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After reading the first seven pages of How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents i started to think that i wouldn't like the book. I am hoping that will change because my reading of this book is a requirement. I did not appreciate the authors third person omniscient point of view. My person feelings on the matter are I do not like when authors use that point of view because I prefer to get thoughts from one character about the other characters versus having an all-knowing narrator that tells us everyone's feelings but only vaguely. As far as the plot was concerned I learned very little from the first seven pages and was not hooked which is the job of the beginning of the book. I learned only some details about thoughts or feelings and seemingly meaningless descriptions of children's interactions with cake. The front cover seemed interesting but kind of threw me off track. It was appealing but I didn't understand the purpose of a women's legs in nice dancing shoes. Or at-least I think they were dancing shoes. To end things on a positive note i was very interested as to why they were forced to leave The Dominican Republic. I am interested to hear about the "girls" fathers involvement in the attempted overthrowing of a dictator. I am also interested to find out how the girls adapt and assimilate to teen culture. On top of that i wish to know which aspects the girls decide to become involved in. Although I am not overly pleased with the beginning of this book I am hoping the end turn-out is different.
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ReplyDeleteDrew I completely agree with you. I had to force myself to get through the first 7 pages and it felt like I had been reading forever. I was not hooked by the beginning and I hope it gets better soon, because like you said, we have to read it. I also was interested on why the family had to leave the Dominican Republic, it made me curious. I like how you mentioned that because I think it will be important later in the novel. I like your positive attitude toward the book hoping that it will get better, I hope so too. I also agree with you that the cover threw me off a little bit because I was not completely sure why it was designed that way. It did make me think though which is good.
ReplyDeleteI can understand why you said the things you said. I felt the same way when I turned to the first page. Yes, the first pages of the book were quite boring, but I think you might end up liking the book. It's just the introduction and it's simply introducing key characters and the setting in order for the reader to understand the rest of the book. If only it was more interesting. However, it does make the reader ask some questions about Yolanda and her family and why she speaks hesitant Spanish. I think the exciting parts of the book will come later on when we actually start following the girls' journey to the US and all the obstacles that will stand in their way. I hope I actually end up liking this book because it seems pretty interesting. The title entices the reader to pick up the book, but it is up to the reader to find out for themselves how the Garcia Girls lost their accents. I'm in the same boat with you on the front cover; I just don't understand it. Obviously its some little girl's legs, but so far it doesn't make much sense. Maybe as we read further, the importance or symbolism of the cover will become clearer.
ReplyDeleteI can understand why you did not like the first seven pages of the book. Most of what was said in the dialogue was about children wanting to eat cake, and I can agree that it did not tell me much about anything in the story. I also agree that the third person omniscent, while it does give perspective on everyone, it does not really give in-depth analysis of the characters, unlike what a first person point of view would do for character descriptions and giving information throughout the story. Hopefully it will improve for you. Keep posting Drew.
ReplyDeleteDrew, i felt the exact same way as you did when i started reading the book. At first glance i didn't think it was going to be too bad because the reviews were good, but books always show the good reviews; what book would show the negative ones? But after reading a couple pages it kinda seemed boring to me. Also i totally agree with you about the 3rd person point of view. I HATE that point of view so much. I like first person because it allows for me to go inside a characters mind and see what they are thinking. On the contrary, i also agree with the things you said at the end. I, too, am interested in how they are involved with the dictator and why they are leaving the Dominican Republic. These are both very interesting topics that might lead to a solid story. But, as of now, I'm with you on it not seeming like too good of a book. Hopefully it will get better for the both of us.
ReplyDeleteDrew, I agree with almost all of your points. After reading through the first few pages I also decided I would most likely not enjoy this book and reading it would be difficult. I would hope that it gets more interesting as we get further into it. I think the cover of the book may have something to do with an event that happens later on in the story. The book does seem to have some hope that it will turn out to be good. Once we get beyond the point of introducing all of the characters, I think the action will start and possibly make the book more interesting.
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