Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
- Erin
- Apr 23, 2024
- 2 min read
3/5 Stars
When I was given the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, I was quite excited. My hope was to experience the depth of the plight of an undocumented immigrant. However, Catalina fell a bit short in that regard. While it did address the undocumented aspect of Catalina’s life as well as that of her grandparents, it did not do so to the magnitude that I had hoped. I wanted to dig and I wanted to dig deep. The beauty of America lies in her diversity, and I was hoping to explore this beauty with dignity and detail and raw emotion to a greater extent. But even though Catalina did not go as deep as I had hoped, I still enjoyed reading this novel.
Catalina is a coming-of-age novel exploring the life of Catalina, an undocumented Harvard student who was sent from Latin America to the United States as a child to be raised by her undocumented grandparents. Her character is quirky. At times you love her. At times you do not. But you keep coming back for more. And her relationships with her grandparents, professors and peers are quirky too. The book explores her life at Harvard and all that it entails. There are some very humorous scenes and stories in this novel, and humor is never a bad thing. I really enjoyed the opportunity to laugh at parts of the story. And there was a bit of a surprising twist at the end to keep it interesting just when you thought you had it all figured out. The book was a bit jumpy at times and a little difficult to follow because of it, but it is not a long read and I am glad that I stuck with it.
Three solid stars, and a huge thank you to NetGalley, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, and Random House Publishing Group for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of Catalina in exchange for my honest review.
Catalina will be released Jully 23, 2024 and is currently available for pre-order!
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