Follows a year in the life of Catalina Ituralde, a Harvard student and granddaughter of undocumented immigrants, as she infiltrates elite circles. This is written in a stream of consciousness manner that gets chaotic at times. While I tend to like this style, interesting plot threads would be introduced, then quickly abandoned. This book deals heavily with Catalina's fears about securing a job as an undocumented immigrant, with this secret coloring the way she views the world around her. don't think I've ever read this POV in fiction before! Truly a book that's
"no plot, just vibes." Lots of sad girl lit energy here, although it was less of a campus novel than I was expecting.

CATALINA is a riveting read and one I enjoyed immensely. I loved Catalina's family and learning their history; I cared as much about them as I cared for Catalina and her experiences leading us into the future. I especially appreciate how it weaves familial and cultural history throughout the story, providing even more depth and layers, as Catalina's experiences at Harvard play out in the present. I'll definitely recommend this to colleagues and to writing students. I also look forward to using it as a mentor text in one of my fall novel writing classes.

I always appreciate a book that broadens my knowledge about people in situations that I am aware of but have never personally experienced. Karla Cornejo Villavicencio has written an extremely relevant and interesting account of the struggles faced with many in our country. The characters were interesting and relatable. I really enjoyed this book. Thanks #NetGalley #RandomHouse

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

Catalina is a fresh take on a campus novel, sans a typical white female narrator. We follow undocumented Harvard student, Catalina, as she navigates school and a precarious home life.

Villavicencio's characters are well defined, multi-faceted, and real to a fault. Catalina is exact flavor of pretentious, youthful arrogance that drives me up the wall, The story started off slow and really took off in the last third, but Catalina's narration was almost stream of consciousness, which I found somewhat difficult to follow. I also found the devastation of the ending to be in stark contrast to the tone of the rest of the novel. Villavicencio's prose was sharp and gorgeous, just like her previous nonfiction. I anticipate reading this again, hopefully on audio, to see what else I can get out of Catalina.

Well well done. A bit disjointed but the uncustomary prose carries the day. Catalina is quite the extraordinary young lady, seems truly unbothered by it all. Though she is a Harvard student and an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador she remains truly unfazed by all that is happening around her. Her parents died in Ecuador so she was sent to America to stay with her undocumented Grandparents. One would think this setup would lead to some trauma filled writing, this is however very artfully avoided and instead we are presented with the wonderful character of Catalina and her eclectic thoughts on a myriad of subjects. This is quite a reading experience and one I think is worth indulging. Bravo! Big thanks to Netgalley and One World Publishing for an advanced DRC.

Turns out I need to be in the right mood to read about the self-absorbed, stream-of-consciousness thinking of a college student. This book made me wonder how I would feel reading Catcher in the Rye as an adult.

Though the writing style wasn’t bothersome and is a welcome way to get into the mind of the protagonist, I must admit – sometimes, I just didn’t care.

Catalina kind of reminded me of when I’d be at a party in college and inevitably be cornered by a friend who wanted to go on and on about organized religion while also veering into other random topics without notice. Part of it was interesting, but eventually, I lost the point of the story.

One of the more interesting aspects is Catalina’s Dreamer status (her family escaped Latin America as undocumented immigrants), which she dips into, but again with either an extreme obsession or detachment, the same methodology she applies to everything else in her life.

The cover is gorgeous, and I appreciated the writing, but it didn't quite fit what I thought the story was going to be.

This is such a unique book that kept me hooked until the very end. The harsh realities that Catalina faces are so well written and gives the reader so much insight into the plight of the character - Karla Cornejo Villavicencio is such a powerful voice in writing and I am so grateful to have read this book.

"The air quality in our home was not good for me, and when I was twelve, my pediatrician said that I had asthma. I was aghast. I was born nine thousand feet above sea level! My lungs were supposed to be spectacular. Did my pediatrician not know? Should we tell her?"

Catalina's sense of humor made this such a JOY to read. Being in Catalina's mind as she navigates her first year at Harvard unapolgetically herself was a hilarious treat. Yes, there are similarities to Elif Batuman's "The Idiot" (in both its humor and Harvard setting). but that is one of my absolute favorite books. Really loved the depth added with Catalina being an undocumented immigrant and seeing how this is explored in heartbreaking yet incredibly realistic ways. These added layers create a poignancy that differs from "The Idiot," and I deeply appreciated this storyline.

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me to discover a new favorite!

I loved Karla's first book, "Undocumented Americans", so I knew I had to read her fiction debut. Catalina is a coming of age story about an undocumented gal navigating life, love, and uncertainty while at Harvard. One of the main things I enjoyed about this book is that Catalina is not one dimensional -- although she is undocumented, that's not the focal point of the story. The ending was a shocker! I highly recommend!

A story about Catalina, an undocumented immigrant raised by her grandparents and her experience at Harvard. I recommend this book.

We follow Catalina, in her final year as a student at Harvard. Catalina was born in Ecuador, and orphaned as a baby after she survived the car accident that killed her parents. SHe was raised by an aunt and uncle until she was shipped off at 5 to live with her grandparents in NYC. The big problem she and her grandparents have always faced is they are all undocumented, and being undocumented dictates every action they take. Catalina beat the odds and earned a scholarship place in Harvard, she is in her senior year and getting ever closer to a point where her undocumented status will hold her back from having the career she wants.

