Taína

by Ernesto Quiñonez

A uniquely dark, coming-of-age novel rife with urban magical realism, love, and redemption, from the author of Bodega Dreams

When Julio, a teenager living in Spanish Harlem, hears that Taina, a pregnant fifteen-year-old from his high school claims to be a virgin, he decides to believe her. Julio has a history of strange visions and his blind and unrequited love for Taina will unleash a whirlpool of emotions that will bring him to question his hard-working Puerto Rican mother and his communist Ecuadorian father, his beliefs and even the building blocks of modern science (after seeing the conception of Taina's baby as a revolution in nature). After meeting Taína's uncle, "El Vejigante", an ex-con with a dark past, he accepts his proposal to support her during her pregnancy and becomes entangled in a web of crime that, while taking him closer to Taína, ultimately reveals a family secret that will not leave him unscathed.

Genres: Fiction, Magical Realism, Latinx, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Coming Of Age, Romance

272 pages, Paperback

First published September 3, 2019

About the author

Ernesto Quiñonez (born 1966) is an American novelist. His work received the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers designation, the Borders Bookstore Original New Voice selection, and was declared a “Best Book” by the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

Reviews

[Jaidee · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 "miraculous, wacky, moving" stars !!

8th Favorite Read of 2020 Award

Thank you to Netgalley, the author and Knopf Doubleday Publishing group for an e-book in exchange for my honest review. This was published September 2019.

This novel is one of hope, authenticity and sacredness amidst Spanish Harlem inequities, cruelties and survival. We are introduced to Julio, a teenage boy, whose heart is pure, whose love is deep and who is trying to manage an obsessive infatuation, family pressures, a propensity to see visions and to carve a world for himself where at times scarcity rules.

He loves Taina. She is fifteen and pregnant but untouched. Is she somebody holy ? She is foul mouthed, passionate and has a voice that can move mountains. She in turn begins to love Julio.
We also have their mothers who used to be best friends, an ex-con who dresses up in carnival gear and punishes himself, Julio's communist and dejected father who is so lost in America. We have a Puerto Rican wise woman who is both mystical and wise. These characters interact and love and suffer.

The book is an exquisite mix of family drama and magical realism in the midst of contemporary Spanish Harlem where the mystical past combine with blatant poverty and materialism. We learn about the various Latin ethnicities and how important family is. How psychiatry and Jehovah Witness services can work hand in hand. How hard work can combine with petty criminality.
How music can save a neighborhood, heal the past and make sensuality transcendent.

There are episodes of humor, then episodes of deep love that take us through spiritual transformations. Psychosis can be helpful. We learn of cruelties done to Puerto Ricans in the name of science but really for the comfort of White capitalism.

There is so much beauty and hope in this book and a power that I found both hypnotic and everyday. We just need to look at the moon, rub our mother's feet, stroke our father's back and believe that a teenage Puerto Rican girl can immaculately conceive.

I love you Julio and through your escapades you have brought me some hope in this time of pandemic.

A warm thank you to Mr Quinonez for bringing this novel to life.

[Dawn Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read Around the World: Ecuador

I didn't understand most of this book - I think that [even though my friend HATES this statement, it is how I feel, especially with books like this] I am just not quite smart enough to get it. She also said it was like a Spanish version of "Catcher in the Rye" and I really didn't like that book so that could explain why this one fell short for me.

There were moments that were funny and there were moments where I got a glimmer of what was trying to be said, but I struggled with the Spanish [which I pretty much tanked in HS MANY moons ago] and I struggled with the story and so the book just became more of a struggle for me than anything else.

I guess the best thing I can say is that it seems to me that it is a book about love - of family, of country, of money. And it is a book about forgiveness and who truly needs it. That is what I got out of it. Amidst all the rest of the story that was being told.

I did LOVE this section of the book - this, to me, was just beautiful and lyrical and almost the best part of the book:
"That night when Taina sang, no one had credit card debt, no one had rents to pay, no one had ills or imperfections, no one knew the meaning of sad words, no one remembered winter. Everyone got paid, the right way. Everyone was young. Everyone built a ladder to the starts. Everyone did for others what they wanted done for themselves. Everyone was in love. Everyone saw who loved them. Everyone had been forgiven." <--If only it was all like that.

Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group/Vintage Books for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Lakis Fourouklas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read it in a single day and really enjoyed it. The last chapter is as lyrical as they come; it has some dream-like air to it. Recommended.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thank you to Vintage Books for sending me an ARC of TAINA won through a Goodreads giveaway. While this book is described in the back cover blurb as a “dark coming-of-age novel,” I read TIANA as primarily a novel concerned with exploring post-colonial themes. Serving as the backdrop that contextualizes the entire story is a discussion of the history of sterilization forced upon women in Puerto Rico (which, honestly, I was not familiar with prior to reading this novel). The theory of our narrator, Julio, that Taina’s pregnancy is due to a “revolution of atoms”—this theory being subsequently flashed throughout the entire narrative—further solidifies a post-colonial reading for me: Taina’s pregnancy can arguably be viewed as a revolt stemming from the core, “atomic” level of her being against all of the power structures placed upon her, even those powers that may enforce measures as horrific as sterilization.

For me, this was a three star read because I really was in it primarily for the story. I wanted to learn more about Taina’s history, and I wanted my questions answered regarding her pregnancy (which never really happens, unless the reader is willing to buy into the “espiritista’s” answer). Julio as a narrator also seemed overly perceptive to me considering he is only a teenager. I’m not saying that teenagers can’t be perceptive, but Julio is at least a bit of an anomaly considering how cerebral he is and the degree to which his insight and empathy define him. I have to say, though, despite my issues with the plot and the narrator, I very much enjoyed Quinonez’s prose—it was elegant at times, staccato and punchy at other times, and was overall very enjoyable to read.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a big fan of magical realism, and I think this is exactly how the genre should be transforming to tell current stories. Taína is a beautiful story that is both romanticized and realistic

[Lolly K Dandeneau · Rating 3 out of 5]

via my blog: https://bookstalkerblog.wordpress.com/
'By this time the air had gone flat in Taína’s life and it was her mother who answered all the questions.'

Spanish Harlem, fifteen year old Taína and songbird of young Julio’s heart, is a virgin… a pregnant virgin! She tells everyone, “maybe some angel entered the project”, impregnating her. She has never been with a man, no way! Her mother Inelda (Sister Flores) would never allow such a thing, and she tells the elders at her Kingdom Hall of Jehova’s witnesses as much, it’s not even possible because she is always present, she is the all seeing eye in her daughters life, besides God, of course. No way would they go to the hospital, subjecting Taína to such an intrusion (examination) to prove her virginity! Instead, they resign themselves to a sort of imposed silence in public, “The two women were living in a universe of two, and it seemed that not even the crowds could disturb them.” Julio wants the feeling Taína inspires with her singing, angelic in and of itself, able to make people weep, “so I could hear love.” How different Taína is in person, with her foul mouth and fury. What is the shame that happened? The shame people speak of that marks Inelda as a bad mother? Why is Taína’s beauty suspect, why do social workers come to their door, ignored like everyone else?

One thing is certain, Julio is going to sneak his way into Taína’s life, one way or another! He will keep visiting her door until he is let in to her home and heart. Let the residents of “Spanish Harlem” believe the worst, believe in some tragedy, he will chose instead to believe in Taína, even if he makes a fool of himself, it’s a tale worth believing. Who hasn’t been a fool for love, eh?

This passion will have Julio visiting a prison to question a dangerous criminal, teased mercilessly at school for being ‘crazy’ (and not just for believing in Taína’s angelic conception), wasting money on offerings for the forthcoming miracle baby, and getting caught up in crazy schemes for money, maybe even dealing in posh dogs. Sneaking out at night, after his parents fall asleep, he meets El Vejigante who tells him “Many people don’t know me because old people are invisible”. This strange man wearing an old, fading satin cape may just be his ticket into Taína’s good graces. He is the once famous Capeman, keeper of the night, his name is Salvador but just who is he to Taína and how he can help won’t be known until their next secret meeting.

Julio is a good boy, but good boys can do questionable things when they think it will help another. What if his mother takes him back to the psych ward, because of his visions which are tied into Taína, solidifying his belief in the miracle of her pregnancy? He tells the reader, he believes he is free to make choices and “but I would be held accountable for my choices”, still he would not turn away from her as the church has, even if his mother demands it. Even if he promises to stay away from her, his inner universe of belief won’t let him.

There is a challenge of loyalty, Inelda and Taína need the help of Peta Ponce, “she is known all over”, an espiritista (spiritualist) but it takes money to get her to come to them, money they do not have surviving off WIC checks and this… this is where Julio comes into play. Inelda isn’t the only woman of the project they live in to use Peta Ponce’s services, but that’s a whole other fork in the story. What sort of magic can this woman practice that leads Pureto Rican women to have more faith in her than in actual doctors? Sal knows, but he isn’t forthcoming with answers to all of Julio’s questions. One thing the reader knows is, Julio doesn’t know much about anything. Through the story, many secrets of his own mother’s past comes to light, as does Taína’s mysterious tale and if it makes him feel ‘paralyzed with happiness’ just to be in her presence rubbing her swollen pregnant feet, who are we to question it? It’s time for Julio to figure out his hustle, to be the man and savior she needs.

The novel veers off her and there, meandering through other characters origins and their pasts, like Peta Ponce, Salvador, Inelda, Julio’s mother and father. There is magical realism, poverty, multicultural flavors, coming of age as a misfit, the difficulties Puerto Ricans face, Julio’s visions, “Whom I saw was my mother. I saw her dreams, I saw my fathers dreams too. They were trampled and unfinished.” It’s a strange novel, Julio is both oblivious and hyper-aware and it leads to all sorts of confusions for the poor boy and his family, some run ins with the police. Even so, maybe be can be their salvation. Maybe we will get to the bottom of Taína’s miraculous pregnancy. Sometimes I lost the plot, but it’s a decent book, it just needed some containment, it runs off a bit with the telling and characters. A unique story, the cover is fantastic.

Out Today! September 3, 2019

Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group

[Roger DeBlanck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having liked Quiñonez’s first two novels Bodega Dreams (2000) and Chango’s Fire (2004), I became immediately curious to try his most recent novel Taína, released in 2019, but somehow I had not heard about it until now in 2023.

Taína resonates much in line with his other books: rooted in Spanish Harlem and offering us wonderful insight to Hispanic culture and folklore. Julio is the seventeen-year-old protagonist. He experiences dreams and visions connected with science and the cosmos, so when fifteen-year-old Taína claims she has no idea how she became pregnant, Julio believes her by entertaining the idea that a “revolution” has happened within her “atoms” enabling her to bear a child without a man.

Although the narrative has a nice variety of side stories and plenty of conflict within family, friends, and school, the mystery focuses around how Taína became pregnant. The novel moves along fast and the prose is fluid and engaging, but it amounts to Quiñonez giving us a mild drama with some sideshow action and suspense that was predictable. I very much liked Julio’s heartfelt intentions and Taína is somewhat interesting with her foul-mouth insults that serve as bizarre compliments, but the ending could have offered greater revelations to coincide with the elements of magical realism present throughout the novel.

With its authentic depiction of Spanish Harlem and its tantalizing premise, Taína had just enough drama and suspense to keep me invested. It is not the type of story to laud about to others, but if you’re of fan of Quiñonez like me, you can commend him on exploring a new work after so many years between books, and I hope he still has more stories yet to tell.

[Susana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un buen retrato de la vida de los inmigrantes latinos en USA y de las ineludibles diferencias entre ellos, no todos los latinos son iguales, ni todas las culturas se asimilan de la misma manera.

[Joe Kraus · Rating 4 out of 5]

I spent a lot of time enjoying, thinking about, and teaching Quinonez’s first novel, Bodega Dreams, in the years after it first came out. That was a sometimes-too-faithful reimagining of The Great Gatsby in a Latinx context, and part of the fun of it was seeing the ways Quinonez played with his source material to reflect his own different ambitions and cultural context.

This one, his third, seems to me to rewrite another, even more famous story: the account of Mary as she conceives and gives birth to Jesus.

Quinonez’s tone here largely pulls off what could be a difficult sell. Our hero, Julio, is a bit of a visionary to begin with. His mother thinks he might be insane, but he isn’t – or, at worst, he’s only gently so.

Julio becomes convinced that his neighbor Taina, a beautiful 15-year-old girl, has become pregnant through immaculate conception. He wants so badly to believe her, that he ‘conceives’ of his own notion for how it’s happened: an elaborate explanation involving his partial understanding of quantum physics and the uncertainty of matter at the atomic level.

It’s a charming situation, but it’s also more than that. Julio does in some ways worship Taina, his Mary, and he gradually becomes a modern-day Joseph. He’s happy to be a supporting character in her story, and he even turns to a petty dognapping scheme to raise money so she he can provide for her.

In a twist that’s a lot of fun, though possibly a [SPOILER:] Taina, who doesn’t speak for half the novel, turns out to be foul-mouthed and ungrateful. She shouts at him as he brings her presents, finding fault with everything he does, whether his choice of pizza restaurant, his failure to bring her soda, his forgetting to get her gum, or his general emoting of smitten puppy.

