Quintero, I. (2014). Gabi:A girl in pieces. TX:
Cinco Puntos
The story is told
through Gabi’s personal diary. She writes about the good, the bad, and the ugly
of her last year in high school. First of all, Gabi
has to cope with her weight throughout the novel.
She thinks she is fat, but really does not care. Her love of tacos, Mexican
food, beef jerky, wings, and chocolate is her weakness. Her mom
is constantly telling her that she needs to lose weight if she wants to get
married one day. She has never had a
boyfriend or been kissed. She has a low self-esteem and thinks that no one
would want to date a “fat girl”. To
top it off, her father is a drug addict and is gone most of the time. Gabi is
always worried for him because sometimes he’s gone for weeks and comes back
looking like a homeless. All she does to relieve the pain is write him letters
that she never gives to him. Sadly, one day, Gabi found him in their garage,
dead. He had overdosed on meth. Beto, her brother is fifteen years old, smokes
weed, doesn’t like school, and gets into trouble. On the other hand, Gabi is a
very smart girl that loves school and specially her Poetry class. Ms. Abernard is her poetry teacher that becomes
an adult role mode and mentor for her. Gabi
uses her poetry as an outlet for all the trouble in her life and she’s actually
very good at it. Surprisingly, her best friend Cindy becomes pregnant after
having sex in the back of a car. Her other best friend Sebastian gets kicked
out of his house after coming out of the closet about being gay. He actually
ends up living with his aunt that somewhat accepts his relationship with a
Bolivian boy. Later, Gabi does find love despite her weight. She starts dating Martin even though she struggles
with her emotions of what is expected in a relationship. However, her mother is
very old school and is always bringing up how she should not have sex and
simply be a good girl. But just as she kind of planned it, they do end up
having sexual intercourse on prom day. It wasn’t what she expected though, but
they both enjoyed it and kept on doing it. Both, Martin and Gabi got accepted
to Berkeley, their dream university, and are very excited to start together. A
few weeks before graduation, Gabi makes a poor judgment call that gets her in a
lot of trouble. She beat up German, the boy who raped her best friend and
got her pregnant. She got suspended and was not allowed to walk or even attend
her graduation ceremony. Luckily, because of her good grades it wouldn’t stay
on her record jeopardizing her acceptance to Berkeley. On graduation day, she
goes to her favorite place, Pepe’s House of Wings and reserves a table for ten.
All her loved ones show up after the ceremony to celebrate and eat her
favorite, lemon pepper wings.
I honestly loved
this novel! It really brought back memories of when I was in high school. It
was hysterical when I read lines that I had literally heard from my mom exactly
the way they were written. Also doing things that Gabi did like for Christmas wrapping
my own gifts from my parents. How funny! Just like the main character, I also
come from a Mexican-American family that back then I really thought was old
school. My mom would always bring up the topics of boys and sex, making me feel
uncomfortable. Also, my weight was something I always had trouble with simple
because I love food. This novel definitely incorporated many of the challenges that young adults face.
From teen pregnancy, to being gay, to being raped, to having a parent who is an
addict. Also having to deal with being over weight in a society that idolizes
girls who are skinny. Books like this one can be used to connect with the
family and even share different cultures.
Author's
Website
Interview of Isabel Quintero
by YALSA
Book
trailer:
Another book by the author.
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