cassandra, enjoy carefree lives thanks to their gated community in Bogotá, but the threat of kidnappings, car bombs, and assassinations hover just outside the neighborhood walls, where the godlike drug lord Pablo Escobar continues to elude authorities and capture the attention of the nation. When their mother hires Petrona, a live-in-maid from the city's guerrilla-occupied slum, Chula makes it her mission to understand Petrona's mysterious ways.
-
-
Maybe better to read this book than listen???
- By Amazon Customer on 12-12-18
-
Promise
- A Novel
- By: Minrose Gwin
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the aftermath of a devastating tornado that rips through the town of Tupelo, Mississippi, at the height of the Great Depression, two women worlds apart - one Black, one White; one a great-grandmother, the other a teenager - fight for their families' survival in this lyrical and powerful novel.
-
-
Mostly Disappointing
- By Anjoli on 06-15-19
By: Minrose Gwin
-
Esperanza Rising
- By: Pam Munoz Ryan
- Narrated by: Trini Alvarado
- Length: 4 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Esperanza Ortega possesses all the treasures a young girl in Aguascalientes, Mexico could want. But a sudden tragedy shatters that dream, forcing Esperanza and Mama to flee to California and settle in a Mexican farm labor camp. There they confront the challenges of hard work, acceptance by their own people, and economic difficulties brought on by the Great Depression. Pam Munoz Ryan eloquently portrays the Mexican workers' plight in this abundant and passionate novel.
-
-
GET THIS BOOK RIGHT NOW
- By Laura on 04-14-16
By: Pam Munoz Ryan
-
Sold
- By: Patricia McCormick
- Narrated by: Justine Eyre
- Length: 3 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lakshmi is a thirteen-year-old girl who lives with her family in a small hut on a mountain in Nepal. Though she is desperately poor, her life is full of simple pleasures, like playing hopscotch with her best friend from school and having her mother brush her hair by the light of an oil lamp. But when the harsh Himalayan monsoons wash away all that remains of the family's crops, Lakshmi's stepfather says she must leave home and take a job to support her family.
-
-
Perfectly Haunting....
- By Theodore on 01-13-13
-
Caramelo
- By: Sandra Cisneros
- Narrated by: Sandra Cisneros
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lala Reyes’ grandmother is descended from a family of renowned rebozo, or shawl-makers. The striped (caramelo) is the most beautiful of all, and the one that makes its way, like the family history it has come to represent, into Lala’s possession. The novel opens with the Reyes’ annual car trip - a caravan overflowing with children, laughter, and quarrels - from Chicago to “the other side”, Mexico City. It is there, each year, that Lala hears her family’s stories, separating the truth from the “healthy lies” that have ricocheted from one generation to the next.
-
-
Love, family, history, and fantasy, Caramelo
- By Michele on 08-07-20
By: Sandra Cisneros
-
Brick Lane
- By: Monica Ali
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Sastre
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Abridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nanzeen's inauspicious birth in a Bangladeshi village imbues in her a sense of fatalism that she carries across continents. Married off to a man old enough to be her father, Nanzeen moves to London and cares for her family. But gradually she begins to question whether fate controls her or whether she has a hand in her own destiny. She discovers both the complexity that comes with free choice and the depth of her attachment to her husband, her daughters and her new world.
-
-
A truly wonderful book!
- By A M on 11-24-03
By: Monica Ali
-
The Star Side of Bird Hill
- By: Naomi Jackson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 7 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two sisters, ages 10 and 16, are exiled from Brooklyn to Bird Hill in Barbados, after their mother can no longer care for them. The young Phaedra and her older sister, Dionne, live, for the summer of 1989, with their grandmother, Hyacinth, a midwife and practitioner of the local spiritual practice of obeah. Dionne spends the summer in search of love, testing her grandmother's limits, and wanting to go home. Phaedra explores Bird Hill, where her family has lived for generations.
-
-
My absolute favorite book of all time
- By Eme on 07-16-15
By: Naomi Jackson
-
The Other Side of Paradise
- A Memoir
- By: Staceyann Chin
- Narrated by: Staceyann Chin
- Length: 9 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stacyann Chin has appeared on television and radio, including The Oprah Winfrey Show , CNN, and PBS, discussing issues of race and sexuality. But it is her extraordinary voice that launched her career as a performer, poet, and activist. Here, she shares her unforgettable story of triumph against all odds in this brave and fiercely candid memoir.
