This book is a perfect example of why I love memoirs. Getting to experience Campoverdi’s life and her journey to the White House was so engaging. Canpoverdi’s writing was part of what makes this book such an interesting read. Her descriptions of being a “First and Only” and the unique hardships that came with that offered insights into a life that will resonate deeply with many readers.

I think this is a must read. If you’ve ever been a first (like a first-gen college student, like me) or an only (like being the only person of color in your class or at your job), so many parts of this book will resonate with you. If not, there’s a lot you can learn about what it’s like to be first gen or first and only from Alejandra’s experiences. She writes with honesty and openness, painting a picture of a woman self-actualized enough to reflect critically on how her past has shaped her while also showing the reader she’s also still growing. She does a great job breaking down the impact of generational poverty and trauma, all the background and struggle and faking-it-till-you -make-it that we often don’t shine a light on when we hold up the stories of first and only’s who have “made it”. She also writes so well about social mobility, and about the tension of not fitting in to your family or “old life” while also not feeling like you belong in your new one. Highly recommend.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for giving me a free advanced copy of this book to read and review.

I really enjoyed this vulnerable and relatable memoir. It was focused but broad-covering lots of childhood stories as well as success and challenges without anything thrown in that didn’t contribute to the narrative. She says she’s going to keep it real and she does.
I recently saw a quote about your grandmothers prayers are still keeping you safe, or something akin to that, and I felt that throughout this book. The deep love and connection the author had with her grandmother is so moving. She is clearly able to highlight the positive influences in her life that helped her navigate hard things.
I love love love that the end includes resources, a genogram, and a playlist.
While this is certainly a story about the first generation after immigration, I think it will speak to anyone who breaks generational patterns and does things as a result that they are both proud of and feel different from their family after as a result. Definitely would recommend this read for anyone who has interest in sociology, psychology, immigration, and memoirs.

Oh. This book did something to me -- it broke me, and it healed me in so many deep and varied ways. It so viscerally captures the experience of a "first and only". I have a photograph of me sobbing through the first chapter because it hit me so deeply in the introduction of the book. Alejandra Campoverdi is a treasure everywhere she goes -- whether it be herevarious homes, the White House, in writing... wherever she is is deeply blessed. Thank you for this book.

This memoir about a Latina woman who is the first person in her family to go to college really resonated with me. I'm also the first generation person in my family to go to undergrad and grad school. I appreciated the vulnerability of sharing her story to let others know that we aren't the only ones who also experience similar situations. The vivid details and clear writing that let the reader into her mind set of how she was able to pull herself through the trying times was inspirational. I highly recommend!

I just absolutely love a good memoir from an interesting and insightful person, and that’s exactly what we have here. Alejandra Campoverdi not only opens up and shares her personal story of growing up as first gen, but really explores what it means to strive for social mobility with that first gen identity.

I am not a first gen and I didn’t have to overcome the complex hurdles that comes with it. So while I can never fully understand the depth of what that is like, this memoir does a great job of helping me appreciate it. The author is so honest and vulnerable with her story and struggles you can’t help but be captivated by what she’s saying.

When I first came across First Gen on NetGalley, I thought this would be a "cute, kind of inspiring" story to read, especially as a first gen Latina myself and a "First and Only" as well. I requested the eARC and was really excited to dive into this book. Two weeks after my approval, I lost a loved one. I'm not even going to lie, seeing Alejandra's Instagram didn't inspire me to read the book while I was grieving the loss of a loved one. Why? Because she looked so polished, like she had her life completely together (I know, I know, it's just social media), and here I was suffering a second loss in as many years, wondering how long it would be this time around before I completely unraveled.

The day before publication, Alejandra posted on her Instagram that her book was coming out the next day. I'd seen her posts here and there and mostly just skimmed over them. (I have a point, I promise.) I decided to at least start reading the book that day (the day before publication). After all, I had requested an eARC and thereby had agreed to read and review the book to share with my tens of followers.