The result, I’d say, is a more mature working from source material for Quinonez. He seems less burdened by echoing something like Gatsby, and instead he more intent on suggesting the nature of the experience of the community he’s studying. There’s something very funny in Taina’s tantrums, something that suggests a playful exploration of the boundaries of matriarchy. (And, indeed, the women here are all the strongest characters.) The men here, whether Julio’s unemployed father, Taina’s ex-convict uncle, or Julio himself, can’t get it together to accomplish much. They are dependent on the women they know, and they want, in the end, mostly to serve them.

I hope that aspect of the story isn’t so much a fantasy, but much of the rest of this is. Taina’s mother insists that only a Puerto Rican spirit-woman can solve the mystery of Taina’s pregnancy and restore their family to something like stability. [SPOILER:] Peta Ponce does turn out to have what seem to be real powers, and the story she retrieves about her version of the conception (one involving a fight between two doves, one slightly whiter than the other) is lyrical and moving. (It also sets up the possibility that the white dove that does succeed in fathering the unborn infant – to be named Usmail after the U.S. Mail of the postbox across the street – represents one of Julio’s rivals (maybe the thuggish Mario) and suggests that he tried and failed to have the privilege.

Instead, what does restore the family – both families, really – to stability is a capacity for accepting one another. Julio is the hero here for his deep faith in Taina, and she emerges as a more likeable figure as she gradually does come to love him back. This isn’t a story of a man overcoming a woman’s reluctance as much as it is the story of a man coming to be appreciated for the way he makes a possible home for a woman independent of her initial feelings for him. He does what he does without expectation of a reward, so their gradually becoming a couple has a quiet sweetness to it.

I gather some readers have complained that this ends abruptly. While it is true that we never learn the fate of Julio after he’s charged with the dog theft, there’s something fitting about the way this wraps up. Julio dreams of a future where his world turns around Usmail, but he remains in a present where he is doing all he can to help Taina. He’s a would-be savior of a woman who’s strong enough not to need him, one whose beautiful voice makes him experience something like prayer when he hears her sing.

Many parts of this don’t quite line up, and that seems part of Quinonez’s plan. There’s a humor that moves beyond either Bodega Dreams or the second novel, Chango’s Fire. This is a new Quinonez, one ever more able to tell his own story.

I like this, and, since he is coming to my campus for a visit, I am glad for the chance to hear about what he has planned next.

[Robyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gift card | A little simplistic, with a protagonist too young for his years, but engrossing and interesting | I've been unlucky with books recently, several in a row that I really disliked, so my relief at enjoying this almost made me bump it up to four stars. In truth, though, it was a little too uneven for that high of a rating. Julio drifts through the world, presenting as a 13 year old in the text, not as the 16 year old resident of El Barrio that he's meant to be. His naivete and disconnection from most of the world outside his building keeps the book from feeling real. I wish the book had explained the eugenic US history of forced Puerto Rican sterilization *before* all the references to la operación, instead of *after*, because without that context it was hard to understand why everyone was so shamed by choosing it after having children. As I say, though, it was an enjoyable read.

[Helen B · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.8? 3.9? I might come back and change this to 4 later. This is a great read.This book is very unique, interesting, so much to think about, very well done. Also weird, and I don’t know what it is yet, but there were times I felt something was missing. Perhaps it was pacing, or maybe that the narrative didn’t have quite enough stakes. I’m already planning when I will reread it!! The characters are very well done, and so is the historic/political/folktale referencing. So much about this book I love, so many puzzling, beautiful details, but still..

[Sansriti · Rating 2 out of 5]

strange and sad; felt like Julio wasn’t fleshed out enough as a protagonist (closing paragraphs of last chapter were really beautiful though)

[Jess]

DNFed at 24%.

Julio is a terrible narrator with an obsession and penchant for lying. Taína didn't appear until afterward I stopped.

[Mikia | SeeWhatKeeReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting story. Julio was willing to do anything to be close to Taina and to explain her pregnancy - clearly it’s science!