No one knew Staceyann's mother was pregnant until a dangerously small baby was born on the floor of her grandmother's house in Jamaica, on Christmas Day.
-
-
Incredible life, incredible performer
- By RyRy on 10-21-19
By: Staceyann Chin
-
Gathering of Waters
- By: Bernice L. McFadden
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Gathering of Waters is a deeply engrossing tale narrated by the town of Money, Mississippi - a site both significant and infamous in our collective story as a nation. Money is personified in this haunting story, which chronicles its troubled history following the arrival of the Hilson and Bryant families. Tass Hilson and Emmett Till were young and in love when Emmett was brutally murdered in 1955. Anxious to escape the town, Tass marries Maximillian May and relocates to Detroit
-
-
Loved it!!
- By Naima on 07-26-16
-
The Strange and Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender
- By: Leslye Walton
- Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Magical realism, lyrical prose, and the pain and passion of human love haunt this hypnotic generational saga. Foolish love appears to be the Roux family birthright, an ominous forecast for its most recent progeny, Ava Lavender.
-
-
Beautiful and Haunting Fairytale
- By FanB14 on 07-24-15
By: Leslye Walton
-
Glorious
- By: Bernice L. McFadden
- Narrated by: Alfre Woodard
- Length: 5 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Glorious is set against the backdrops of the Jim Crow South, the Harlem Renaissance, and the civil rights era. Blending the truth of American history with the fruits of Bernice L. McFadden's rich imagination, this is the story of Easter Venetta Bartlett, a fictional Harlem Renaissance writer whose tumultuous path to success, ruin, and revival offers a candid portrait of the American experience in all its beauty and cruelty.
-
-
Gruesome violence
- By Marilyn on 11-22-11
-
The Plague of Doves
- By: Louise Erdrich
- Narrated by: Peter Francis James, Kathleen McInerney
- Length: 11 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The unsolved murder of a farm family haunts the small, white, off-reservation town of Pluto, North Dakota. The vengeance exacted for this crime and the subsequent distortions of truth transform the lives of Ojibwe living on the nearby reservation and shape the passions of both communities for the next generation.
-
-
Avoid this Plague
- By Andre on 05-16-08
By: Louise Erdrich
-
This Side of the Sky
- By: Elyse Singleton
- Narrated by: Myra Taylor, Sharon Washington, Richard Ferrone
- Length: 11 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Award-winning journalist Elyse Singleton delivers what Essence calls “a gem - the perfect book to curl up with.”
Best friends Lilian and Myraleen, two African American women from rural Mississippi, travel to Europe during World War II to act as members of the Women’s Army Corps. During this time of segregation and destruction, both women discover love and heartbreak, triumph and defeat.
-
-
A Breath of Fresh Air
- By Adina Andreu on 07-19-12
By: Elyse Singleton
-
Tar Baby
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Desiree Coleman
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Jadine Childs is a Black fashion model with a white patron, a white boyfriend, and a coat made out of ninety perfect sealskins. Son is a Black fugitive who embodies everything she loathes and desires. As Morrison follows their affair, which plays out from the Caribbean to Manhattan and the deep South, she charts all the nuances of obligation and betrayal between Blacks and whites, masters and servants, and men and women.
-
-
So good that I'm writing my first Audible review!
- By BL on 12-10-11
By: Toni Morrison
-
Paradise
- By: Toni Morrison
- Narrated by: Toni Morrison
- Length: 15 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Paradise - her first novel since she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature - Toni Morrison gives us a bravura performance. As the book begins deep in Oklahoma early one morning in 1976, nine men from Ruby (pop. 360), in defense of "the one all-black town worth the pain", assault the nearby Convent and the women in it. From the town's ancestral origins in 1890 to the fateful day of the assault, Paradise tells the story of a people ever mindful of the relationship between their spectacular history and a void.
-
-
MORRISON AT HER MOST COMPLEX
- By Kennedi Hill on 11-07-19
By: Toni Morrison
-
Habibi
- By: Naomi Shihab Nye
- Narrated by: Christina Moore
- Length: 5 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For 14-year-old Liyana Abboud, life in St. Louis, Missouri is perfect. She loves shopping in the nearby stores and walking down streets where she knows everyone. Even better, she has just had her first kiss. But her father is moving the family to Jerusalem - the land where he was born. Suddenly Liyana finds herself a stranger in a threatening world.
