Americas Dream, Esmeralda Santiago
Americas Dream, Esmeralda Santiago
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America's Dream
A Novel

Author: Esmeralda Santiago

Narrator: Esmeralda Santiago

Unabridged: 12 hr 24 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: HarperAudio

Published: 04/06/2021

Synopsis

""Lyrical [and] haunting, América’s liberating epiphany will have readers . . . on their feet and cheering."" — Washington PostFrom the award-winning, best-selling author of When I Was Puerto Rican, América’s Dream explores the ever-shifting definition of what it means to be American and exemplifies the spirit of every immigrant who has dared to realize the American dream.América Gonzalez is a hotel housekeeper on Vieques, an island off the coast of Puerto Rico, cleaning up after wealthy foreigners who don’t look her in the eye. Her alcoholic mother resents her; her married boyfriend, Correa, beats her; and their fourteen-year-old daughter thinks life would be better anywhere but with América. So when América is offered the chance to work as a live-in housekeeper and nanny for a family in Westchester, New York, she takes it as a sign to finally make the escape she's been longing for. Yet, even as América revels in the comparative luxury of her new life—daring to care about a man other than Correa—she is faced with the disquieting realization that no matter what she does, she can never really escape her past.

About Esmeralda Santiago

Esmeralda Santiago is the author of three groundbreaking memoirs: When I was Puerto Rican, Almost a Woman (which she adapted into a Peabody Award–winning movie for PBS Masterpiece), and The Turkish Lover. Her fiction includes the novels América's Dream (also made into a film) and Conquistadora, and a children's book, A Doll for Navidades. Esmeralda is passionate about the artistic development of young people and has traveled the world as a public speaker encouraging literacy, memoir writing, and storytelling. Her books have been translated into fifteen languages.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Purlewe on July 07, 2010

debut fiction novel from one of my favorite non-fiction authors. This book has plenty of heartbreak. America's mother is an alcoholic, her daughter is 14 and run away from home, her boyfriend is married and is abusive. America gets the chance to leave her home and move to New York and work in the su......more

Goodreads review by Elinor on January 31, 2016

I picked up this book and read the first few pages to see if I would like it. An hour later, I was still reading. The main character America, a Puerto Rican hotel housekeeper, tells her own story in the first person. The single mother of a rebellious teenager and the mistress of violent brute, she s......more

Goodreads review by Ashley on January 19, 2018

Ashley Barros 6.b. El libro, “El Sueño de América ”, escrito por Esmeralda Santiago, se trata de una mujer puertorriqueña, América, que vive una vida lleno de problemas. El ex-marido de América le ha maltratado desde que se conocieron, cuando fueron adolescentes, y tuvieron una hija. El sie......more

Goodreads review by frances on May 18, 2023

okay. i didn't like the writing style, but lowk it kept me rlly engaged the whole time. p.s. it's summer and i am leisure reading now. thank. god.......more

Goodreads review by Maritza on July 12, 2021

This the second time I read this book. The first time was when it was first published. I truly enjoyed hearing Esmeralda give life and voices to the characters, especially America and Esmeralda. How I wish she would do a sequel to this book and tell us how her daughter’s life has turned out and if s......more

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