Soo good! I love the writing style of the book - it grabs you from the first page. The plot was sad but very realistic. I would recommend it.

I saw in other reviews a comparison to Catcher in the Rye and I think they nailed it. I could not get into this book and felt like I was slogging through, very much how I felt reading Catcher in the Rye.

5 "miraculous, wacky, moving" stars !!!

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Knopf Doubleday Publishing group for an e-book in exchange for my honest review.

This novel is one of hope, authenticity and sacredness amidst Spanish Harlem inequities, cruelties and survival. We are introduced to Julio, a teenage boy, whose heart is pure, whose love is deep and who is trying to manage a deep infatuation, family pressures, a propensity to see visions and to carve a world for himself where at times scarcity rules.

He loves Taina. She is fifteen and pregnant but untouched. Is she somebody holy ? She is foul mouthed, passionate and has a voice that can move mountains. She in turn begins to love Julio.
We also have their mothers who used to be best friends, an ex-con who dresses up in carnival gear and punishes himself, Julio's communist and dejected father who is so lost in America. We have a Puerto Rican wise woman who is both mystical and wise. These characters interact and love and suffer.

The book is an exquisite mix of family drama and magical realism in the midst of contemporary Spanish Harlem where the mystical past combine with blatant poverty and materialism. We learn about the various Latin ethnicities and how important family is. How psychiatry and Jehovah Witness services can work hand in hand. How hard work can combine with petty criminality.
How music can save a neighborhood, heal the past and make sensuality transcendent.

There are episodes of humor, then episodes of deep love that take us through spiritual transformations. Psychosis can be helpful. We learn of cruelties done to Puerto Ricans in the name of science but really for the comfort of White capitalism.

There is so much beauty and hope in this book and a power that I found both hypnotic and everyday. We just need to look at the moon, rub our mother's feet, stroke our father's back and believe that a teenage Puerto Rican girl can immaculately conceive.

I love you Julio and through your escapades you have brought me some hope in this time of pandemic.

A warm thank you to Mr Quinonez for bringing this novel to life.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an ARC of this book.

I loved the magical realism portion of it, once I realized that this was part of the book, I was able to enjoy it more. This touched on many topics such as sterilization, learning about the Puerto rican discrimination, gentrification and coming of age, love. I definitely related to many characters in the book. It was a quick read.

While I enjoyed this book, I did have some complaints, Firstly the title is deceiving, I know that synopsis is correct but I was looking forward to learning more about Taina and back story. While in the ending you do learn more, I wasn't thoroughly satisfied, nor did I like her character that much. Julio seemed a bit naive, and I do not think very realistic of a character. I was confused about the time period and sometimes, there were too many stories going on. While I enjoyed further insight on all the characters, I sometimes lost the plot.

I plan to re-read this book, because I feel like there is a lot I missed.

I didn't understand most of this book - I think that [even though my friend HATES this statement, it is how I feel, especially with books like this] I am just not quite smart enough to get it. She also said it was like a Spanish version of "Catcher in the Rye" and I really didn't like that book so that could explain why this one fell short for me.

There were moments that were funny and there were moments where I got a glimmer of what was trying to be said, but I struggled with the Spanish [which I pretty much tanked in HS MANY moons ago] and I struggled with the story and so the book just became more of a struggle for me than anything else.

I guess the best thing I can say is that it seems to me that it is a book about love - of family, of country, of money. And it is a book about forgiveness and who truly needs it. That is what I got out of it. Amidst all the rest of the story that was being told.

I did LOVE this section of the book - this, to me, was just beautiful and lyrical and almost the best part of the book:
"That night when Taina sang, no one had credit card debt, no one had rents to pay, no one had ills or imperfections, no one knew the meaning of sad words, no one remembered winter. Everyone got paid, the right way. Everyone was young. Everyone built a ladder to the starts. Everyone did for others what they wanted done for themselves. Everyone was in love. Everyone saw who loved them. Everyone had been forgiven." <--If only it was all like that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group/Vintage Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

'By this time the air had gone flat in Taína’s life and it was her mother who answered all the questions.'

Spanish Harlem, fifteen year old Taína and songbird of young Julio’s heart, is a virgin… a pregnant virgin! She tells everyone, “maybe some angel entered the project”, impregnating her. She has never been with a man, no way! Her mother Inelda (Sister Flores) would never allow such a thing, and she tells the elders at her Kingdom Hall of Jehova’s witnesses as much, it’s not even possible because she is always present, she is the all seeing eye in her daughters life, besides God, of course. No way would they go to the hospital, subjecting Taína to such an intrusion (examination) to prove her virginity! Instead, they resign themselves to a sort of imposed silence in public, “The two women were living in a universe of two, and it seemed that not even the crowds could disturb them.” Julio wants the feeling Taína inspires with her singing, angelic in and of itself, able to make people weep, “so I could hear love.” How different Taína is in person, with her foul mouth and fury. What is the shame that happened? The shame people speak of that marks Inelda as a bad mother? Why is Taína’s beauty suspect, why do social workers come to their door, ignored like everyone else?