-
-
Very good Performance
- By Muhammad on 04-07-15
By: Naomi Shihab Nye
-
The Kite Runner
- By: Khaled Hosseini
- Narrated by: Khaled Hosseini
- Length: 12 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Why we think it’s a great listen: Never before has an author’s narration of his fiction been so important to fully grasping the book’s impact and global implications. Taking us from Afghanistan in the final days of its monarchy to the present, The Kite Runner is the unforgettable story of the friendship between two boys growing up in Kabul. Their intertwined lives, and their fates, reflect the eventual tragedy of the world around them.
-
-
A Worhty Read
- By P. C..S. on 08-17-03
By: Khaled Hosseini
-
Nowhere is a Place
- By: Bernice McFadden
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 9 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nothing can mend a broken heart quite like family. Sherry has struggled all her life to understand who she is, where she comes from, and, most important, why her mother slapped her cheek one summer afternoon. The incident has haunted Sherry, and it causes her to dig into her family's past. Like many family histories, it is fractured and stubbornly reluctant to reveal its secrets. But Sherry is determined to know the full story. In a few days' time, her extended family will gather for a reunion, and Sherry sets off across the country with her mother, Dumpling, to join them.
-
-
A Mother and Daughter Tear. It. Up.
- By Susie on 01-15-14
By: Bernice McFadden
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Las Madres
- A Novel
- By: Esmeralda Santiago
- Narrated by: Esmeralda Santiago
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the award-winning, best-selling author of When I Was Puerto Rican, a powerful novel of family, race, faith, sex, and disaster that moves between Puerto Rico and the Bronx, revealing the lives and loves of five women and the secret that binds them together.
-
-
Accurate information
- By Julian on 09-23-23
-
America's Dream
- A Novel
- By: Esmeralda Santiago
- Narrated by: Esmeralda Santiago
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
América Gonzalez is a hotel housekeeper on Vieques, 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 14-year-old daughter thinks life would be better anywhere but with América. So when América is offered the chance to work as a live-in housekeeper and nanny for a family in Westchester, New York, she takes it as a sign to finally make the escape she's been longing for.
-
-
La Cultura
- By Amazon Customer on 03-01-24
-
Puerto Rico
- A National History
- By: Jorell Meléndez-Badillo
- Narrated by: Tony Chiroldes
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audiobook narrated by Tony Chiroldes traces the multifaceted history of Puerto Rico from pre-Columbian times to today.
-
-
A clear history from the Taino Indians through Hurricane Maria and more.
- By Vivi on 10-26-24
-
Cuando Era Puertorriquena (Texto Completo) [When I was Puerto Rican ]
- By: Esmeralda Santiago
- Narrated by: Esmeralda Santiago
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Esmeralda Santiago era una niña en el seno de una familia numerosa en una zona rural de Puerto Rico. En aquel entonces, la vida estaba en orden. Pero cuando su hermano menor sufre un accidente y los padres se separan, la madre se lleva a Esmeralda, de trece años, y sus seis hermanos menores a Estados Unidos. Se van en busca de un tratamiento médico para el chico accidentado y de una mejor vida.
-
-
Enjoyable and beautifully narrated
- By Babo Wright on 02-28-12
-
Puerto Rico - Historia de una nación
- By: Jorell Meléndez-Badillo
- Narrated by: Pedro Juan Colón
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Una novedosa y osada visión de la historia de Puerto Rico, desde la época precolombina, hasta hoy día. La historia de Puerto Rico ha estado marcada por conquistas y resistencias. A lo largo de los siglos los puertorriqueños han creado y sorteado complejas ideas sobre lo que significa pertenecer a una nación. En este libro, Jorell Meléndez-Badillo ofrece una nueva interpretación de la historia de Puerto Rico que da voz a los habitantes del archipiélago y propone una nueva perspectiva sobre los retos políticos, económicos y sociales a los que se enfrentan hoy en día.
-
-
Un Profundo Viaje por la Historia de Puerto Rico
- By Liza on 10-25-24
-
Soledad
- A Novel
- By: Angie Cruz
- Narrated by: Stacy Gonzalez
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At eighteen, Soledad couldn't get away fast enough from her contentious family with their endless tragedies and petty fights. Two years later, she's an art student at Cooper Union with a gallery job and a hip East Village walk-up. But when Tia Gorda calls with the news that Soledad's mother has lapsed into an emotional coma, she insists that Soledad's return is the only cure. Fighting the memories of open hydrants, leering men, and slick-skinned teen girls with raunchy mouths and snapping gum, Soledad moves home to West 164th Street.
