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Family Installments: Memories of Growing Up Hispanic
A chronicle of the Melanguez family's life in Puerto Rico, their move to New York City, and their efforts to make a life in America includes the narrator's determination to succeed on his own
48 pages, Paperback
Published August 25, 1983
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 7, 2010
Let me begin by saying I wind up thoroughly on the side of this book, but the first fifty pages, I was wondering why on earth I was bothering, and why the heck people seemed excited about this volume. And yes, I know the tales about the trouble Rivera had publishing, and how he stuck to his guns and got published because the publishing industry didn't "get" what he was trying to do.
Much of this book reads like a very promising good but not finished rough draft of a promising young writer. It needs an edit job; I won't be mean by excerpting and commenting, but some of the sentences just flat out hurt . . .it's as if the publisher didn't have a proofreader. They are neither artistically agrammatical, as can happen, nor are they overblown. And there's a lot of material that doesn't work . . . . another draft with a rigorous editor Rivera trusted (if there were anyone he could have relied on at the time) would have made a pretty good book excellent or five starts.
But the payoff is there; the last sixty or seventy pages are as good as memoir/episodic novels get, rivalling, say, Cisnero's House on Mango Street or Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima. This section is stunningly good, especially as the father character continues to wage, and ultimately lose, his war on poverty. The title, Family Installments, shows how he had to live his whole life on the installment plan, making payments he could not afford on the promise of a better time that never materializes.
Glorious, too, are passeges that the Spanish reader will recognize; it's a different novel in Spanish, for so much of the Spanish is funny; there's a comic counternarrative to the very serious English language events. It's masterful.
Mabye, in my eyes, this book suffered from too high expectations. People pointed me toward it with religious fervor in their eyes. . . .perhaps if I had stumbled across it for what it is . . . a very promising first novel and nothing more, I would not have expected so much and been a bit less put off by its flaws. As it is, it's worth reading, but not an OMG, you HAVE to read this.
Much of this book reads like a very promising good but not finished rough draft of a promising young writer. It needs an edit job; I won't be mean by excerpting and commenting, but some of the sentences just flat out hurt . . .it's as if the publisher didn't have a proofreader. They are neither artistically agrammatical, as can happen, nor are they overblown. And there's a lot of material that doesn't work . . . . another draft with a rigorous editor Rivera trusted (if there were anyone he could have relied on at the time) would have made a pretty good book excellent or five starts.
But the payoff is there; the last sixty or seventy pages are as good as memoir/episodic novels get, rivalling, say, Cisnero's House on Mango Street or Anaya's Bless Me, Ultima. This section is stunningly good, especially as the father character continues to wage, and ultimately lose, his war on poverty. The title, Family Installments, shows how he had to live his whole life on the installment plan, making payments he could not afford on the promise of a better time that never materializes.
Glorious, too, are passeges that the Spanish reader will recognize; it's a different novel in Spanish, for so much of the Spanish is funny; there's a comic counternarrative to the very serious English language events. It's masterful.
Mabye, in my eyes, this book suffered from too high expectations. People pointed me toward it with religious fervor in their eyes. . . .perhaps if I had stumbled across it for what it is . . . a very promising first novel and nothing more, I would not have expected so much and been a bit less put off by its flaws. As it is, it's worth reading, but not an OMG, you HAVE to read this.
February 5, 2017
I absolutely loved the experience of reading this story. It had me stuck in for the past few days and its one I know I'll revisit again. This phrase keeps on popping up in my mind as I try to write out my review - a life lived. While its probably used more for obituaries, I felt like this 300 page text gave me a door in to a life lived - in Santos, Tego, Geran, Lillia, Chuito - for however many years we're meant to be a party to it as readers. The details, instead of overwhelming, helped build their stories and their worlds. The voice of the narrator was perfect, and had me all over the map emotionally. I so enjoyed my time into their lives. What a brilliant book! I can't recommend it enough.
July 6, 2024
Family Installments.Growing Up HIspanic-Edward RIvera
A chronicle of the Melanguez family's life in Puerto Rico, their move to New York City, and their efforts to make a life in America includes the narrator's determination to succeed on his own
#hispanic #nuyorican #newyorkcity #memoir #latinos #northamericanliterature
https://youtu.be/9mG37iJie3A?si=dEPmk...
A chronicle of the Melanguez family's life in Puerto Rico, their move to New York City, and their efforts to make a life in America includes the narrator's determination to succeed on his own
#hispanic #nuyorican #newyorkcity #memoir #latinos #northamericanliterature
https://youtu.be/9mG37iJie3A?si=dEPmk...
September 7, 2017
I started reading this as a view into Puerto Rican experience, on the island and then stateside, but I also found it a lovely memoir of his relationship with his family and with culture.
March 28, 2021
Memories of Growing up Hispanic
April 20, 2017
I read this book because Junot Díaz recommended it in one of his many seminars/readings available in youtube. From the outset, it seemed prescient for the post-2016 times we live in: the story of an immigrant kid and his family. A litany of struggles derived from the journey from a Puerto Rican "colmado" to New York. And it was, don't get me wrong. In closer look, though, I found it rather dry, particularly the first part: the family story. Maybe it's on me and my high expectations going into the reading. Maybe it's on García Márquez' legacy that I can't enjoy linear stories as I used to. Maybe I was looking for more glamour, and immigrant's stories, I should know better, are rarely glamorous.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews