I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter

 

Bibliography

Sanchez, E. (2017). I am not your perfect Mexican daughter. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, an imprint of Random House Children's Books.

Plot Summary

After her seemingly perfect sister, Olga’s, death, Julia struggles to process her grief. At a party, she runs into one of Olga’s old friends and learns that Olga had a secret. Soon she learns that Olga may not have been as perfect as everyone thought.   

Critical Analysis

I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter tackles depression, grief, family, and identity in the form of Julia, the first generation daughter of illegal immigrants from Mexico. Before Olga died, Julia already felt like she wasn’t enough for her parents. Olga went to community college in order to stay close to home, had a part time job, didn’t get into trouble, and took care of their parents. Whereas Julia cannot wait to get out and go to college far away from home to be a writer. Julia’s feelings of inadequacy only heighten after the death of her sister. In order for her mother to process her grief, she tells Julia that they will be planning a quinceañera for her despite the fact that Julia is going to be 16 in only a few months. Her mother’s reasoning is that they were never able to give Olga a quinceañera - “‘I never got to give Olga a quinceañera. It’s something I always regret’” (Sanchez 16). 

After a chance meeting with one of Olga’s classmates, she learns that Olga may have had a secret relationship. When she sneaks into Olga’s room, she finds evidence of a secret life that Olga may have had. However, she is caught before she can locate her sister's laptop in order to try and find more evidence. It isn’t until some time later when she realizes where her mother has hidden the bedroom key that she is able to find the laptop and learn of Olga’s secret relationship with a married man and her pregnancy. 

Due to her parents status of being in America illegally, her mother works as a housekeeper. At one point Julia joins her mother at work and sees what she has to go through, cleaning other people's homes. Then she comes to their home and cleans there. She begins to realize some of the sacrifices her parents made for her and Olga.

Throughout the novel, Julia suffers through depression even though it is never really given a name. “In the mornings, I’m a shred of a person. There are days I feel like I’m being held together by string. Other times I feel entirely unstitched or unhinged. I can barely keep my head up, let alone get good grades so I can get the hell out of here and go to college. I have only a year and a half left, but it feels eternal” (Sanchez, 118). 

After an attempted suicide, her mother sends her to live in Mexico for a little bit. “Some people think that shipping their children back to the motherland when they get out of control will solve everything. It’s happened to some of the kids from my school, mostly gangbaners and girls who are ripe for pregnancy. Usually, they come back exactly the same. Or worse. Maybe parents think their kids have lost their values, that they’ve become too Americanized. So is Mexico supposed to teach me not to have sex? Is it supposed to teach me not to kill myself?” (Sanchez, 228). Once there though, she begins to fall into a steady rhythm of life in Mexico. Sanchez does a good job of portraying the good as well as the bad in the ways of life in Mexico. While in Mexico, she learns more about her parents. Her father was an artist who gave the practice up in order to provide for his family. And she learns the awful truth of how her mother suffered at the hands of the coyote that brought them over the border. 

When Julia returns from Mexico, she has a heart to heart with her mother. They both admit to faults and some healing of their relationship slowly begins. In the end, Julia decides not to tell her family about everything she learned about Olga, choosing to let her family still believe in the perfect Mexican daughter they had raised. 

Review Excerpt(s)

Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children’s Book Award (2018)

 National Book Award Finalist for Young People's Literature (2017)

“An earnest and heartfelt tale.” —Booklist

 

“A timely and must-have account of survival in a culturally contested world.” —School Library Journal

Connections 

-Activities

• Discuss the importance of name pronunciation. The main character pronounces her name huh-lia, not juh-lia and is ignored by at least one of her teachers. Some students may have had issues in the past with their names being pronounced and facilitating a discussion on this topic may help them see the importance in advocating for themselves. 

• Build a Socratic Seminar based on themes of family, culture, and mental health. 

• Pair some scenes from Real Women Have Curves with some parts of the book. The film shares many of the same themes as I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter as the main character struggles with her identity and, with the help from a teacher, manages to leave home for school with writing as the goal. Real Women Have Curves was adapted from a play by Josefina López that could be used for comparison as well. 

• It was recently announced that America Ferrera will have her directorial debut with a film adaptation of this novel. In the future, the film can be used for comparison. 

• Complete a character study on Julia, her mother, and her sister. Analyze what they say and the actions they take to see how it contributes to their characterization. 

Cardoso, P. (2002). Real women have curves. HBO Films, Newmarket Films, LaVoo Productions.