-
-
Wish I could finish it....
- By dassy2575 on 08-19-23
By: Angie Cruz
-
Las Madres
- A Novel
- By: Esmeralda Santiago
- Narrated by: Esmeralda Santiago
- Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
From the award-winning, best-selling author of When I Was Puerto Rican, a powerful novel of family, race, faith, sex, and disaster that moves between Puerto Rico and the Bronx, revealing the lives and loves of five women and the secret that binds them together.
-
-
Accurate information
- By Julian on 09-23-23
-
America's Dream
- A Novel
- By: Esmeralda Santiago
- Narrated by: Esmeralda Santiago
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
América Gonzalez is a hotel housekeeper on Vieques, 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 14-year-old daughter thinks life would be better anywhere but with América. So when América is offered the chance to work as a live-in housekeeper and nanny for a family in Westchester, New York, she takes it as a sign to finally make the escape she's been longing for.
-
-
La Cultura
- By Amazon Customer on 03-01-24
-
Puerto Rico
- A National History
- By: Jorell Meléndez-Badillo
- Narrated by: Tony Chiroldes
- Length: 10 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This audiobook narrated by Tony Chiroldes traces the multifaceted history of Puerto Rico from pre-Columbian times to today.
-
-
A clear history from the Taino Indians through Hurricane Maria and more.
- By Vivi on 10-26-24
-
Cuando Era Puertorriquena (Texto Completo) [When I was Puerto Rican ]
- By: Esmeralda Santiago
- Narrated by: Esmeralda Santiago
- Length: 8 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Esmeralda Santiago era una niña en el seno de una familia numerosa en una zona rural de Puerto Rico. En aquel entonces, la vida estaba en orden. Pero cuando su hermano menor sufre un accidente y los padres se separan, la madre se lleva a Esmeralda, de trece años, y sus seis hermanos menores a Estados Unidos. Se van en busca de un tratamiento médico para el chico accidentado y de una mejor vida.
-
-
Enjoyable and beautifully narrated
- By Babo Wright on 02-28-12
-
Puerto Rico - Historia de una nación
- By: Jorell Meléndez-Badillo
- Narrated by: Pedro Juan Colón
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Una novedosa y osada visión de la historia de Puerto Rico, desde la época precolombina, hasta hoy día. La historia de Puerto Rico ha estado marcada por conquistas y resistencias. A lo largo de los siglos los puertorriqueños han creado y sorteado complejas ideas sobre lo que significa pertenecer a una nación. En este libro, Jorell Meléndez-Badillo ofrece una nueva interpretación de la historia de Puerto Rico que da voz a los habitantes del archipiélago y propone una nueva perspectiva sobre los retos políticos, económicos y sociales a los que se enfrentan hoy en día.
-
-
Un Profundo Viaje por la Historia de Puerto Rico
- By Liza on 10-25-24
-
Soledad
- A Novel
- By: Angie Cruz
- Narrated by: Stacy Gonzalez
- Length: 9 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At eighteen, Soledad couldn't get away fast enough from her contentious family with their endless tragedies and petty fights. Two years later, she's an art student at Cooper Union with a gallery job and a hip East Village walk-up. But when Tia Gorda calls with the news that Soledad's mother has lapsed into an emotional coma, she insists that Soledad's return is the only cure. Fighting the memories of open hydrants, leering men, and slick-skinned teen girls with raunchy mouths and snapping gum, Soledad moves home to West 164th Street.
-
-
Wish I could finish it....
- By dassy2575 on 08-19-23
By: Angie Cruz
-
The Battle for Paradise
- Puerto Rico Takes on the Disaster Capitalists
- By: Naomi Klein
- Narrated by: Erin Bennett
- Length: 1 hr and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the rubble of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Ricans and ultrarich "Puertopians" are locked in a pitched struggle over how to remake the island. In this vital and startling investigation, The New York Times best-selling author and activist Naomi Klein uncovers how the forces of shock politics and disaster capitalism seek to undermine the nation's radical, resilient vision for a just recovery.
