Familia

It’s relatively rare that I not only devour a book, but give it five stars. I’m not a five-star giver, usually, unless I felt the book was truly excellent. This was a five-star read, for me.

Gabby DiMarco is a talented fact checker for a popular magazine, who dreams of becoming a serious writer. When her boss decides that everyone in the office needs to take a DNA test to see if any of them have any scandals lurking in their histories that could be turned into a story, Gabby is the only one who does – a biological sister in Puerto Rico whom she has never met, and who has been desperately trying to find her for more than two decades. There’s just one problem – Gabby is an only child, and isn’t adopted.

Unfortunately, both of her beloved parents are dead and cannot verify this. When her boss salivates over the story, Gabby says she’ll give it to the magazine, as long as she be allowed to write it herself. Her boss balks and Gabby quits on the spot, knowing she’ll never be allowed to progress in her career there.

Jobless and convinced it’s all one big mistake, Gabby flies to Puerto Rico to meet her long-lost “sister”, Isabella Ruiz, intending to have a second DNA test taken together and prove once and for all that there was a mistake in the original findings.

“Good thing she’s got some money, because she’s gonna need a really good therapist to work through this shitshow. We both are.”

As Isabella wrestles with the past and Gabby tries to reckon with the possibility that everything her parents told her about her own life wasn’t the whole truth, the two girls team up to find out what really happened. Their search takes them into the ghettos of La Perla, a crime that happened a quarter-century ago, the people who worked together to cover it up, and questions about what family, culture, and heritage really mean.

I couldn’t put this one down. I felt like I was in Puerto Rico, with all of its beauty, secrets, and stark reality. The twist at the end was gut-wrenching (but also beautiful), and Rico’s prose is poetic and evocative. If nothing else, Gabby would have a hell of a story to tell, but she ends up with so much more than a story. I also enjoyed the irony that a fact-checker has to reconcile with a truth that is murky and multi-dimensional, rather than simply black and white.

I also loved the relationship between the two girls. They’re yin and yang – Isabella is all art, fire and passion, and Gabby is cautious, sensible, and moderate. Isabella lives too much out of her heart; Gabby too much out of her head. Their interactions felt very real, and both were very likeable even as their balancing of the other occasionally resulted in butting heads (just like real sisters!)

Fun Fact: The author, Lauren Rico, is not only an award-winning author, but one of the top classical music broadcasters in the country. You can hear her voice on SiriusXM’s Symphony Hall channel, as well as on radio stations in New York City, Charlotte, and Tampa.  

Bother if: This was a beautiful (women’s?) fiction / mystery piece. I loved the Spanish lightly interspersed throughout (I understand enough Spanish that it added a great dimension to the writing rather than being distracting.) Lovers of ancestry and family history may also really love this one. The mystery was earned, and didn’t feel like “well, isn’t that convenient.” Remember, you (and Gabby) are dealing with a story which appears to be, “well-to-do couple from NYC snatches a Puerto Rican baby and lies to her her entire life.” Well, even Gabby doesn’t buy that one. So what happened? How we get to that truth is very satisfying.

Don’t bother if: I hesitate to couch this one all the way as “women’s” fiction (not that there’s anything wrong with that!), because while it is partially about sisterhood, it’s really more family-centered than women-centered. I think most people would enjoy the story, and lots of it was very funny as well as being beautifully told. There is brief violence and neglectful (if not outright abusive) parenting, and a sexual assault from the past is described (but not depicted in real time), if you’re sensitive to those and would rather not.