jessicaxmaria's Reviews (1.04k)

Oh the roles we play. Another outstanding work by Kitamura. Review to come...

A remarkable audiobook that jolted me when it started; the familiar accented English of my mother came through the speakers and I was immediately all in on Cara Romero's story. The conceit is that Cara has lost her factory job, and she is going to sessions with a social worker through a placement program, trying to find her another job. She's a Dominicana living in Washington Heights, and she has stories and charm for days. The voice actor, Rossmery Almonte, is incredible! The reader (and social worker) gets to know Cara over the sessions, and by the end it felt like an old friend (or honestly, one of my mom's friends), telling me about her day. 

This is wonderful on audiobook--I highly recommend it!

A fine enough book that was just not for me; I'd put it in the category of books like Mr Penumbra's 24 Hour Bookstore, or some movies I've seen recently that are very fable-like and blur that line between true homage and straight copycatting. Probably would fit great in a high school classroom these days. 

Profoundly connected to parts of this book, and not necessarily the ones I thought I would. There was something about reading this on a vacation to visit family in Panama, while also seeing the couple who lived next door to me in elementary school (a Japanese-Portuguese couple with three boys we always played with), that brought a certain prism on my life from Nunez's words. A favorite book, and one I know I'll be returning to.