WHAT WE DID TO EACH OTHER

Yesenia has figured out how to make everyone see her—she just has to change everything about herself.

Yesenia Rivera is 17, Mexican American, and tired of being overlooked. When her mother gets a job opportunity in the Pacific Northwest, Yesenia sees this move as a chance to start over: She bleaches her skin, dyes her hair blond, and gets blue contacts, so that she can pass as white. It works. At her new school, where she introduces herself as Jessie, she’s quickly invited into the ranks of the popular white girls. She starts to love this new life of parties and “becoming something special,” but one person isn’t fooled. Guillermo “Willie” Rivera, who’s also Mexican American, knows how hard it is to fit in—he deals with abuse at home, and money troubles lead him to dealing drugs. Set in the 2010s, this debut, told in Yesenia’s and Guillermo’s alternating first-person perspectives, tackles some heavy topics, like colorism and internalized racism. The exploration of the journey of a brown Latine person who’s trying to pass for white is intriguing, and the tension around whether Yesenia will be found out is taut. Unfortunately, however, the novel is unevenly paced, drops plot points, and comes to an abrupt, ambiguous ending that feels unearned and may leave readers yearning for closure.

An intense, unyielding ride that never quite arrives anywhere.