-
-
- By carol j pridgeon on 06-08-18
By: Naomi Klein
-
A Small Place
- By: Jamaica Kincaid
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 1 hr and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"If you go to Antigua as a tourist, this is what you will see. If you come by aeroplane, you will land at the V. C. Bird International Airport. Vere Cornwall (V. C.) Bird is the prime minister of Antigua. You may be the sort of tourist who would wonder why a prime minister would want an airport named after him - why not a school, why not a hospital, why not some great public monument. You are a tourist and you have not yet seen..." So begins Jamaica Kincaid's expansive essay, which shows us what we have not yet seen of the 10-by-12-mile island in the British West Indies.
-
-
I understand
- By Landomc on 05-26-21
By: Jamaica Kincaid
-
Family Lore
- A Novel
- By: Elizabeth Acevedo
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Acevedo, Sixta Morel, Danyeli Rodriguez del Orbe
- Length: 9 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Flor has a gift: she can predict, to the day, when someone will die. So when she decides she wants a living wake—a party to bring her family and community together to celebrate the long life she’s led—her sisters are surprised. Has Flor foreseen her own death, or someone else’s? Does she have other motives? She refuses to tell her sisters, Matilde, Pastora, and Camila.
-
-
Underwhelming.
- By Karina on 09-18-23
-
Clap When You Land
- By: Elizabeth Acevedo
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Acevedo, Melania-Luisa Marte
- Length: 5 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a novel-in-verse that brims with grief and love, National Book Award-winning and New York Times best-selling author Elizabeth Acevedo writes about the devastation of loss, the difficulty of forgiveness, and the bittersweet bonds that shape our lives.
-
-
Narration
- By VB on 06-05-20
-
The Tainos
- Rise and Decline of the People Who Greeted Columbus
- By: Irving Rouse
- Narrated by: Adam Barr
- Length: 6 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Drawing on archeological and ethno-historical evidence, Irving Rouse sketches a picture of the Tainos-the first people Columbus encountered when he arrived in the Americas-as they existed during the time of Columbus, contrasting their customs with those of their neighbors. He then moves backward in time to the ancestors of the Tainos-two successive groups who settled the West Indies and who are known to archeologists as the Saladoid peoples and the Ostionoid peoples.
By: Irving Rouse
-
Fantasy Island
- Colonialism, Exploitation, and the Betrayal of Puerto Rico
- By: Ed Morales
- Narrated by: Sean Duffy
- Length: 10 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Fantasy Island, Ed Morales traces how, over the years, Puerto Rico has served as a colonial satellite, a Cold War Caribbean showcase, a dumping ground for US manufactured goods, and a corporate tax shelter. He also shows how it has become a blank canvas for mercenary experiments in disaster capitalism on the frontlines of climate change, hamstrung by internal political corruption and the US federal government's prioritization of outside financial interests.
-
-
Gringo Narrattion
- By shakira julia on 02-08-21
By: Ed Morales
-
Caramelo
- By: Sandra Cisneros
- Narrated by: Sandra Cisneros
- Length: 15 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Lala Reyes’ grandmother is descended from a family of renowned rebozo, or shawl-makers. The striped (caramelo) is the most beautiful of all, and the one that makes its way, like the family history it has come to represent, into Lala’s possession. The novel opens with the Reyes’ annual car trip - a caravan overflowing with children, laughter, and quarrels - from Chicago to “the other side”, Mexico City. It is there, each year, that Lala hears her family’s stories, separating the truth from the “healthy lies” that have ricocheted from one generation to the next.
-
-
Love, family, history, and fantasy, Caramelo
- By Michele on 08-07-20
By: Sandra Cisneros
-
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
- By: Erika L. Sánchez
- Narrated by: Kyla Garcia
- Length: 9 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Perfect Mexican daughters do not go away to college. And they do not move out of their parents' house after high school graduation. Perfect Mexican daughters never abandon their family. But Julia is not your perfect Mexican daughter. That was Olga's role. Then a tragic accident on the busiest street in Chicago leaves Olga dead and Julia left behind to reassemble the shattered pieces of her family. And no one seems to acknowledge that Julia is broken, too. Instead, her mother seems to channel her grief into pointing out every possible way Julia has failed.
-
-
FOR LATINAS WHO ARE OFTEN TOLD THEY "SOUND WHITE"
- By Alex on 12-14-18
By: Erika L. Sánchez
-
Ordinary Girls
- A Memoir
- By: Jaquira Diaz
- Narrated by: Almarie Guerra
- Length: 10 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, Jaquira Diaz found herself caught between extremes: as her family split apart and her mother battled schizophrenia, she was surrounded by the love of her friends; as she longed for a family and home, she found instead a life upended by violence. From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto Rico's history of colonialism, Ordinary Girls vibrates with music and lyricism.
