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WORK TITLE: Lessons on Expulsion: Poems
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE: https://erikalsanchez.com/
CITY: Chicago
STATE: IL
COUNTRY:
NATIONALITY:
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/erika-l-sanchez
RESEARCHER NOTES:
LC control no.: no2017104163
LCCN Permalink: https://lccn.loc.gov/no2017104163
HEADING: Sánchez, Erika L.
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100 1_ |a Sánchez, Erika L.
372 __ |a American poetry–Mexican American authors |2 lcsh
374 __ |a Poets |a Authors |2 lcsh
375 __ |a female
377 __ |a eng
670 __ |a Sánchez, Erika L. Lessons on expulsion, 2017: |b title page (Erika L. Sánchez) about the author page (daughter of Mexican immigrants; poet, essayist, and fiction writer; author of the young adult novel, I am not your perfect Mexican daughter)
PERSONAL
Female.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Poet, essayist, and fiction writer. Cosmopolitan for Latinas, advice columnist.
AWARDS:Poetry Foundation, Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship; “Discovery”/Boston Review Poetry Prize; CantoMundo Fellowship; Fulbright Scholarship to Madrid, Spain; Princeton Arts Fellow 2017-2019.
WRITINGS
Contributor of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction to publications, including Rolling Stone, Salon, Al Jazeera, Cosmopolitan, ESPN.com, The Guardian, NBC News, and the Paris Review.
SIDELIGHTS
The daughter of Mexican immigrants, Mexican-American poet, essayist, fiction writer, and feminist Erika L. Sanchez received the “Discovery”/Boston Review Poetry Prize and a Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation. She is a sex and love advice columnist for Cosmopolitan for Latinas and has contributed poetry, fiction, and nonfiction to Rolling Stone, Salon, The Guardian, and the Paris Review. She has received numerous fellowships, including CantoMundo Fellowship, a Fulbright Scholarship to Madrid, Spain, and a 2017-2019 Princeton Arts Fellow. She lives in Chicago.
Lessons on Expulsion
In 2017, Sanchez published her debut poetry collection, Lessons on Expulsion, which describes her dual Mexican and American heritage, life on both sides of the border, disparity of language and culture, shame and race, American xenophobia, violence, and suspicion and suppression. She also writes with a view toward feminism, as well as the brutal 2014 massacre of Mexican students. Most of all, her poems uncover a portrait of survival as she tells the story of her own family, parents who were undocumented Mexican immigrants who imparted on their children faith, work, and expectations for a better life. Sanchez writes her poems in English with some Spanish phrases.
Covering numerous viewpoints from sex workers, farmers, hormonal adolescents, and churchgoers, Sanchez chronicles what it’s like to live and love as an immigrant. “In her hallucinatory debut collection, Sánchez negotiates an imaginative space between oral history and journalistic reportage, overloading the senses,” according to a Publishers Weekly contributor. Writing in Library Journal, Doris Lynch described Sanchez’s collection as a mixture of harsh, vibrant, and superbly written poems and “Brutal, raw, yet forgiving in the tradition of Walt Whitman, this work is not to be missed.”
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
Sanchez next published a humorous young adult novel, I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, mixing Jane the Virgin with The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. In the story set in Chicago, fifteen-year-old Julia Reyes is not the perfect Mexican daughter: she argues with her parents, wants to be a writer, and worst of all, wants to leave home to attend college. Her older sister Olga is perfect: she dresses conservatively and obeys her parents. After Olga dies in a tragic car accident at age twenty-two, Julia’s parents put more restrictions on Julia, her mother pointing out her every flaw, stifling Julia to a breaking point. Julia finds solace in her first serious boyfriend, Connor, a white boy from an affluent family. But clues reveal that Olga was not as perfect as everyone thought, and Julia embarks on a journey to find the truth.
In an interview with MJ Franklin online at Mashable, Sanchez explained her goals writing the book: “I feel like it’s a classic American story, and a story that’s not often told… I wanted to create a story that documented the experiences of an immigrant family because that’s the family that I belonged to. And I think it’s really important to read different narratives about people so you can understand what it’s like to be them.”
A New York Times bestseller, the book has frustrated some reviewers. Julia is presented as “a sympathetic character, but Sanchez’s often expository writing keeps her and her struggles at arm’s length,” noted a writer in Publishers Weekly. In Kirkus Reviews, a writer said: “This gritty contemporary novel about an unlikable first-generation Mexican-American teen fails to deliver as a coming-of-age journey.” Other reviewers praised the book for weaving story elements along with “a tragic story of distant sisters to create an earnest and heartfelt tale,” noted Reinhardt Suarez in Booklist. “This novel richly explores coming-of-age topics; a timely and must-have account of survival in a culturally contentious world,” according to Alea Perez in School Library Journal.
