Living a life constantly being compared to the “better” sibling is the worst on its own but things get even more terrible when your sister ends up dead and what you thought was the example of the “perfect Mexican daughter” turns out to be a facade hiding what really was going on behind closed doors. Julia Reyes is left behind picking up the broken pieces after her sister’s death, being responsible for filling in someone’s shoes that was considered perfect, all while being the imperfect example of the family. We learn how she deals with her own struggles while also piecing together the mystery her sister turned out to be in I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Ericka L. Sanchez.
Julia was always seen as the “black sheep” of her family, looked down upon for not being like her older sister Olga. So when she is expected to fill the very small and perfect shoes Olga left behind after passing away, she struggles to keep up. Along with figuring out who she herself is destined to be, she finds out that Olga, her “perfect” older sibling was not as perfect as everyone thought, finding pieces of a life Olga had tried to keep under wraps from those around her . She chases the clues to a life she would not expect Olga to have, an item of clothing leads to a bigger picture revealing what was going on with Olga and the possible person who was last to talk to her before her death, whether Julia comes clean to her parents about her findings is up to her but Julia is not the only one with flaws in this story.
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter really highlights the struggles of expectations that come with being a child in a hispanic/Latino household. We see the standards Julia struggled to reach and the constant nitpicking at things she would do that go against her parents wishes, as well as the comparison she faces against Olga even when she is no longer with them. The unraveling of Olga’s secrets keep you wanting more while also shedding light on how the idea of a “perfect” being damages someone’s mental health and creates unattainable standards.
Get the book Check out I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter by Erika L. Sánchez at the New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, or the Queens Public Library.
About the author Mj is a lover of psychological thrillers, young adult fiction, and poetry and a psychology major at BMCC.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
