How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents

Alvarez, Julia. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. New York: Algonquin Books, 1991.
286 p. ISBN 0452268060


    Julia Alvarez’s novel, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents describes the story of the Garcia sisters and their immigration from the Dominican Republic to New York City.  From their attempts to assimilate into American society to their struggles with their father to their personal issues in adolescence and adulthood, the girls experience things that make the story both realistic and relatable.  The structure of the novel is unique as it begins in a present time when the girls are middle-aged and progresses backward all the way to their childhood in the Dominican Republic.  Although presented in reverse order, Alvarez presents a Bildungsroman intertwined with issues of racial identity and instability.

    While I found the structure of the novel to be very interesting and perhaps even worthwhile in the long-run, I also thought that this aspect of the novel hindered its teachability.  The novel may be better-suited for high school students, but I do not think that it would be the best option for middle schoolers.  Because it begins with adult characters, it would be difficult for young children to relate and become interested in the story right away.  Additionally, the sexuality of the girls and their father’s commentary seems somewhat inappropriate for this age.  The novel would be useful to teach because of its ability to introduce the reader to the Dominican culture as well as the experiences of immigrants and minority groups in the search to define their racial identity in the context of the United States and in the context of their more-traditional family units.  However, despite these aspects, I do not think that the novel is appropriate nor engaging for a middle school classroom.