I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter Sparknotes

The book I chose to read for our lit circle unit was “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter” by Erika L. Sanchez. The story is an interesting read from start to finish full of twists and turns in the storyline. The main conflicts in the story are between Ama, Julia's mom, and Julia herself who always seem to be butting heads because they are coping with grief in different ways. Julia also has a major internal conflict with herself because she is self-conscious about her appearance around others and she at first blames herself for Olga’s death. The main theme of the book is the value of secrecy which can be seen once the story starts to unfold and the secrets that were once hidden rise to the surface. The book follows the life of a teenage

This was a major storyline in the book because Julia’s parents always saw Olga as their perfect daughter who did everything right and lived the “perfect” life. Thus this made Julia feel as though she wasn’t as worthy as her sister, and constantly made her feel as though she couldn't live up to their expectations. I think this book also does a great job of being relatable to people that may have experienced the same struggles as Julia such as fitting into their cultural norms versus the life they think they should have, and anyone who feels as though they don’t fit the “mold” set for them by their parents or society. Therefore this book also offers an interesting perspective of Julia who is of Mexican culture and how she is adapting to her life in America. Thus also deals with the realities and hardships that come with immigration, poverty, and death and allows people to see what life may be like for immigrants who cross the border and come to

She is constantly talking down on herself about the way she looks and how she hates the life she has to live. So much so that when someone told her that she was beautiful she shied away and didn’t believe him. One example of this internal conflict can be found on page 117 where Julia thinks “I don’t understand why everyone just complains about who I am. What am I supposed to do? Say, I’m sorry I can’t be normal? I’m sorry I’m such a bad daughter. I’m sorry I hate the life I have to live?” This conflict is really important for people to think about in the book because it is a feeling Julia is always carrying and never seems to go away until Julia later goes to therapy. This conflict greatly impacts Julia’s mood throughout the entire story until Julia hits rock bottom and slowly rises back up, changing her views of herself. But if Julia hadn’t gotten the help she needed eventually the book would not have turned out the way it did, and she might not have mended the relationships with her friends and