
Member Reviews

I thought this was going to be a different story than what it was, but it was still very interesting! It would switch to Catalina’s thoughts versus reality of what was actually transpiring. I had to adjust to that, but once I did, it was easier to read.
I also found it extremely sad a lot of times. Something that happens towards the end of the story was heart breaking for me…
Catalina had resilience and spunk throughout, and I had to admire her for that, as others in her situation/circumstances may have faltered! Knowing that your existence, your very being, is questioned by others would be hardest of all….
Thank you to Net Galley for an ebook copy in exchange for an honest review!

In Catalina we follow a senior at Harvard who is an undocumented American and is running out of time to decide what this will mean for her after graduation. Catalina is having a bit of a crisis as she feels like the clock is ticking down to something she can’t fully cope with. Throughout this novel, we follow her last year of college in a fictionalized memoir detailing the highs and lows of feeling like a ticking time bomb.
Personally, I loved Karla Cornejo Villavicencio’s non-fiction book, The Undocumented Americans, so I was really curious to see how her lyrical prose would translate here into literary fiction. This new book actually shares a lot with her memoir: both have that captivating writing that keeps you turning pages, and offers a deeply personal look at a character barely holding it together. Catalina is clearly shaped by trauma, and we see how it leads her into one problem after another. She’s often reactionary but also suffers in silence, making her both fascinating and frustrating. You want to understand her better, but she keeps so much bottled up. It definitely fits into that “messy 20-something, no plot, just vibes” genre. However, the book felt a bit disjointed, more like a series of essays than a cohesive narrative, which made it hard for the story to fully come together for me.
Another thing that stood out was how much of the author’s life seemed to come through in the book. It’s set during Obama’s second term, around when Villavicencio was a student at Harvard and DACA was a big issue impacting dreamers across the U.S. This context adds a lot of depth around identity and the “dreamer” experience. At times, though, the narrative felt like it overlapped too much with her memoir. There were moments when I felt like I was re-reading passages from The Undocumented Americans, which made it feel a bit repetitive. Perhaps this could be because both use pretty similar writing styles; I didn’t go back and check her memoir for evidence of this. Regardless, it took me out of the story a bit and made me question what is something new being presented to me here? How is this different to her memoir? And the differences felt marginal.
Yet, there was something I really enjoyed about this book and this was how Latin American culture, history, and identity are discussed by Catalina and her grandfather. It’s interesting to see people try to tell Catalina what being Latin American—or even Ecuadorian—should mean to her, especially in a political sense. There’s some sharp commentary on academia, too, particularly on how scholars sometimes approach studying other cultures with a white savior mentality. Additionally, the types of misleading interactions with faculty who never really make it clear how they feel which can make for odd relationships. I felt this thread of exploring and understanding identity built nicely and was woven in well by the end. The ending of this book in general succinctly brought the themes together and made me finally have that a-ha moment of understanding what the author had been building. Yet, I wish certain parts of the story had a bit more development to really make the ending more impactful.
Overall, this book feels like a long-form fictionalized essay touching on a lot of topics. Some of these themes may really connect with readers, while others might feel a bit inaccessible. I still love Villavicencio’s writing, but this book felt too close to her memoir for me to fully enjoy as a distinct piece of fiction.

This reminded me of The Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey with its portrayal of, as Holden put it, the "phoniness" and the pointlessness of social contrivances when you are living with serious existential issues and mental turmoil and people are just continuing on with their bullshit.
Catalina is in the middle of it all at Harvard, the "center of the center" to quote Slumdog Millionaire, and yet she is listless and disgusted. Catalina's college girliness felt so real and embarrassingly relatable, but she has a legitimate reason to hate the world and have an attitude. She's undocumented, she's dealing with actual problems, and whatever she accomplishes at Harvard won't even matter because she's legally unable to get a job.

Catarina is a senior at Harvard, soon to graduate. She is also a Dreamer who has a hard time planning for an unknown future which is more like a carrot dangled in front of her face. Thoughtful and provoking.