I cried while reading the first page. The first page of the prologue. What did me in? Maybe it was my girly hormones. *eyeroll* Or maybe it was a simple phrase: "cycle breakers." What does that mean? Does it refer to breaking the 'cycle of poverty'? The financial cycle of poverty? The educational cycle of poverty? Or does it refer to the generational cycles? The ones that come from trauma. The ones that lead us to do (usually) stupid things simply because many of our ancestors did them and predisposed us to do these things. (Serial cheaters, anyone?) I knew then, as I cried at this simple phrase, as I read the next sentence ("These young people had just white-knuckled their way through school guided solely by the possibility of a better life than their parents'."), that I wasn't just picking up the book and starting it, I was picking up the book to finish it.

I won't say I cried throughout the whole book, but I did cry a lot. I wasn't expecting it. Here is this woman who seems so polished, so well put-together, who oozes confidence (in her Instagram pictures, but still), but who still laid out all the ragged pieces of her life for us in their rawest form. What she went through. What she felt. This isn't a 'rags to riches' story. This is a story about the between - before the 'riches' and what it took to get there. The fight Alejandra put up, the way she blindly dove into things because, as she so eloquently put it at the very beginning, she was guided solely by the possibility of having a better life than her parents.

Alejandra's book is a love story to "First and Onlys" - first generation children of immigrants, first to go to college, first to graduate college (even if some of us, like me, were part of that 90% that don't graduate on time), and for some time even the only ones to go to college. To those of us who grew up in single-parent households, with little to no money. With family aspirations for us to have a decent-paying job and not be screw ups. It's for those of us who were (or are) forging a path to parts unknown, blindly trying to follow 'the masses' into college, hoping against hope that we make it through to the other side. I remember while I was in college feeling for the longest time (I was there for more than four years) that my biggest accomplishment to date was graduating high school without a teenage pregnancy and/or drug-related problems. Knowing that whatever happened after college, whether I graduated or not, I would never move back home again. Ever. That I needed to make something of myself if I wanted to succeed, never mind that I didn't even know what 'making something of myself' or 'succeeding' even entailed.

Alejandra not only delved into the difficulties we First and Onlys face while navigating life without a compass, but the deep-rooted hardships we also have to overcome. She didn't gloss over the hard parts that lay in between the 'rags and riches.' She dissected them. Epigenetics. ACEs. Parentification of children. Imposter syndrome. I cried even harder during these parts. Yes, here is this woman who looks polished and put together, but I recognized where she was going because I'm on this journey right now. My journey to healing. To understanding that the things I went through as a child affected me more deeply than I will probably ever understand.

This book is not 'cute' and it's not 'kind of' inspiring. It's real and raw, and pierces the soul with the truths some of us have long sought to deny. Alejandra gave voice to the things I've experienced and felt for most of my life. She made me feel seen. She validated my struggles and my own white-knuckling story, even if I did not strive for peaks as high as hers.

Thank you, Alejandra, for unpacking and delivering everything in such an elegant and loving manner. For sharing your story. Our story. For helping me see that I too can one day look polished, well put together, and hopefully ooze confidence (I doubt this last one but we'll see), as along as I continue my healing, no matter how hard it has been or will be.

Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this eARC. My reviews are my own, including all my tears.

Thank you to Grand Central/Hatchette for the review copy of First Gen, this is a timely and valuable memoir for many and valued by me as a teaching professor. It is imperative that we keep reflecting on what it is like for our students to attend college, the debt they accumulate, the experiences and challenges unique to first gens students as they navigate the often privileged life of a college or university campus and this memoir serves as a reminder that there is also great value in considering the developmental pathways that lead someone to being on a campus, what do they bring to classes, to social relationships, to dorm life/off campus life. First Gen reminds us to think big about the past, present and future roles of students merging together in important ways in college. What really stood out to me was the examination of "name colleges" and the feeling that it was important to visibly show success and validation and how that impacted Capoverdi's well-being and adult life. Many of us take the idea of success for granted and reading this was a good reminder to me that the idea of success can be complicated for first generation youth in ways that should be better understood on college campuses.

What also stands out is the examination of roles that many first generation immigrant youth navigate as their families engage in a balancing act between their country and culture of origin and the dominant majority culture in the United States. Children being pulled into unique roles helping their parents/family navigate a new language, new pressures are effectively documented.

Alejandra was raised by her single-parent impoverished mother and grandmother. At one point as a teen, she was a gang member’s girlfriend, then through a series of life alternating events became a senior aide in the Obama administration, and eventually a candidate for U.S. Congress. She’s worn many hats throughout her lifetime, often contradictory ones. This is her account of life as a First Gen, someone who is both first in their family and often the first of a member of a specific race or gender to achieve something specific.