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Booklist, September 1, 2017, Reinhardt Suarez, review of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, p. 102.
Kirkus Reviews, August 15, 2017, review of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter.
Library Journal, April 15, 2017, Doris Lynch, review of Lessons on Expulsion, p. 87.
Publishers Weekly, May 15, 2017, review of Lessons on Expulsion, p. 33; August 7, 2017, review of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, p. 74.
School Library Journal, September 2017, Alea Perez, review of I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter, p. 150.
ONLINE
Erika L. Sanchez Website, https://erikalsanchez.com (February 1, 2018), author profile.
Mashable, https://mashable.com/ (November 15, 2017), MJ Franklin, author interview.
Print Marked Items
Sanchez, Erika L.: I AM NOT YOUR
PERFECT MEXICAN DAUGHTER
Kirkus Reviews.
(Aug. 15, 2017):
COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Sanchez, Erika L. I AM NOT YOUR PERFECT MEXICAN DAUGHTER Knopf (Children's Fiction)
$17.99 10, 17 ISBN: 978-1-5247-0048-5
After the death of her dutiful older sister, Olga, Julia must deal with grieving parents and the discovery that
her sister was keeping secrets.Fifteen-year-old Julia Reyes is nothing like her sister, "Saint Olga," who was
struck by a semi at age 22 and was always the family's "perfect Mexican daughter": contributing at home,
attending community college, working at a doctor's office, and helping their mother clean houses. Julia, on
the other hand, hates living in her roach-infested apartment building in their predominantly Latinx Chicago
neighborhood, and she doesn't even try to live up to her Ama and Apa's expectations that she behave like a
proper Mexican young lady. After secretly snooping through Olga's room, Julia begins to suspect that Olga
may have led a double life. In one of many overlong subplots, Julia starts a romance with a rich Evanston
white boy, Connor, whom she meets at a used bookstore. Sanchez's prose is authentic, but it's difficult to
root for Julia, because she's so contemptuous, judgmental, and unpleasant: "I do dislike most people and
most things"--from "nosy" aunts, "idiot" cousins, and tacky quinceanera parties to even her "wild and slutty"
best friend, Lorena, at least sometimes. An abrupt plot development involving self-harm and mental illness
feels forced, as does a magically life-changing trip to Mexico in the third act. This gritty contemporary
novel about an unlikable first-generation Mexican-American teen fails to deliver as a coming-of-age
journey. (Fiction. 14-17)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Sanchez, Erika L.: I AM NOT YOUR PERFECT MEXICAN DAUGHTER." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Aug.
2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A500364705/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f8560d9f. Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A500364705
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
Reinhardt Suarez
Booklist.
114.1 (Sept. 1, 2017): p102.
COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist_publications/booklist/booklist.cfm
Full Text:
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter. By Erika L. Sanchez. Oct. 2017.352p. Knopf, $17.99
(9781524700485); lib. ed., $20.99 (9781524700492). Gr. 9-12.
Julias older sister, Olga, was always polite, respected her parents, and eagerly took up the Mexican
traditions her mother insisted upon. After Olga dies in a car accident, Julia is thrust into a spotlight she's not
ready for. She's too angry, too unappreciative, too American, which results in her mother shutting out her
social and love life. Then Julia discovers Olga's trove of secrets, which hint at a hidden life. As Julia pursues
the mystery of the real Olga, she begins to find out that more than one of her family members has secrets.
This bildungsroman immigrant story captures the chaotic life of a young person trying to navigate two
worlds while trying to follow her own path. Julia wants to leave Chicago and attend college, while a
"perfect Mexican daughter" would stay put, get a job, and contribute to the family. Sanchez weaves these
threads along with a tragic story of distant sisters to create an earnest and heartfelt tale that will resonate
with teens.--Reinhardt Suarez
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
Suarez, Reinhardt. "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter." Booklist, 1 Sept. 2017, p. 102. General
OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A509161682/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=cdaf8a80. Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A509161682
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
Publishers Weekly.
264.32 (Aug. 7, 2017): p74+.
