In Reyna Grande's previous book, The Distance Between Us, she tells about the years of her life that she grew up with her siblings with her grandmother, because her parents immigrated already to the USAand how she eventually crossed the Mexican-American border at nine years old.
A Dream Called Home picks up where the previous memoir ended. It starts when she starts going to college, and living on her own campus of the University of California in Santa Cruz. There she tries to adapt to the American way of life, while trying to stay true to being Mexican also. But trying to stay afloat is already difficult enough, as she has no family to help her.She also tries to come to terms with her estranged family. Her mother is distant, her father an alcholic, while one of her two sister Betty seems a true handfull of trouble with dropping out of high school and expecting a child at 17, and all the help that Reyna invested in her seems for nothing.
Reyna dreams of becoming a published author, but this is difficult in the beginning, so she takes a demanding job as an ESL teacher, but her writing is suffering from lack of time during this period. But soon, she finds a way to combine it when she changes from teaching at a high school to adult education classes and fights to make her dream come true. In the meantime, after a few failed experiences with men who just where like her troubled father, she finds love. And her dream to become a published author finally comes true with the relase of her first novel Across a Hundred Mountains, based on her own experience as an immigrant from Mexico.
After reading this second memoir, you can only have deep, deep respect for author Reyna Grande. She truly experienced many hardships and difficult times in her life but comes out as a true winner. I loved every part of this book, her style of writing is just beautiful. The reallness of the story and the immigrant experience is what I also love about this book. It is just amazing and inspiring to follow her journey from poverty to succesfull author. In my eyes, Reyna is a true powerwoman, and I can't wait to read her next novel A Ballad of Love and Glory.
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