Neruda on the Park by Cleyvis Natera

 

Publisher: Ballantine

On Sale Date: May 24, 2022

Pages: 325

I reviewed a  digital review copy from the publisher

The Guerrero family is living in the Dominican neigborhood of New York City's Nothar Park for twenty years. The neigborhood is endangered by gentrification, as demolition has already started on a neighboring tenement building across the street. The Guerrero's, who exist of mother Eusebia, father Vladimir,  and daughter Luz, who is a succesfull associate at a top law firm in Manhattan. She gets a relationship with a white real estate developer, Hudson who is at the head of company which started the gentrification and demolition of Nothar Park. Vladimir is not opposed to a buy out by the developers, and to move back to retire in the Dominican Republic with Eusebia. but Eusebia wants to fight for her forever home in Nothar Park. takes matters into her own hands by devising an increasingly dangerous series of schemes to stop construction of the luxury condos. A collision between the family members starts,  and tensions in the neighborhood rises, in this book about home, family, neighborhood and community and the Dominican and New York culture. 

I liked the overall idea of the story. I had mixed feelings about the writing itself in general. Some parts of the story where easy to follow, and some parts where truly not. I sometimes didn't get a grip of Eusebia's character and what she was doing was sometimes confusing. What I loved about the book is the very strong bond between the family members, and the strong community feeling, even in a big city as New York City, and that the community members where truly loving their neighborhood, their true home, and how they tried to stop the gentrification, when already buildings are demolished and hot yoga and hip coffee places are moving in the neighborhood. Tensions rise between the family members,  but in the end everything is good again between them, but not for the neighborhood, not everything get's resolved. It is a complex story, about a complex problem many neighborhoods in city's face. Overall I liked the book, but some writing and story parts could have been worked out better to make it less messy.