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Although ten-year-old Miguel is at first embarrassed by his colorful aunt, Tia Lola, when she comes to Vermont from the Dominican Republic to stay with his mother, his sister, and him after his parents' divorce, he learns to love her.
Alvarez has often said that the immigrant experience was the crucible that turned her into a writer. Her struggle with the nuances of the English language made her deeply conscious of the power of words, and exposure to books and reading sharpened both her imagination and her storytelling skills. She graduated summa cum laude from Middlebury College in 1971, received her M.F.A. from Syracuse University, and spent the next two decades in the education field, traveling around the country with the poetry-in-the-schools program and teaching English and Creative Writing to elementary, high school, and college students.
Alvarez's verse began to appear in literary magazines and anthologies, and in 1984, she published her first poetry collection, Homecoming. She had less success marketing her novel -- a semiautobiographical story that traced the painful assimilation of a Dominican family over a period of more than 30 eventful years. A series of 15 interconnected stories that unfold in reverse chronological order, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents addresses, head-on, the obstacles and challenges immigrants face in adapting to life in a new country.
It took some time for "ethnic" literature to gain enough of a foothold in the literary establishment for Alvarez's agent, a tireless champion of minority authors, to find a publisher. But when the novel was released in 1991, it received strongly positive reviews. And so, at the tender age of 41, Alvarez became a star. Three years later, she proved herself more than a "one-hit wonder," when her second novel, In the Time of Butterflies was nominated for the prestigious National Book Critics Circle Award. Since then, she has made her name as a writer of remarkable versatility, juggling novels, poetry, children's books, and nonfiction with equal grace and aplomb. She lives in Vermont, where she serves as a writer in residence at her alma mater, Middlebury College. In addition, she and her husband run a coffee farm in the Dominican Republic that hosts a school to teach the local farmers and their families how to read and write.
She has held positions as a professor of creative writing and English at Phillips Andover Academy in Massachusetts (1979-81), the University of Vermont (1981-83), and the University of Illinois (1985-88).
In 1984, Alvarez was the Jenny McKean Moore Visiting Writer at George Washington University. Currently, she is a professor of English at Middlebury College.
She and her husband run a coffee farm, Alta Gracia, in the Dominican Republic.
Anonymous
Posted February 6, 2012
I need to read it for battle of th book
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Posted October 9, 2011
Ggb D Fdfkfj
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Posted October 1, 2011
Great book
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Great short read, fun for this Dominicana to read. Situations are a little too easy to predict and cliche (the curmudgeon who finds his heart, etc.) but it was still fun and great to introduce my son to some of his Dominican culture and heritage. Great for ages 10+, although some of the spanish might trip up younger kids.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I read his to be able to discuss with my daughter. I liked it but not loved it! Could of been a lttle better but kept me reading.
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Posted May 30, 2010
This is a good book. Anyone in the age range of 9 and 12 should read this book. I recommend this book to everyone who reads it, trust me you will see what i'm talking about. This book is very interesting to the kids minds!!!! i know because i am one !!!
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Posted April 15, 2008
How Tía Lola came to ¿Visit¿ Stay by Julia Alvarez is not one of my favorite novels off the Hispanic author shelf, but it was a very fun read and, in my own opinion, had some symbolism throughout as well as a connection back to the Spanish language through the array of characters in Alvarez¿s novel. The novel is about a boy named Miguel whose parents have recently filed to be divorced, and his mother has invited his very colorful aunt to stay in their home. Miguel has to be the shallowest character written about in literature. His aunt is a little odd and a bit fiery and flavorful than most people, but he worries more about what his new classmates would think than staying on the side of family. Alvarez wrote, ¿This is how Tía Lola becomes top secret.¿ '28' Miguel decides to keep his aunt a secret because all his friends think she is a ghost anyway. He¿d rather be liked than actually stick by his own family, as stated. Even though he slowly admits he likes some things about his aunt, he keeps her under wraps practically the whole visit. Now, Miguel¿s mother, Mami as they call her, has a very, shall I say, more developed storyline. She is new to being a single mother just in the midst a terrible divorce, and is now living on her own with her two kids. Mami is also the one who invited Tía Lola to visit. Something interesting about her character is the narrator makes many references to `the blue bowl¿. Alvarez wrote, ¿But he keeps his mouth shut. He knows why his mother is staring at the blue bowl, and he doesn¿t want to upset her memory.¿ '2' The infamous `blue bowl¿ is a symbol of the broken relationship between Miguel¿s parents, being the bowl they spoon fed cake to each other from on their wedding day, and a symbol of Mami¿s torture that her marriage is over. Now, Miguel¿s younger sister, Juanita, seemed to be the most underdeveloped character. She offered a symbol of innocence in the novel. Juanita is very young, roughly four or five, and, as I noticed, doesn¿t really harness what is going on with her parents yet. Juanita offers some basics of the Spanish language to the novel. Juanita says, ¿`Tía is the word for aunt in Spanish, right, Mami?¿¿ '1' And finally, for the main roles throughout the novel, is Tía Lola, the family¿s colorful aunt from the Dominican Republic. She is very loud, boisterous, and can only speak Spanish which offers more than just the basics, like Juanita¿s character offers. I believe Tía Lola symbolizes the idea of prejudice in America. Especially with Miguel keeping her top secret from his friends he is rejecting something different just because it is different. I also believe Tía Lola represents some of the problems in America vs. Cultural Changes because Miguel most likely feels that Tía Lola could mess up his Latin-American lifestyle, like a large majority of bigoted Americans feel that letting people jump our borders is going to ruin our country. Tía Lola has to be my favorite character over all because I, personally, would love a wacky and crazy aunt like her. Another thing I loved about this novel is the Spanish integration into the English text like using simple Spanish words as way to show younger readers that other languages are out there other than just English. Overall, I give this novel three stars as a book and two thumbs up if they ever made it a movie. It is good for rainy day fun or for some analysis into what each little piece means.
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Posted January 4, 2003
I loved this book, it made me not want to sleep at night. The way the author expressed the way the characters were feeling was great. This was the first time that i read a book by this author but, i can tell you that i will be reading a another one her. I suggest that chioldren and adults should read it to.
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Posted October 13, 2010
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Posted December 9, 2011
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Posted January 27, 2011
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Posted March 25, 2009
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Posted March 17, 2009
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Posted January 3, 2012
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Overview
A delightfully entertaining story of family and culture from acclaimed author Julia Alvarez.Moving to Vermont after his parents split, Miguel has plenty to worry about! Tía Lola, his quirky, carismática, and maybe magical aunt makes his life even more unpredictable when she arrives from the Dominican Republic to help out his Mami. Like her stories for adults, Julia Alvarez’s first middle-grade book sparkles with magic as it illuminates a child’s experiences living in two cultures.
From the Trade Paperback ...