Ordinary Girls: A Memoir

One of the Must-Read Books of 2019 According to O: The Oprah Magazine * Time * Bustle * Electric Literature * Publishers Weekly * The Millions * The Week * Good Housekeeping There is more life packed on each page of Ordinary Girls than some lives hold in a lifetime. Julia Alvarez In this searing memoir, Jaquira Daz writes fiercely and eloquently of her challenging girlhood and triumphant coming of age. While growing up in housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach, Daz found herself caught between extremes. As her family split apart and her mother battled schizophrenia, she was supported by the love of her friends. As she longed for a family and home, her life was upended by violence. As she celebrated her Puerto Rican culture, she couldnt find support for her burgeoning sexual identity. From her own struggles with depression and sexual assault to Puerto Ricos history of colonialism, every page of Ordinary Girls vibrates with music and lyricism. Daz writes with raw and refreshing honesty, triumphantly mapping a way out of despair toward love and hope to become her version of the girl she always wanted to be. Reminiscent of Tara Westovers Educated, Kiese Laymons Heavy, Mary Karrs The Liars Club, and Terese Marie Mailhots Heart Berries, Jaquira Dazs memoir provides a vivid portrait of a life lived in (and beyond) the borders of Puerto Rico and its complicated historyand reads as electrically as a novel.