What can't this author do, her writing speaks to a part of my soul. Ever since I read her book The Undocumented Americans I have not been able to stop thinking about it. I was privileged enough to be born a citizen of the country I live in, my parents were able to leave South America and come here with their papers so I have never had the fear of being undocumented or my family being undocumented but I understand how we are very lucky to be in this position. So many Latine families do not live with the same security I have had my whole life. So Karla's writing and perspective of people and characters who do live those lives make me understand in a way I could never on my own. Her writing is so beautiful and flawless, it is so readable and compelling. Her characters were so well written, I can 100% see them as real people in my family. You understood all their flaws, and connected with their strifes. They had dreams, ambitions, emotions, and hardships. I honestly this this should be required reading it was a stunning novel.

I would say that I have mixed feelings about this book.
On one hand, I liked Catalina and wanted things to go well for her. On the other had, she was self-sabotaging much of the time and I was frustrated by it.
Another thing was the writing - the book was very readable, but much of it was basically stream-of- consciousness and jumped around too much for my liking.
Overall, I'd say this was a good book, and gave me insight into what it's like to be undocumented. There were some flaws that made it less enjoyable for me, but generally I liked this.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy.

I really liked The Undocumented Americans and was interested to read fiction by the author. Unfortunately the stream of consciousness style and character driven (light on plot) story wasn’t for me and I decided to DNF at 57%. Thank you to the publisher for the free book to review.

Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio is the story of a undocumented immigrant who is going to attend Harvard ad her time there. She came to America at a young age after losing her parents and living with her undocumented grandparents. She does very well in school which opens doors for her. Dreaming is easy, but is her dreams, wants and needs within her reach when afraid of losing everything? Her journey was not always easy but gave us insights to her aspirations and fears. This story was moving and complicated and definitely left me wanting to read more from this new to me author.

Happy reading!

I didn't think I would honestly like this book. I did really enjoy it and read it in one day! I would definitely recommend it to all my family and friendsl

Catalina is almost a stream of consciousness novel, where the main character shares all her thoughts over the course of her final year as an undocumented American at Harvard. The story is messy and at times disjoined, but still a very compulsive read.

Despite the sporadic storytelling which made this read like a memoir, I was moved to tears repeatedly due to my similar life experiences. If I hadn’t related so closely to the main character, I may have reviewed this differently based on the writing, but absolutely believe it’s worth a read for any immigrants or those who love an immigrant.

I normally read litfic but for some reason this book caught my eye. I actually really enjoyed it. To say this was all vibes is an understatement. The main character Catalina is extremely toxic but I loved the way the author wrote her narrative. The book was written in such a manic way... but honestly that's how I think too so I loved it. This is very much heavy on illegal immigrants and the resulting trauma living as an illegal immigrant on Catalina. All in all I really enjoyed this and the audiobook. It's also pretty short if you want a short read.

Thank you @netgalley and @randomhouse for the arc.

A campus novel with an incisive, self-contradictory woman narrator? Say less.

Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio came out late last month and it is, I’d venture to say, an updated blend of The Bell Jar meets The Catcher in the Rye, in a good way. Like both of those novels, the narrator’s titular protagonist, Catalina, is engaging with elite programming/schooling (in this case, she’s a senior at Harvard) while also kind of hating it. The disdain she feels is folded into familial pressures, class experiences, and her undocumented status, creating a veritable cocktail for a complicated, stormy coming-of-age story.

Catalina, the narrator, is wry and, at times, painfully self-aware. (“ I fear that sometimes everything I think and believe myself to feel about the world is just an amalgamation of passages from books I read as a kid or sound bites from opinions my grandfather expressed in 2004,” she writes. Or, “The vernacular of small creatures is dreaming of vengeance. I remember every animal I’ve seen as roadkill, every single one.”)

There are two main thrusts to the story: one, Catalina’s interest in a boy named Nathaniel who is studying anthropology, specializing, painfully, in Andean cultures; the other is around her and her grandparents’ undocumented status. In one moment, Catalina is throwing up at a party; in the next, she’s brainstorming ways to shield her grandfather from deportation, vexed over keeping her own undocumented status mostly a secret.

It’s easy to fall into the voice of Catalina, the narrator. She leads you through her internal monologue, her various feelings about organized religion, her home country of Ecuador, her relationships with her grandparents, and her desperate desire to fall in love with such cracking energy that you hardly register you’re being taken on a ride at all. She’s disaffected; she’s hopelessly hopeful — the contradictions fit into one another in the irrationally logical way feelings work in real life. And they come at just as fast of a clip.

That said, I’m a real sucker for pacing, and there were two moments in this novel that I wish had been stretched out a bit more; one being Catalina’s decision to take her grandfather’s immigration case public, the other being the ending, which is sudden (in a truly Salinger/Plath way, to be fair).

There is an argument, a very good one, that desperate people do desperate things. This accounts for a lot of human behavior! But, in a novel, readers need to see the psychology behind apparently irrational decisions. When Catalina agrees to eschew her family’s privacy for their protection, the reader is left out of the decision. In fact, no one in the know appears overly surprised about what she’s doing, not even the celebrity director she recruits to help her. After spending so many pages deeply inside Catalina’s psyche, I found myself wanting to have just as much access to her complicated feelings in that moment as I did about, say, asking a cute boy she saw on the street to tie her shoes.

It’s a blip, albeit one that can be mostly overlooked for the sake of soaking in Catalina’s ongoing narration about the people and places around her.

This was a deep exploration of being an undocumented immigrant from the POV of the titular main character, Catalina. Her whole life rightfully revolved around her immigration status, and this explored her time at Harvard and how she is impacted by all the different decisions happening in the country, her community, and her family. The writing was vivid and beautiful. But the stream of consciousness does take intentional effort when reading.