Dominicana by Angie Cruz is about a teenager named Ana Cancion who moves to America with her husband from the Dominican Republic. Fifteen year old Ana never imagined that she would be going to America. She thought she would spend her entire life in the Dominican countryside. However, when Juan Ruiz proposes to her, her entire life changes. He is twice her age and she doesn’t love him but she is excited about the opportunity to go to America. She knows that it is an opportunity for her family to eventually immigrate over and it’s an opportunity that many people wish they had but might never get.
In 1965, on New Year’s Day, Ana packs up her belongings and leaves everything she knows behind. In New York City, she becomes Ana Ruiz. She spends most of her time in their apartment and the rest of the time is spent taking care of Juan and his younger brother, Cesar. Ana is miserable and isolated with her new life as her new husband turns out to be abusive towards her. She decides to run away and hatches a plan to escape. However, while at the bus terminal, she crosses paths with Cesar and he convinces her to stay.
Juan has to return back to the Dominican Republic as the country is in political turmoil. He needs to secure their family assets and ensure that their restaurant business is coming along okay. Juan leaves Ana behind and asks Cesar to watch over her.
Ana is overwhelmed and excited by her new freedom. She can finally do whatever she wants without having to worry about Juan. She can take English lessons, spend time exploring the city, go dancing with Cesar, watch movies and have her own food and clothing repair business. Ana finds that she is finally enjoying her life in America. However, when Juan returns unexpectedly, Ana is torn. Will she give up her newly found freedom or stay with Juan so her family can have a better life?
The book is an entertaining read. The writing style was easy to read and flowed smoothly. The book was slow during some parts and nothing was happening for quite a bit. The story reminds me of many stories I heard of immigrant families sacrificing to have the opportunity to come to America.
I was saddened to see how trapped Ana must have felt because she had to deal with an abusive husband and then a family who was expecting her to lift them out of poverty. Many times she had to put other people’s happiness before her own. I enjoyed the parts of the story where she was able to find bits of happiness for herself; even if the way she went about it wasn’t the best idea.
The novel is narrated by both Ana and Juan. I thought both perspectives were engaging but I didn’t think it was important or necessary to include Juan’s story. It was interesting to read about his perspective but his story didn’t add much to the main story line as he mostly muses about his love for another married woman. It could have been left out and I wouldn’t have missed it. Perhaps, if his chapters talked about Ana and how he felt towards her, it would have added more to the story. The majority of the novel is narrated by Ana, and Juan’s chapters were a small part of the book. If you like reading stories about women finding their voices, then you might enjoy this book.
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