The Quick Cut: A memoir about growing up in the housing projects in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach from a woman who was struggling with her sexual identity at the time.
A Real Review: Thank you to Algonquin Books for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review. Fiction and non-fiction are two very different writing styles. Typically with fiction, the best work does a phenomenal job of transporting into a different world with fantastical details and over the top drama. With non-fiction, the writer has to do everything they can to really put you in the action and ensure that you fully understand what is happening in as realistic of a manner as possible. Although similar in the manner that they take you to unique places you have never been before, it is hard to convey emotions that put you in the shoes of the author. With this memoir from Jaquira Diaz, she walks the readers through the complex struggles of her difficult childhood in Puerto Rico and Miami Beach. Jaquira Diaz had a very hard childhood. Detailing out the relationship between her mother and father, she walks the reader through life growing up in Puerto Rico, her family moving to Miami Beach, and how it all came crumbling down when their plans in a new country went south. Between struggling with her sexual identity and being stuck between her waring parents, she had to deal with her mother's mental health problems, sexual abuse, and the bad choices made that put her behind prison bars. I would be remiss to say that this is a dark book. Everyone has their own problems at some point in life, but what she goes through with her family? That is on a whole new playing field of struggle and I cannot even imagine what that must have been like. I cannot imagine how she managed to get through everything she did. She even went a step beyond and recounted them in this novel. She truly shows how a person can rise above the insanity of the environment they were born in to find a better life. A big part of her life story revolves around her mother's losing battle with her schizophrenia. The way she lays out what happens to her mother throughout her life is very smart in the way it lays out just how important it is to safely identify and work through these types of problems. There is a known connection between having diagnoses of mental health issues and addiction problems. All too often, those who do not have the resources or ability to deal with their mental problems try to self-soothe and medicate by using alcohol, drugs, or other debilitating habits. Once you start down that road, it becomes increasing difficult to turn around and go down the healthier path. Watching her mother take the addiction path is not only devastating, but it highlights an issue we have as a society. In order to deal with some of our addiction issues as a whole, we need to deal with the reality of what mental health issues are seen as. The only issue I had with the memoir was the last fifty pages or so. In the end, she starts quickly jumping around timeline wise and it takes you out of what is happening having that many changes in only a page or two. While I understand the importance of laying out what happened in each of these times, I think it would have been more impactful if she spent longer than a page or two talking through them. The quick hits make it harder to adjust and stay engrossed in the story. A powerful memoir about growing up in the worst of situations and learning how to pull yourself out of it. My rating: 3.5 out of 5