[luce (cry bebè's back from hiatus)]

DNF 50%

I really wanted to like this and I did enjoy the first 'verse' (aka chapter). The paragraphs could be a bit dense, but I'm not sure if this is due the edition I received or if the original was also this way.
The opening of this novel was intriguing in that the narrator emerges only a few pages in, and before that it almost seems as if a collective was relating Taína's life. The protagonist turns out to be a naive boy affected by 'visions' and the certainty that Taína's pregnancy is due to a miracle of sorts.
My issues started in the following verses, when the focus shifted on the protagonist and his friends. The overabundance of 'cuz' was off-putting and the portrayal of high school seemed fairly clichéd (would no staff member notice that an older kid pours milk down the shirt of his schoolmates? Especially if he does this regularly...it seems unlikely and a bit of an 'old' fashioned style of bullying).
I just lost interest...the writing was too dense and clumsy (again, I don't know if this is due to the edition I received or if the final version will also be this way)....
What I did like is that integrated with the narrative there were some untranslated phrases and words in Spanish.

[Zacarias Rivera, Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a page-turner. Ernesto Quiñonez delivers a book filled with secrets, spirits, suffering, and salvation. He is able to develop stories based on historical events and individuals to enthrall us: virgin birth, espiritismo, the Capeman, the sterilization of Puerto Rican women by the US government. He packs a lot into this novel, but underlying it is love, teenage love, love of family, and friendship.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is so so beautiful and vivid. i loved all of these characters so much and the magic realism was so lovely. so hopeful and beautifully written i wish this were a million pages longer, it was truly so sad to finish it and realise there was no more.

[Casandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really wanted to love this book. Genuinely. I picked it up and was intrigued by the back cover saying there was a pregnant virgin in Spanish Harlem, a boy in love with her and wanting to show her he believes her, a web of crime, and family secrets.

Unfortunately, the pregnant virgin was the most unlikeable character for me; the boy wasn’t in love, he was super naïve and honestly quite dumb at certain parts; the crime wasn’t a web, it was one scam and like most young kids, he got caught; and the family secrets were non-existent.

The writing was great, I can say that. But then there were parts that really pissed me off. So here’s what I didn’t like:

1. This book was trying WAY TOO hard to be in Spanish Harlem. As a Puerto Rican woman, I was so beyond mad at how the Puerto Ricans in this book were portrayed. It was so stereotypical, so greedy, so irrational, so dumb. There was a character who said “Papo” every two words, and it just seemed ridiculously unbelievable. I’ve been around Puerto Ricans my whole life, we don’t talk like that.

2. Taína is the titular character and she was such a horribly written person to me. She had a foul mouth for absolutely no reason, it didn’t further the plot, it wasn’t nice. Additionally, she was a teenager who was written to be so incredibly childish. There was no need for her to be written like a spoiled little 5 year old whose entire motivation is getting what she wants. Simultaneously she seems old. I don’t know how the author did it but I was so bothered by it. It actually made me really dislike her because she treated Julio like crap. He bought the girl an iPod and she got mad at him because he forgot gum and called him a myriad of insults because of it. The worst of it was the use of the R word. I’m someone who understands that characters are not meant to be perfect, I actually like it that way, but the use of the R-word in this book had no point or logical sense being there. It didn’t further the plot, no character development came from it, no one was held accountable, there was no apology. So if the purpose was just to use an insult, a different one could have been used and it would not screw up anything in any way for the book. For a book published in 2019, you would think an editor, author, or someone on the team would have advised against the use of that word.

3. Julio. Ugh, Julio was both interesting and not, all at the same time. He seemed so simple to me at certain points and really mature and great at others. Given the back cover, I would hope there was at least some history but not only did this boy never at all speak to Taína before she got pregnant, but he let her and her family walk all over him and use him for his money. This boy turned to a clever little scam solely to get money because the only way Taína’s mother would let him talk to her was if he gave her money. Her reasoning was that Taína couldn’t work and she was on welfare and her family couldn’t help and the church wouldn’t help her and it pissed me off. This woman would not open the door unless the money was given first. And then once it came time for the big pay out, she was literally going to kick him out of the apartment after receiving the money. So not only was this grown ass woman using him for his money but her daughter was treating him like a doormat and he let them. I was NOT rooting for Julio and Taína at any point in this book.

4. There was no payout at the end. It just ended. The family secrets were never actually revealed. They were alluded to and honestly they didn’t feel like secrets. They were things that were explained at different parts of the book by different characters and then at the end what happened was that each character became aware that the other characters knew the stories, something the readers knew since like page 100. It just fell extremely flat for me.

Now there were things I did like, I didn’t hate the book entirely:

1. The most interesting storyline in the book was between the two mothers. Their section was my favorite and I really needed more of that story in my life, because it was fantastic and fantastically written.

