Growing up in an affluent New York suburb, Emily Goldberg didn’t mind not knowing about her mother’s Puerto Rican childhood, but when her family travels to Puerto Rico for her grandmother’s funeral, Emily’s ignorance is compounded as she is bombarded by unfamiliar relatives, foreign customs and a language she can barely decipher. Despite being overwhelmed and longing for her routine New York life, Emily agrees to spend her summer in Puerto Rico helping her mother revisit her roots. As Emily slowly adjusts to the hectic routine of her stern Aunt Rosa’s traditional household, she reexamines her sheltered life and recognizes her own need to connect with her heritage before heading to college. As a primarily reactive character, Emily’s narrative is slightly flat, except for her rocky interactions with her moody cousin, Lucy, which provide short bursts of energy and propel Emily into becoming more proactive. Despite Emily and Lucy being well-defined, Ostow pays little attention to other characters, who fade into the well-drawn Puerto Rican setting. (Fiction. YA)
