Book Review: The Dirty Girls Social Club by Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez

The sucias were rough. Based in the east coast, Boston specifically, the sucias met in college at Boston U. After graduation, they made a pact to meet up once a year in Boston to catch up and stay in touch. All Latinas, each sucia couldn’t be more different from another. Battling private domestic issues, loveless marriages, parental expectations, religious beliefs at odds with themselves, racism and prejudices within the Latin/Hispanic community, confronting the reality of immigration, fighting for your place and your history in America, accepting that some of us really are just American and don’t speak Spanish, and missing your homeland or wherever your roots are while trying to make a life in a country that sees you as less than as your own community does the same within itself - the sucias cover quite a bit!

I absolutely loved this book, the character arcs of each sucia, and how everything came together and ended. I also love that each sucia leads a relatively successful life, which is something rarely portrayed of Hispanics and even less so of Hispanic women. Typically, I don’t consider myself someone who “needs to see someone like me,” in a certain light to think differently or believe that I am capable, but I will say there is something refreshing about seeing/reading something that is not stereotypical.

This was a pleasant find, and I’m so glad it made the final cut in my book haul last week.  That being said, there are a lot of expressions in Spanish I didn’t understand and I don’t have the patience to look up all of the words and expressions. Special shout out to my Spanish-speaking friend for answering my “what does this word mean,” texts.

I definitely appreciate diversity in the literary world. More and more authors of different backgrounds are getting much needed and deserving attention. I am not one of those people who looks into the backgrounds of authors so I appreciate that diversity is getting the shelf space it has long deserved and been deprived of (better late than never), making it easier for readers like me who love to randomly pick up books and take them home (FOR-EV-ER).

Buy Here.