2. Sal! At first he was whatever, but his backstory and the way his character grew was so beautiful. I really loved reading about him and his transformation. Also a lot of his monologues were really deep and poetic, such a beautifully written character.

3. The last paragraph when Julio is describing what it was like to hear Taína singing. Ugh, that was such a poetic and lyrically written paragraph, it was gorgeous.

If someone is a fan of magical realism, they might really like this story. It was certainly not for me and that’s why I have to give it 2 stars. 1 for Sal and 1 for the moms.

[Umar Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Taína is a wonderfully written coming of age tale that weaves in stories of Puerto Rican spiritual traditions, family and neighborhood histories, gentrification, and the changing dynamics of the Latino community of New York (particularly Spanish Harlem).

The story is through the eyes of Julio, a seventeen year old boy, who lives upstairs from his classmate Taína who becomes pregnant. Taína insists she's a virgin, but along with her mother is kicked out of the Jehovah's Witness place they attend due to the pregnancy.

Julio's crush on Taína seems normal to me minus his believing in her virgin pregnancy and an alternate universe. The fact that he would commit crimes to buy her stuff is commonplace and something I've seen many times. In my school days I knew of many young boys who began selling drugs to win the affections of their crushes and shower them with gifts. The way Taína talks to Julio and receives his gifts and feelings reminds me of my teen relationships! I think the dialogue between the two was very well-written and she really came alive.

Taína's Uncle Sal is a great character. Every city has men like Sal who did decades in prison for murders yet they're seldom humanized or even discussed in fiction. Sal's crimes are also part of the neighborhood transformation and gentrification story. Puerto Ricans and Irish once beefed in Manhattan. Mario, the Italian bully at school, hates Puerto Ricans and his father blames them for destroying a once thriving Italian neighborhood. Julio's mother laments the decrease in the local Puerto Rican population even though she's married to an Ecuadorian. Everyone is looking at the past. Meanwhile, gentrification is coming for them all with an army of single, mostly childless, overwhelmingly upwardly mobile whites.

"The only thing scary in Hell's Kitchen these days is the rent"

With gentrification "build it and they will come "

Two great lines from the book.

Dona Flores, the mother of Taína, allows Julio to visit and help her daughter if he pays for the Puerto Rican spiritualist Peta Ponce to come and do a reading and healing of her daughter. I like the fact that while Julio is a religious skeptic he pays for it because he's bought all in on Taína. This episode also highlights something about New York not often discussed, especially in TV and film, and that is the fact New York is a vibrantly religious and spiritual city albeit often in ways unfamiliar to many Americans.

I gave this book 4 stars for two reasons. The ending seemed kinda rushed and off to me and I found the character BD a little annoying.

[Cristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5.

Every time I see a Latinx fiction novel.... IT'S MINE!! And being it magical realism? With Latinx main characters and set in the Spanish Harlem? What more can I ask?

Well, actually a lot, but not the point! The point is: I read this book and that's what matters most out of anything. I had not heard anything about Taina, but the cover is simply beautiful, it looks like a graffiti work or just a simple art sketch and it has the bright yellow cover. It captured my attention and beautiful name also. I have not heard the name Taina hardly ever, it's a bit rare for myself. No one I follow or know has read this book before and I had no clue what it's about, which is a good thing in your reading life when not knowing ever book in the planet.

So, I had zero expectations and I just simply wanted to see what this book was about, and allow it to unfold in front of me. Which, in conclusion, I did like this book, but not entirely.

Quinonez's writing style is great, atmospheric, detailed, easy to read, and witty. Though it's the story line that did not follow and the whole center around the main story which is Taina's pregnancy. It's a simple fashion of Latinx magical realism mixed in with family, culture, love, loss, sadness, and life's ups and downs. It's all combined, but I felt it did not go accordingly. I did not really connect with the characters or some of the story plot lines that were demonstrated. I enjoyed few of the scenes and the stories that were introduced more about the adult characters that we are getting introduced and the main portion of the story, but not all of it.

Some of it felt slow, but there are symbolic touches that a reader can definitely go in depth about. But I felt some of the stories and character motives were lacking and did not really help the characters move forward. Only the adult characters, not Taina, Julio (a little), and other younger characters. However, it still was a ride with reading this story and interesting to see where the story will go.

Overall, Taina is a magical realism Latinx novel that is hardly talked about and I'm glad that I got the chance to find this book. Even though, I did not like all of the novel, I still enjoyed the reading experience and some of things that were in this novel. I think if you have not read this Latinx novel yet, give it a try, it may be different for some readers! Reading stories that are hardly talked about is an experience that is thrilling and risky all into one. I'm glad that I read it and I'm curious to read this author's others works.

Happy reading!

[Jodell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Doctor:
It was something quite beautiful, how the young can be so innocent in a very adult way. It was such a shame how as we grow up, we loose this. This is why during this stage when the friends we make are the ones that we try to mold ourselves after.

USMAILl:
It doesn't matter how I got here, the important thing is I'm here now

Taina:
There is a rose in Spanish Harlem A red rose in Spanish Harlem
It is a special one, it's never seen the sun It only comes out when the moon is on the run
And all the stars are gleaming It's growing in the street right up through the concrete
But soft and sweet and dreaming There is a rose in Spanish Harlem
A red rose up in Spanish Harlem With eyes as black as coal that look down in my soul
And starts a fire there and then I lose control I have to beg your pardon
I'm going to pick that rose And watch her as she grows in my garden

Julio:
While Mona Lisa's and Mad Hatters Sons of bankers, sons of lawyers
Turn around and say good morning to the night For unless they see the sky
But they can't and that is why They know not if it's dark outside or light
This Broadway's got It's got a lot of songs to sing If I knew the tunes I might join in
I'll go my way alone Grow my own, my own seeds shall be sown, in New York City

[katieee bedolla · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are moments in Taina that are very beautiful. The description of people and the visions Julio has are amazingly written. This might be the book's only redeeming quality. I felt like the plot promised a lot.

Something quite real was that although the reader might be upset at moments when Julio is interacting with people, especially Taina, it is real to what teenage boy would act. The way in which he is madly in love with Taina regardless of the way she talks and acts. He has a HUGE CRUSH he is in loveeee.

I cannot imagine what it is like being pregnant at a young age, but this felt like a perspective that I can see in real life.

Much was said and brought up, however not much happens. Something that I learned when reading this book was about eugenics happening to Puerto Rican women and it was explained quite well. The last 70 pages felt very rushed, with so much happening to the characters and no reflection within. There is a HUGE plot hole within the last couple of pages in this book and it was frustrating that that interaction never happened.

The best character out of this story was Taina's uncle Salvador (el Vejigante). I felt how, in a way, hopeless he was throughout the story yet caring so much for his family.

[Phoebe S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review of a galley edition from Vintage Books

If I'm being completely honest, I very nearly gave this book three stars. The first and last two sections are quite good, it addresses and speaks to important themes, and the prose, especially in the Coda, is breathtaking. However, it is hobbled by a narrator who at points can seem completely unengaging and unlikable and a story that, in the third and longest portion of the book, seems to meander at parts, weighed down by motifs that are at times annoying. I closed the book in frustration at one point when a certain thread that I found grating was brought up for the umpteenth time.

Thankfully, the ending brings the book to a meaningful conclusion and makes it feel like the third part of the book and our protagonist's qualities have a point to them after all (which, of course they do, but it doesn't seem like that in the moment).

Maybe this just wasn't the book for me- maybe I didn't get it. I do look forward to discussing it, because there genuinely is much to discuss. It just seemed to have clear, but not insurmountable, obstacles in the way of making it a five-star book for me.

[Russell Contreras · Rating 5 out of 5]

With his latest work, “Taina,” the Spanish Harlem-raised novelist takes a big swing to pay homage to Puerto Rican literature and Nuyorican history while crafting a captivating tale amid gentrification, perseverance and inequality set in one of the most famous Latino neighborhoods in the world.

Like his main character, Julio, Quinonez is the son of an Ecuadorian father and a religious Puerto Rican mother who lived in Spanish Harlem during the rough 1970s and 1980s that saw the big blackout, heroin and crack epidemics and the rise of hip-hop and slam poetry. So, it’s easy to trust Quinonez’s voice about the struggles and changes of those living in Spanish Harlem.

But the power of “Taina” comes from Quinonez bringing to life characters from previous work of Puerto Rican literature and popular culture in a new work. For example, “El Vejigante” is the reincarnation of Salvador Agron, the Puerto Rican gang member convicted in 1959 of killing two white teenagers in a Hell’s Kitchen park. Yes, Agron was resurrected in a 1998 musical “The Capeman” by Paul Simon and Derek Walcott. In “Taina,” Agron is a broken ex-con struggling to make amends and find forgiveness.

[Ivana · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was so inconsistent: inconsistently LOL funny and inconsistently 2019. The first chapter was hilarious, but the rest I mostly dragged through, with a few exceptions, including the scenes with BD (Bionic Dude). The book had demasiados anacronismos—like, what teenager uses iPods or the word “nylons”? What Latina mom only listens to the radio and doesn’t know who Shakira or Marc Anthony are? It doesn’t matter if you’re an immigrant/migrant, EVERYONE uses the Internet now (saying this as a Boston public school teacher of kids who are immigrants and/or have immigrant parents). I just couldn’t suspend my disbelief. Magical realism I can deal with. Anachronisms, I can’t. I know Quiñonez is old now, but he could’ve done his homework, hired a young editor, or just set the book in 1998 or something.

As a Puerto Rican, I do appreciate the cultural bits, the mentions of asopao, Juan Bobo, los espiritistas. I especially enjoyed the history lessons, including the story of Capeman, which I was not familiar with, and the forced sterilization of Puerto Rican women by the U.S. government.

[Ysabella Dominique · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

A book about a pregnant virgin? This interesting premise was what pulled me in to read the book, but what impelled me to continue reading is the lyrical writing of Ernesto Quiñonez. His words are magic and are easily manifested in Julio's bizarre but chimerical thoughts.

The world is big, full of possibilities, and even if humankind is progressing rapidly, there are things that we still don't know. The accumulation of knowledge does not stop us from asking questions, but incites us to ask more. The very fabric our existence is unending so why settle for one answer when you can believe in the many answers that this deep well of a world hold in the darkness? This is what I learned and loved about the book.

The book is like a dream but like the nature of dreams, there are vague moments, meaningless scenes. The only other issue I have is how Taína was written as a manic pixie dream girl. She almost seemed like an accessory to this story despite being the central character.

[Book Minded Mag · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book, even though I still feel like some things were unresolved. To be honest, I was more intrigued by the mothers’ backstories than the main one. Reading about what their lives were like as young women and best friends, the good and the bad, was way more interesting. But what really stood out was Spanish Harlem and what it’s like to live there. Gentrification is changing it rapidly, making it as boring as the suburbs. But for the Latino families who still live there, it is a vibrant and very close-knit area full of people who are holding on to their homes with a death grip (as they should). For good or ill, Spanish Harlem is a special place and the author basically writes a love letter to it. I loved the ending because it reminded me of the times my family had parties in the Bronx, dancing and singing to Hector Lavoe, Willie Colon and the other Latin greats of that time.

[Madelynp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am torn about this book: on the one hand, there were passages that were so moving and beautifully written that I felt lucky that Quiñonez became a writer, and there were other parts where Julio's plain teenage stupidity made me want to reach into the book and throttle him. And perhaps that's a sign of just how talented Quiñonez is.

Taína is an excellent reinterpretation of the story of Mary, with the foul-mouthed Taína replacing the immaculate Mary and the derpy (I cannot describe him in any other way) Julio subbing for Joseph. I really enjoy magical realism, and this book provides a healthy dose, although the author does so without smacking you in the face with the MAGIC. Peta Ponce, who we only formally meet in the latter third of the book, emerged as one of my favorite characters, although Quiñonez consistently writes strong, multidimensional women.

I need to digest this book further to really conclude how I felt, but I sure am glad that I read this.

[Rosa E. Martínez Colón · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe I should have read this book in English, as it was originally written. Maybe it would have made some sense then. I read the Spanish translation and it made it really difficult to finish the book. But the translation is just one part of my review, a secondary part if you will.

The story itself was messy. Mixing religions (Jehova’s Witnesses and santería), mixing periods (some of the characters where growing up in the 80s, I gathered, long after the sterilization of Puertorrican women had happened), and just a whole bunch of underdeveloped stories and characters that left me so dissatisfied with this book.

And the translation! Translation is not easy; it required a lot of work especially to maintain consistency in language and dialects. It didn’t happen here; again, a mishmash of dialects, and even what I consider laziness by translator had me trying to translate this into English as I read to see if it made more sense.

This one is going out.

[Cassie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find myself still really grappling with this novel, so I will come back with a more comprehensive review. On the one side it is a story about belief and what develops our convictions-- be it self influence, culture, or personal experience. The main character is one that is just pure heart and hard to feel angry with though you certainly want to shake him. It does a great job of showing a breadth of experiences of people coming from similar backgrounds in the paths we choose to take. at the same time I'm having a hard time praising all of this when it centers around the fact that two adults are clearly taking advantage of not only an impressionable teenager, but practically selling another--using them as bait, ignoring her own autonomy.