COPYRIGHT 2017 PWxyz, LLC
http://www.publishersweekly.com/
Full Text:
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter
Erika L. Sanchez. Knopf, $17.99 (352p) ISBN 978-1-5247-0048-5
Why isn't 15-year-old Julia Reyes a perfect Mexican daughter in her mother's eyes? Mostly because of her
older sister, Olga, who puts family first, listens to her parents, and dresses conservatively. Julia, by contrast,
argues with her mother, talks back at school, and dreams of becoming a famous writer. When Olga dies
suddenly, Julia is left wishing that they had been closer and grieving what she sees as Olga's wasted life.
And when she starts to suspect that Olga might not have been so perfect, she follows every clue. Sanchez's
debut novel covers a lot of ground, including Julia's day-to-day activities in Chicago, her college ambitions,
her first boyfriend (who is white and comes from a wealthy neighborhood), her difficult relationship with
her overprotective parents, and her search for Olga's secrets. As the book moves along, Julia's frustration
with the many constraints she lives under--poverty, family expectations, and conditioning that she resents
but can't quite ignore--reaches dangerous levels. Julia is a sympathetic character, but Sanchez's often
expository writing keeps her and her struggles at arm's length. Ages 14-up. Agent: Michelle Brower,
Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary. (Oct.)
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter." Publishers Weekly, 7 Aug. 2017, p. 74+. General OneFile,
http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A500340420/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=ec8ff5f2.
Accessed 29 Jan. 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A500340420
Perez, Alea
School Library Journal. Sep2017, Vol. 63 Issue 9, p150-150. 1/4p.
Book Review
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter (Book)
SANCHEZ, Erika L.
YOUNG adult fiction
FICTION
Gr 10 Up—Fifteen-year-old outcast Julia Reyes longs to attend college in New York, in order to get away from the suffocating watch of her undocumented Mexican parents in Chicago. The unusual death of Julia’s older sister Olga—considered the perfect child by her family—only bolsters this desire, as her parents focus their attention even more strongly on their now only child. When Julia stumbles across unexpected items in Olga’s bedroom after the funeral, she sets off on a course to discover her sister’s secrets while trying to find some escape from her strict parents. Sánchez makes Julia’s unflinching candidness very clear from the start, with the opening sentence providing her stark description of Olga’s corpse. This attitude intermittently brings levity to heavy moments, but also heartbreak when the weight of it all comes crashing down. That honesty and heartbreak is skillfully woven throughout, from the authentic portrayal of sacrifices made and challenges faced by immigrants to the clash of traditional versus contemporary practices, and the struggle of first-generation Americans to balance their two cultures. The importance of language, a lens through which Latinxs are often viewed and sharply judged, is brilliantly highlighted through an ample but measured use of Spanish that is often defined in context without feeling forced or awkward. The author interweaves threads related to depression/anxiety, body image, sexuality, rape, suicide, abuse, and gang violence in both the U.S. and Mexico with nuance, while remaining true to the realities of those issues. VERDICT Like Isabel Quintero’s Gabi, a Girl in Pieces, sans the diary format, this novel richly explores coming-of-age topics; a timely and must-have account of survival in a culturally contentious world.
Lynch, Doris
Library Journal. 4/15/2017, Vol. 142 Issue 7, p87-88. 2p.
Book Review
*POETRY collections
*FICTION
LESSONS on Expulsion: Poems (Book)
Sánchez, Erika L. Lessons on Expulsion. Graywolf. Jul. 2017. 96p. ISBN 9781555977788. pap. $16; ebk. ISBN 9781555979706. POETRY
In this debut collection, Sánchez (winner of the Discovery/Boston Review Poetry Contest and a fellowship from the Poetry Foundation) describes what it’s like to be a child of immigrants, and, too often, a woman jeered at by men. Sometimes harsh, though always vibrant and superbly written, the poems chronicle what it’s like to travel and live in Mexico, the United States, and Europe. The pieces recount events some would prefer to avoid; for instance, the brutal 2014 massacre of Mexican students and the 1616 Tepehuán revolt. Sánchez is also not afraid to catalog the ugly and scarred: semen, spit, mouse shit, and dead fetuses all make appearances. But how she captures the world of the senses: “Watch how I shield/my ears from the tiny blades//of the cricket song,/but I still love//the way the evening rages on.” Written in English, with occasional Spanish phrases, this collection offers an exploration of what it is to live, love, and suffer on this Earth: “Guerra a fuego y sangre: where the bones clatter//from the sapodilla trees.” VERDICT Brutal, raw, yet forgiving in the tradition of Walt Whitman, this work is not to be missed.