She exists in “two worlds” but does not fit in nor is she usually accepted by either. The memoir takes us on a journey from Alejandra’s childhood to how she ended up running for congress without spending a lot of time on her actual achievements but more of the emotional journey and struggles of getting there.

Alejandra sets out to show that people are never one thing. They are complex made up of countless experiences, character traits and opportunities. It’s an inspirational story for anyone looking for stories of belonging, courageousness, and forging your own path.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing for providing a copy through NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Alejandra’s story is remarkable in the ways she was able to overcome countless trials and tribulations as a first generation Latina. She discusses growing up on welfare and later becoming a staffer in the Obama administration as well as the loneliness, guilt, and anxiety she felt getting to that point. While reading I spent a lot of time self reflecting on my own “first and only” experiences and the similarities I shared in the imposter syndrome and guilt being first gen can be. I would recommend this memoir to everyone but specifically to those who are first generation, oldest sibling, first person to go to college, and anyone with immigrant parents because I think we can all find pieces of our experiences in this.

I really enjoyed the memoir First Gen by Alejandra Campoverdi. The author has led an interesting life including a stint as. a White House Staffer in the Obama administration. Campoverdi has also experienced many happinesses and sadnesses on her journey. Of course, the real point of the book is to see the world through the eyes of a First Generation American and the book truly succeeds there. All in all. a good read.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

Thank you to netgalley and Grand Central Publishing for a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

I am a sucker for a good memoir and I truly loved First Gen. Alejandra Campoverdi has an incredible way of weaving her life's story—I was instantly captivated and finished the book quite quickly. Her prose is straight forward but also so vivid.

I felt like the book was one long conversation, that I was sitting and having coffee with her as she shared advice through her stories, and I absolutely loved it. The structure made sense and worked and again, she has a way of picking out details of her life and extrapolating on them in the best way. I laughed, I cried, and I felt moved.

It's hard writing a review on someone's life but I just really loved this memoir.

Woah! As a First and Only, I had no idea that SO many of my experiences were almost universal amongst others! I felt so seen while also saddened that many others had similar lived experiences to mine. Thank you to this incredible author for doing so much of her own healing work to pave a path for others when we’re ready to do our own.

Wow. What a pleasant surprise! I truly enjoyed everything about this memoir. I've never heard of Alejandra Campoverdi before, but she seems like such a smart and accomplished young lady. She was the first in her family to go to college. I loved reading about her childhood. It was so refreshing and so relatable. She is a beautiful writer. She's had some life. Former model, graduate student, former white house staffer for President Obama, a candidate for the United States congress, and she underwent a double mastectomy. I related to the chapters where she talks about her crippling panic attacks she suffered as a child. Alejandra is not afraid to talk about uncomfortable moments from her chaotic upbringing. She has a deep love for her family. You can truly feel how much her family inspired her throughout her professional career. I really enjoy nonfiction and "First Gen" might be my favorite I read this year. Highly recommend!

Thank you, Netgalley and Grand Central for the digital ARC.

Alejandra Campoverdi's story of growing up poor and a minority to rise to the Obama white house is inspirational. However, her memoir in seeking to be aspirational, feels a bit shallow at times and lacks the political intrigue I was hoping for from someone who rose in politics.

I received this book as an ARC, thanks to Netgalley.
I was drawn by the title (not the cover) as a first gen myself. Campoverdi takes the concept of first gen (first generation American children of immigrants) a step further as she describes her experience being a "first and only." Her book brought back into memory a lot of experiences and feelings growing up. Themes are woven into this memoir so beautifully; there was a very organic flow that is sometimes missing when authors try to drive their point home. I can't wait to share this with my DEI book club!

Alejandra Campoverdi is a first generation latina that has surpassed all odds and built herself from being on welfare to working in the White House as Former President Obama's aide. her story is truly remarkable, and it was nice to read a memoir about someone with the odds stacked against them. I would have liked if there were more details on the politics side. Overall, this was very well written. Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC.

I applaud Alejandra for her memoir - it's very well written and I loved learning about her life. You'll feel her emotions expressed with each chapter in a way that makes you want to know what happens next. She's brave and intelligent and I enjoyed her book. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Five stars.