This book brought me to tears. But not until after I put it down and sat to write this review. And I think that’s the true power of Catalina and Karla Cornejo Villavicencio’s writing. Catalina’s story is written with such quick-paced nonchalance that the heavy hits of Catalina’s many traumas don’t land until they’re long over. And if that isn’t a perfect metaphor for life within the immigration system, I don’t know what is.
Cornejo Villavicencio writes the story of an undocumented Harvard student with both the nuance and nonchalance of an undocumented Harvard student because Cornejo Villavicencio was one. On the one hand, Catalina is a self-destructive, impulsive, and rebellious early twenty-something who is trying to figure herself out and on the other hand, Catalina is a bright Harvard student whose success will pave the way for the DREAMers who come after her. But she’s not interested in being anyone’s poster child. Until maybe she has to be. But even then, maybe not.
In Catalina, the immigration system is simultaneously omnipresent but also as fickle as Catalina herself. Catalina describes it perfectly: “It was hard to believe something this exciting was happening to us. Not in a good way. In fact, it was the worst possible scenario coming true. But the violence in our lives was an accumulation of many indignities over time. Except for the colorful indignities, our lives were dull. This would actually move the plot along. I realized I’d been training my whole life for this moment.” Within immigration systems, nothing happens until it does and often those affected realize they’d been subconsciously prepping for it through the mundanities of daily life.
As someone who lived for nearly a decade with immigration processes as constant companions, Catalina struck a chord. If you’re interested in a representation of a life with immigration, this is a must-read. I will note that the writing is stream of conscience so it may be a tough read for those of you who are into more plot-driven stories, but also it’s less than 200 pages. For me, it was well worth sticking with it.
(Thank you to @netgalley and the publisher for a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!)

Did not finish, unfortunately. I was interested in the characters but I couldn't keep track of the stream of consciousness writing.

I really enjoyed Catalina. The novel is short, and covers 4 seasons of Catalina's final year in college around 2010. An undocumented young woman from Ecuador, she goes to Harvard before the DREAM act is passed. She seems to have a lot of advantages - very smart, talented, charming, but a lot of disadvantages compared to her classmates, not understanding all their references, and then a real inability to find a job after college due to her status. This really brought to life the struggle that many DREAM-ers faced and still faced, but in a very relatable, entertaining way.

This was fine! I do think Villavicencio is a phenomenal writer, but I thought it was a bit strange that her fiction voice and nonfiction voice read so similarly. Like I almost wished I was just reading a collection of essays instead? There was not much plot, but it didn’t feel “vibey” either like some other campus novels do, so it mostly just felt like a very long essay. I really enjoy her writing but I do think I’d be more eager to read nonfiction from her in the future.

An impressive debut by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, I am excited to read whatever comes next. Felt like a great piece in conversation with The Idiot by Elif Batuman.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio. This novel is a raw and emotional exploration of family, trauma, and identity. Villavicencio’s lyrical writing pulls you into Catalina’s journey as she confronts her immigrant family’s struggles and uncovers painful secrets. What stood out most for me was her fearless approach to tough topics like mental health and grief, which added depth and intensity to the story. However, the non-linear narrative made it a bit hard to follow at times. Despite this, Catalina is a powerful and thought-provoking read for anyone interested in deeply personal and reflective storytelling.

A stream-of-consciousness coming-of-age story about the dream of America, this debut novel opens in the summer before Catalina Ituralde's senior year at Harvard. Born in Ecuador, the lone survivor of a car accident that killed her parents, she was sent as a child to the US to live with her also-undocumented grandparents. Now, before she can come of age, she's got to figure her shit out. As a young person impacted by DACA and the DREAM Act, Catalina's got to figure out where to aim her voice. And that is where author Karla Cornejo Villavicencio shines -- character and voice. Catalina's voice charms, flusters, humors, shames, and rips the seams. Her inner monolog weaves in sharp commentary on class, racial divisions, and America's immigration system as she infiltrates and embeds within the elite subcultures of Harvard.
[Thanks to Random House and NetGalley for an opportunity to read an advanced reader copy and share my opinion of this book.]

This story is timely and provides a story for others in this country with similar status. The writing style is a bit different than I am used to and different than what I prefer for my own reading enjoyment. However, the writing style may prompt reflection as readers read this story. I do think I would recommend to upper high school students as they explore their own future plans. Thank you to NetGalley for an early ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Villavicencio's debut The Undocumented Americans was so powerful. Catalina has a different feel (almost a stream of consciousness) but via a
fictional memoir explores some of the same themes, particularly the challenges of being an undocumented American.