-
-
Compelling Story That We Don’t Get Enough Of
- By Leah T. on 06-09-20
By: Jaquira Diaz
-
You Sound Like a White Girl
- The Case for Rejecting Assimilation
- By: Julissa Arce
- Narrated by: Julissa Arce
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this dual polemic and manifesto, Julissa dives into and tears apart the lie that assimilation leads to belonging. She combs through history and her own story to break down this myth, arguing that assimilation is a moving finish line designed to keep Black and brown Americans and immigrants chasing racist American ideals. She talks about the Lie of Success, the Lie of Legality, the Lie of Whiteness, and the Lie of English - each promising that if you obtain these things, you will reach acceptance and won’t be an outsider anymore.
-
-
Thank you!
- By mexime on 09-01-22
By: Julissa Arce
-
How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water
- A Novel
- By: Angie Cruz
- Narrated by: Kimberly M. Wetherell, Rossmery Almonte
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Cara Romero thought she would work at the factory of little lamps for the rest of her life. But when, in her mid-50s, she loses her job in the Great Recession, she is forced back into the job market for the first time in decades. Set up with a job counselor, Cara instead begins to narrate the story of her life.
-
-
Fascinating
- By Tails32x on 09-20-22
By: Angie Cruz
-
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
- By: Julia Alvarez
- Narrated by: Blanca Camacho, Annie Henk, Annie Kozuch, and others
- Length: 9 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents captures the vivid lives of the Garcia sisters, four privileged and rebellious Dominican girls adapting to their new lives in America. In the 1960s, political tension forces the Garcia family away from Santo Domingo and toward the Bronx. The sisters all hit their strides in America, adapting and thriving despite cultural differences, language barriers, and prejudice.
-
-
I'm Latina and even I didn't like it
- By Anonymous User on 07-28-19
By: Julia Alvarez
What listeners say about When I Was Puerto Rican
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- MaryPat
- 09-14-19
Just SO good!
I’ve listened to more than seventy memoirs many narrated by the author, I’m a confirmed junkie of the genre!
Prior to this book Michele Obama held the #1 spot, now I think there’s a tie for first place. Ms Santiago is engaging, believable, honest and interesting. She is an excellent storyteller!
I have only one complaint about this book, it ended. I have already downloaded “Almost a Woman” and I’m starting it now!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Paulette Stout
- 03-13-24
A glimpse in my family past
Growing up in New York, the child of a first generation American born to Puerto Rican parents,we were too far removed from what her parents experienced back on the island. Thank you for this look into my heritage. A joy!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- j.wilson
- 09-23-22
excellent novel
it was a great storyline of Esmeralda's life growing up. it took you through "when she was Peurto Rican"
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Deborah De Jesus
- 04-25-19
Praise
Esmeralda Santiago revives stories of her childhood, and enlivens the images through her tales. Her narration was exceptional.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
5 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Tamara Smith
- 03-01-21
Easy read, interesting insight.
This is written and performed almost as if for a youthful audience. An inspirational story but delivered in a matter-of-fact tone.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lissy
- 10-26-23
Loved it!
I loved the vivid descriptions in the narration and how I could envision everything she was saying! I loved how she would sprinkle Spanish words that are so familiar to me and made me chuckle. I enjoyed this story so much!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 03-14-22
great realistic Puerto rican story
I loved this book it really reminded me of my roots. It brought me back to simple times
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Marciano Galarza
- 01-16-23
Great Book
This book was awesome and reminded me of my childhood from when I used to visit PR and how I grew up in Brooklyn. Can’t wait to get the second book!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- jennie brown
- 06-10-24
Puerto rico
I liked the memory's. I could relate with her journey. my family is Puerto Rican.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Ani
- 02-07-20
Beautiful. Just beautiful.
Truly a lovely read. This very detailed, beautifully read book gave me an insight into my mother, grandmother, and even my great grandmothers life from Puerto Rico as they settled into their new, assimilated life in NY in the 1950’s. I’m literally in tears, don’t want the book to end, and want to hear what happens next! Her children? Grandchildren? How and where are her brothers and sisters? Loved it!
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful