Elisa > Recent Status Updates

Queer prisoner lovers??? Not what I expected

"She and her cousin might laugh at their mothers grasp on the old ways, but they also had to admit that fry women had flung themselves into new waters. They knew their own mettle because they had proven it to themselves more than once. Yadi only knew that her own mettle was anemia-ridden if she possessed one at all. She had been crushed time and time again by the weight of living."

"What I did on our bed when wasn't with me wasn't his business."

"The heat of my body post-masturbation had cooked enough that I had to u shame myself. It was not my dead or the divine I believed in who were telling me I was dirty, and nasty for watching porn, for getting caught. It was my own little voice. The same little voice that had been reaching for pleasure with one hand and had been giving sharp slaps on the wrist with the other."

"People love to say New Yorkers are hard, mean, ambitious beyond what's normal. But I think it's just that we are surrounded by brick walls, so of course people are trying to claw their way up to some sort of sky."

"I cobbled together my own gift. Claimed magic where I'd be told none could exist. That is what dancing was for me. And it is as powerful as any second sight or inclination toward healing."

Also I like Ona's chapters most. And Tia Pastora.

Now I didn't know Camila, forgotten sister, would even get a chapter, chile

"Guilt was now added to the list of weights my heart carried."

"But although the prayers of my youth still slid easily off my tongue, they felt untethered from my heart."

"I often wonder if God recognizes His own son the way we've dressed him up, or is it dressed him down?"

Beatty ate with that monologue but also it felt so awkward to read. What might it have been like if this was a play instead of a novel? Also I wonder what kinda war on intellectualism was going on in the 50's and how the survived because there's obviously a war on intellectualism now and it's looking bleak

I'm screaming. The audiobook has me talking back to Carlotta like I'm in the room hearing her talk about her experiences fr

Teaching this in Night School! It's been a while, but I remember enjoying it enough before. We'll see how my thoughts have evolved with my age and teaching experience.

4th time teaching and thus 4th time reading this!

Ryan writes tension and discomfort very well

Now, new book thoughts: Daisy and Tom are more similar to each other than we think, especially with how they're written. Tom's still an asshole and abusive, but his engagement with life otherwise ain't too different from Daisy. They're just different fonts.

6th times the charm! 6th time reading, 5th time teaching it. Teaching reflections: I forgot to do some authorial context with one of my classes until after chapter #3 and it reminded me about the joys of reading something and then later digging into context and having that aha moment. It was nice to see kids make connections after having some of the story under their belt.