PTW Pick - I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
In “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” we are introduced to Julia Reyes, 15, who recently lost her sister Olga in a freak accident. Starting with the funeral, we’re led into her journey as a Mexican-American teenager dealing with grief and the strict rules and high expectations of immigrant parents.
Olga was the golden child of the family, which leaves Julia at the mercy of her mother’s unrealistic expectations for who she should be. She’s an aspiring writer that wants to go away to college and in no way, shape or form would want to pick up where Olga left off. Although, she finds clues that maybe Olga wasn’t the perfect daughter her parents thought she was.
Julia’s character is essentially insufferable, but I still felt bad for her. Her unabashed wit and sarcasm seemed rooted in anger and pain. She was raised in a low-income area of Chicago, a first generation American, and, like most teens, she’s trying to find herself while being constrained by the fears of her parents. So much was stacked against her and the author, Erika L. Sanchez captured that well. From the normalization of the too-friendly uncle to the roach infested apartment, all I wanted was for Julia to get out of there.
The fact that Olga was hit by a semi-truck was a bit troubling for me; it felt comical when it wasn’t supposed to be. The mystery of Olga’s true self definitely keeps you turning the page. You just have to see what happens. There were so many times I hoped the teacher was a bit more pushy when it came to being a lifeline for Julia, but the reality is, sometimes teenagers’ issues get overlooked.
Julia spirals. Which you would expect a teenager to do under these circumstances. Many adults would do the same. There were some things that felt left undone like her visit to family in Mexico. Mexico seemed like a bleak existence which may have been the author’s intent. Her interaction with Estéban fell flat for me. I wanted more to be there when she left, but life just picked back up with her affluent boyfriend, Connor. It felt unsatisfying that her mother said Mexico would make her feel better and it did. But maybe Ama needed to be right about something. I was also hoping that Julia and Apa would have a bigger moment at some point in the story.
Ultimately, I enjoyed reading. Although some of the subject matter felt extremely heavy, anxiety and depression are very real issues that many teens are dealing with. I loved that a Mexican-American teen was at the center of the story. Young people need to be able to see themselves in stories like this and I’m sure many have been able to identify with Julia’s struggles.
Ashley Coleman is a freelance writer and project manager based in Philadelphia. Her work has been featured in The Cut, Apartment Therapy and more. She’s working on her novel manuscript and tweeting about it along the way.