Publishers Weekly. 5/15/2017, Vol. 264 Issue 20, p33-34. 2p.
Book Review
LESSONS on Expulsion: Poems (Book)
SANCHEZ, Erika L.
MAGIC realism (Literature)
FICTION
Erika L. Sánchez. Graywolf, $16 trade paper (96p) ISBN 978-1-55597-778-8
In her hallucinatory debut collection, Sánchez negotiates an imaginative space between oral history and journalistic reportage, overloading the senses as she produces “a body on the verge of fever.” Sex workers, farmers, hormonal adolescents, and churchgoers populate these formally varied lyrics delivered with a whiff of magical realism. Sánchez is as capable of intriguingly surrealist gestures (“the day goes on picking/ the meat from its teeth”) as of photographic depictions. Her narrative voice is perhaps most seductive when most ruthlessly sensory, describing an estranged lover's angst triggered by the odor of raw ginger, or evoking New York City streets with “the rich smell/ of baked garbage and cononct curry.” Sánchez's protagonists defy expected cultural roles, braving the disapproval of patriarchs and of “ashen saints with their eyes/ rolled back in blessedness,/ whites the color of old wedding/ dresses.” Ambient unease and confessional impulsivity culminate in the lush shock of “Six Months after Contemplating Suicide,” in which the speaker reckons with wanting “the end// with a serpentine/ greed” and celebrates the hard-won capacity for survival. Throughout, a sense of menace pervades all the joyfully vivid detail, suggesting that only language itself provides a “brief happiness as fierce as the wet muscles of a horse.” Agent: Michelle Brower, Zachary Shuster Harmsworth. (July)
'I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter' is a fantastic teenage rage novel
56
BY MJ FRANKLIN
NOV 15, 2017
Every product here is independently selected by Mashable journalists. If you buy something featured, we may earn an affiliate commission which helps support our work.
Erika L. Sánchez is completely over the idea that female characters shouldn't be angry.
"I think that's a bunch of crap. I don't see why girls aren't allowed to be mad. We have so much to be mad about," Sánchez says. An early draft of her book I Am Not Your Perfect Daughter, our November MashReads pick, was rejected by agents who thought Sánchez's main character was too angry.
I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter follows Julia Reyes, a 15-year-old Mexican American girl growing up in Chicago. After the sudden and tragic death of her sister Olga, Julia is suddenly put on the spotlight, being compared to her sister who was perfect in her parents eyes. But as Julia deals with the grief of Olga's death, she soon learns that perhaps her sister wasn't as perfect as she seemed.
"Julia is dealing with so much stuff. Her sister is dead. And [she's dealing with] body image and sex and her parents. I think it's not a valid criticism of a book to say a character is too angry. When are men criticized for that?"
Fortunately, Sánchez got the last laugh. She kept Julia's anger in the book, resulting in a blunt, candid, funny, and relatable coming of age novel that's now nominated for a National Book Award in Young People's Literature.
Join us in the episode above as we chat with author Erika L. Sánchez about her novel I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter.
Interview highlights:
What inspired this book?
"I've actually never lost anyone, thank goodness. I was a snarky 15-year-old girl. I struggled with depression. I was mean at times. So this is where Julia was formed. A lot of things were fictionalized, but I had to channel my inner teenager, and it wasn't that hard actually."
What is your take on the Mexican heritage in the book? What did it mean to you to bring this cultural identity to this book and this character?
"I feel like it's a classic American story, and a story that's not often told, that's not part of the mainstream, it's not part of the cannon. Which to me that's ridiculous. It's not for lack of talent, there's so many talented Latina and Latino authors in the world. I wanted to create a story that documented the experiences of an immigrant family because that's the family that I belonged to. And I think its really important to read different narratives about people so you can understand what it's like to be them. And I think reading can be a very powerful tool for empathy.
And I hope that young children of immigrants see themselves in the book and feel validated. And I hope that everyone else can understand what it's like to be the child of an immigrant or to be an immigrant."
In an interview, while talking about writing characters who are women and people of color, you said "We're rarely allowed to be flawed."
"I think because we're so rare at all, so that when we are part of a book, we're expected to be perfect. The model minority. And that's first of all very boring and unrealistic. We're all human beings, we make mistakes, we're flawed. Especially as a teenager. So I felt like [Julia] needed to fuck up because that's just what it is to be a person."