One thing is certain, Julio is going to sneak his way into Taína’s life, one way or another! He will keep visiting her door until he is let in to her home and heart. Let the residents of “Spanish Harlem” believe the worst, believe in some tragedy, he will chose instead to believe in Taína, even if he makes a fool of himself, it’s a tale worth believing. Who hasn’t been a fool for love, eh?

This passion will have Julio visiting a prison to question a dangerous criminal, teased mercilessly at school for being ‘crazy’ (and not just for believing in Taína’s angelic conception), wasting money on offerings for the forthcoming miracle baby, and getting caught up in crazy schemes for money, maybe even dealing in posh dogs. Sneaking out at night, after his parents fall asleep, he meets El Vejigante who tells him “Many people don’t know me because old people are invisible”. This strange man wearing an old, fading satin cape may just be his ticket into Taína’s good graces. He is the once famous Capeman, keeper of the night, his name is Salvador but just who is he to Taína and how he can help won’t be known until their next secret meeting.

Julio is a good boy, but good boys can do questionable things when they think it will help another. What if his mother takes him back to the psych ward, because of his visions which are tied into Taína, solidifying his belief in the miracle of her pregnancy? He tells the reader, he believes he is free to make choices and “but I would be held accountable for my choices”, still he would not turn away from her as the church has, even if his mother demands it. Even if he promises to stay away from her, his inner universe of belief won’t let him.

There is a challenge of loyalty, Inelda and Taína need the help of Peta Ponce, “she is known all over”, an espiritista (spiritualist) but it takes money to get her to come to them, money they do not have surviving off WIC checks and this… this is where Julio comes into play. Inelda isn’t the only woman of the project they live in to use Peta Ponce’s services, but that’s a whole other fork in the story. What sort of magic can this woman practice that leads Pureto Rican women to have more faith in her than in actual doctors? Sal knows, but he isn’t forthcoming with answers to all of Julio’s questions. One thing the reader knows is, Julio doesn’t know much about anything. Through the story, many secrets of his own mother’s past comes to light, as does Taína’s mysterious tale and if it makes him feel ‘paralyzed with happiness’ just to be in her presence rubbing her swollen pregnant feet, who are we to question it? It’s time for Julio to figure out his hustle, to be the man and savior she needs.

The novel veers off her and there, meandering through other characters origins and their pasts, like Peta Ponce, Salvador, Inelda, Julio’s mother and father. There is magical realism, poverty, multicultural flavors, coming of age as a misfit, the difficulties Puerto Ricans face, Julio’s visions, “Whom I saw was my mother. I saw her dreams, I saw my fathers dreams too. They were trampled and unfinished.” It’s a strange novel, Julio is both oblivious and hyper-aware and it leads to all sorts of confusions for the poor boy and his family, some run ins with the police. Even so, maybe be can be their salvation. Maybe we will get to the bottom of Taína’s miraculous pregnancy. Sometimes I lost the plot, but it’s a decent book, it just needed some containment, it runs off a bit with the telling and characters. A unique story, the cover is fantastic.

Out Today! September 3, 2019

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

3.5 stars

A sort of Latino Catcher In the Rye, Taina is at first a glimpse into the everyday challenges of adolescent Spanish Harlem. The use of dialect and the prominence of a spiritual framework to life give the book its place in multicultural literature. Another highly recognizable element of Latino writing, magical realism episodes elevate the book to so much more than a bildungsroman.

The central premise of a pregnant teenager claiming to still be a virgin and another teenager choosing to believe her appears to set up a captivating plot line; however, there are long passages that simply failed to keep me interested. For this reason, my rating has to be lowered. Taina is the kind of book that a reader needs to pick up for him or her self. For me, it was a decent but not stellar read.

DNF 50%

I really wanted to like this and I did enjoy the first 'verse' (aka chapter). The paragraphs could be a bit dense, but I'm not sure if this is due the edition I received or if the original was also this way.
The opening of this novel was intriguing in that the narrator emerges only a few pages in, and before that it almost seems as if a collective was relating Taína's life. The protagonist turns out to be a naive boy affected by 'visions' and the certainty that Taína's pregnancy is due to a miracle of sorts.
My issues started in the following verses, when the focus shifted on the protagonist and his friends. The overabundance of 'cuz' was off-putting and the portrayal of high school seemed fairly clichéd (would no staff member notice that an older kid pours milk down the shirt of his schoolmates? Especially if he does this regularly...it seems unlikely and a bit of an 'old' fashioned style of bullying).
I just lost interest...the writing was too dense and clumsy (again, I don't know if this is due to the edition I received or if the final version will also be this way)....
What I did like is that integrated with the narrative there were some untranslated phrases and words in Spanish.