*My review in full will only be shared on Goodreads and a mini review shared on Instagram. I do not give full reviews for books 2 stars and under as to respect those who have given favorable reviews.
I definitely felt like "it's me, I'm the problem" as I was reading this story. What I mean by that is as a reader, I felt like the story itself was fine but I had some issues with the formating- there are no chapters, just parts with almost endless streams of consciousness. You get one event of Catalina's life in detail and then the next few paragraph are throw backs and then the next is back to the present. The dialogue between Catalina and those around her I felt was rather inpersonal. I felt unattached to all of the characters in the story, including Catalina our protagonist.
Catalina is an undocumented American living in the mid 2000s-2010s and after unbelievable odds has found herself at Harvard- in the Anthropology department. I was rather drawn to this aspect of the story as I am an archaeologist and very familiar with at least some of the context of the story. Catalina lives with her undocument grandparents as well and is an orphan, having come to the US as a child. Mid-story, misfortune strikes and her grandfather is facing deportation.
I felt all of Catalina's relationships odd- it seems she was very reactionary. She would say things and do things (bait?) to get a rise or reaction of others, including her friends and family around her that made me uncomfortable. Some of the lines though were beautiful and I could definitely see fans of Rooney or Mellors really identifying with this book.
It just sadly wasn't meant for me and that's okay!
A huge thank you to NetGalley and One Word Random House Publishing for the copy!

I really enjoyed the writing style. I decided to listen to the audiobook and it was fantastic on audio. This made me want to go back and read Karla's last book!

I was pretty underwhelmed with this book. It is not my kind of novel, it is a lot of musings and not a lot of plot. The way the character's musings are presented felt a lot like they could've been an essay but were thinly veiled as fiction. I loved KCV's nonfiction and feel her writing is stronger in that form and that this book was trying to do that in fiction that didn't land for me.

Catalina Ituralde is a student at Harvard University and her whole family's hopes and dreams rest on her success at Harvard and beyond. She's also undocumented and this causes challenges and stresses that her peers can't begin to imagine or understand. Set in the days before DACA, the novel explores themes of belonging, privilege, identity, and cultural appropriation. At times, Catalina seems almost (understandably) detached from her own story, and this gives the novel a dream-like quality. I didn't love it, but I can appreciate that Catalina (the novel) is an important contribution to our understanding of what it means to be undocumented in the U.S. and gives voice to those experiences.

Villavicencio's writing is disconcertingly evocative, inserting the reader not just into the story, but truly into the mind of our eponymous protagonist, Catalina. The writing feels deeply personal in a way that challenges readers and their perceptions, while bringing to light a story that so critically needs to be told.

Catalina is a novel following a young woman who is undocumented. Catalina came to the United States from Ecuador to live with her grandparents after the tragic death of her mother and father. Catalina is a student at Harvard. As she navigates this environment, she is also dealing with her undocumented status and what it will mean for her future.
Cornejo Villavicencio's The Undocumented Americans was one of my favorite books in 2020 so I was so excited to read Catalina! Catalina gives an important voice to characters we don't always see in fiction, people who are undocumented in the United States. Catalina reflects a young woman who has made it to a coveted spot in American society by being a student at Harvard. While Catalina has found her place at Harvard working at a museum and writing her dissertation, she is also astounded by the people around her and their lifestyles. In so many ways Catalina fits in and has a way of charming everyone around her, but she is also aware if how out of touch these people are.
Catalina is written in a stream of consciousness style. You read about Catalina working, going to school, and interacting with the people around her, but you also get to the depths of her thoughts and feelings as she discusses her past, her family, and her thoughts on all of the things she is going through. Catalina felt like such a unique read because of this. I loved being in Catalina's head, experiencing everything through her amusing and sometimes dramatic point of view.
While this writing style may not be for everyone, I absolutely loved it and this book solidified my love for this author and her storytelling.

Thank you One World and NetGalley for an eARC in exchange for an honest review!
This was a wonderful novel and I’m surprised at how much was packed into just over 200 pages. I really liked Catalina’s voice and even the minutiae of her days felt interesting; the prose is clear and lovely. I enjoyed the way this story was told and though I don’t think a whole lot of time was spent on descriptions, the characters all felt real and the portrait painted was stark. Catalina reminds me why I love contemporary literary fiction, and while there were definitely points where my attention wandered a bit, it’s still an excellent novel and well worth the read.