Stunning in its simplicity, this book bowled me over with the all-too-relatable chaos that exists within an individual and especially within a family, which often doesn't receive the attention and care that Rivero gave to Ana here. Taking place over the winter holidays in Queens in the 1990s, Ana is floundering beneath the responsibility she has undertaken to make sure that the family she uprooted from Peru is going to thrive, no matter what it takes. Her husband Lucho lost his job and the family of 4 moved in with his cousin, Valeria's, little family, but the apartment is cramped and Ana is constantly "on". When not at work sewing in a factory for 10+ hours at a time, she runs errands and cooks and cleans and mothers both her kids and Valeria's as she runs a business and travels often. Trying to stay afloat she took out a loan from a local woman, bargaining a deed for Lucho's mother's house in Peru as collateral, and struggles to pay back the money because she is also paying back the loan she took out separately from the woman's husband and still afford life's necessities. The husband doesn't mind if she pays him back in other ways and though she is once willing, she's not sure how much longer she can play his game. When she realizes her period is late and Valeria continues to lay out her suspicion that Ana is sleeping with her husband and Lucho, tired of struggling, suggests they send their children back home or they all return to Peru, Ana reaches her breaking point. She reaches out to her childhood friend and confidant, Betty, for help and even then my heart ached for Ana and the little attention she spared for herself while, as so many women and mothers do, she chose to focus on feeding her family and keeping her children safe over seeking out her own well being. The story rang so so sadly true.