If you enjoy books that draw you deeply into the mind of one character, this book is for you. If you enjoy books that show you both the attributes and flaws of a character in equal measure, again, this is a book for you. If you want to learn about the experiences of immigrants, seniors, the poor and the damaged, that’s all in here as well. Angie Cruz is back after her smash hit, Dominicana (one I’ve been meaning to read for ages and now really wish I had!), with a new book about one Cara Romero, a woman in her 50s trying to find a job in early 2000s New York.
The book seems simple on the surface. It takes the form, primarily, of twelve interviews between Cara and her job counsellor. But these are in no way job interviews. As Cara points out, she talks a lot, and if she’s asked about mangoes, she will talk about yucca. She talks about yucca for an entire book here – it’s one very long tangent – and yet… I was completely transfixed.
The format was a bit odd at first, and I wasn’t convinced it would work. By the end of the book I couldn’t possibly imagine Cara’s story being told in any other way. The format allows us to see some of the strongest characteristics of this formidable woman. She’s by turns stoic, dramatic, self-aggrandizing, boastful, vulnerable, stubborn and wise. Over the course of the twelve interviews we learn about Cara’s failed marriage, her panicked dash from her husband’s wrath that led her across the water to America, her abusive mother, her estranged son, her brother and sister, her neighbours (and friends), her sense of responsibility for them, her loneliness, her love affairs and her financial woes. A whole life is laid out in just 200-odd pages, and yet it feels fully formed, completely realized and is told with a vibrance that is irresistible.
At its core this book grapples with the interesting dichotomy that exists between who we perceive ourselves to be, and who the world perceives us to be. Both are correct in a certain sense, but sometimes how we are seen from the outside can teach us about ourselves. For Cara, who has been through a lot of trauma, who has been abused and tormented and who then had to figure out how to raise a son alone in a strange country, she has a sense of being the victim rather than the perpetrator. But as we learn more about her life, we begin to see that, in fact, she is both.
Cara isn’t a “good” person in many ways. She could be too tough on her son, she can be judgmental, she is willfully obtuse at times (particularly when it comes to an online psychic who she believes is really sending cut-rate deals that are specially for her), lacking in concern for how her actions affect others and proud to a fault. And yet, despite all these difficult traits, I came to love her. She felt so real, so unfiltered, and just so completely her that I couldn’t help but feel strongly connected to her, problematic viewpoints and all.
This book ticks so many boxes. It’s beautifully written. And not just on a line-by-line basis, but it perfectly and evenly captures Cara’s voice throughout. It creates connections between different details in the book that slowly form a beautiful interlinking backdrop to the story. It manages to tackle poverty, gentrification, immigration, abuse, isolation and ageism without being too overt about any of it. There’s a punchy humour to the book, even though it’s not a happy story, and I found myself nodding along and smiling (even giggling) several times as I listened. It never once dragged or felt forced. And it captures a whole culture in a way that makes it feel like you’ve stepped right into her home and community and are surrounded by the laughter, the wonderful smells of her cooking, the lyrical flow of her mother tongue (and there are Spanish words and phrases throughout that anyone who speaks a bit of the language will instantly get and that everyone regardless of familiarity with the language will find to perfectly punctuate her speech), and the never-ending energy. It even dances, every so slightly, towards hints of magical realism with Cara’s unique and extremely sensitive sense of smell that allows her to tell when someone is ill.
I cannot recommend the audiobook format for this book highly enough. The narrators, Rossmery Almonte and Kimberly M. Wetherell, do an amazing job. The voice of Cara is so exactly the voice I would have chosen for Cara, and she captures every hint of subtle double meaning, every change in pacing and has a perfect grasp of the intonations of the language and Cara’s use of it. The book also has background noises that work to bring it to life, making it a cross between a typical audiobook and an audio play. One of the best audiobook productions I’ve heard all year – and most of my reading is audio format, so that’s saying something!
I’m so grateful that I chose now to hop back into Netgalley reviewing, that this book just happened to be one of the first to capture my interest, and that I was given early access to it. I had so much fun reading it, and I can’t wait to double back and pick up Dominicana now that I know what I’ve been missing!
From GMA BOOK CLUB PICK and WOMEN’S PRIZE FINALIST Angie Cruz, author of Dominicana, an electrifying new novel about a woman who has lost everything but the chance to finally tell her story
A MOST ANTICIPATED BOOK (The New York Times, The Washington Post, Good Morning America, The TODAY Show, Real Simple, Goodreads, BookRiot, Bustle, The Millions, PopSugar, AV Club, LitHub, and more)
“Will have you LAUGHING line after line…Cruz never misses. Her new novel AIMS FOR THE HEART, AND FIRES.” —Los Angeles Times
“An endearing portrait of a FIERCE, FUNNY woman.” —The Washington Post
Cara Romero thought she would work at the factory of little lamps for the rest of her life. But when, in her mid-50s, she loses her job in the Great Recession, she is forced back into the job market for the first time in decades. Set up with a job counselor, Cara instead begins to narrate the story of her life. Over the course of twelve sessions, Cara recounts her tempestuous love affairs, her alternately biting and loving relationships with her neighbor Lulu and her sister Angela, her struggles with debt, gentrification and loss, and, eventually, what really happened between her and her estranged son, Fernando. As Cara confronts her darkest secrets and regrets, we see a woman buffeted by life but still full of fight.
Structurally inventive and emotionally kaleidoscopic, How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water is Angie Cruz’s most ambitious and moving novel yet, and Cara is a heroine for the ages. – Goodreads
Book Title: How Not to Drown in a Glass of Water
Author: Angie Cruz
Series: No
Edition: Audiobook
Published By: Flatiron Books/Macmillan Audio (via Netgalley)
Released: September 13, 2022
Genre: Fiction, Latina, Internal Monologue, Life Story
Pages: 208
Date Read: September 12, 2022
Rating: 9/10
Average Goodreads Rating: 4.21/5 (113 ratings)