America's Dream: A Novel

Written by Esmeralda Santiago

Narrated by Esmeralda Santiago

""Lyrical [and] haunting, América’s liberating epiphany will have readers . . . on their feet and cheering."" — Washington Post

From the award-winning, best-selling author of When I Was Puerto Rican, América’s Dream explores the ever-shifting definition of what it means to be American and exemplifies the spirit of every immigrant who has dared to realize the American dream.

América Gonzalez is a hotel housekeeper on Vieques, an island off the coast of Puerto Rico, cleaning up after wealthy foreigners who don’t look her in the eye. Her alcoholic mother resents her; her married boyfriend, Correa, beats her; and their fourteen-year-old daughter thinks life would be better anywhere but with América. So when América is offered the chance to work as a live-in housekeeper and nanny for a family in Westchester, New York, she takes it as a sign to finally make the escape she's been longing for. 

Yet, even as América revels in the comparative luxury of her new life—daring to care about a man other than Correa—she is faced with the disquieting realization that no matter what she does, she can never really escape her past.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperAudio
• Release date: Apr 6, 2021
• ISBN: 9780063113411

Esmeralda Santiago

Esmeralda Santiago is the author of three groundbreaking memoirs: When I was Puerto Rican, Almost a Woman (which she adapted into a Peabody Award–winning movie for PBS Masterpiece), and The Turkish Lover. Her fiction includes the novels América's Dream (also made into a film) and Conquistadora, and a children's book, A Doll for Navidades. Esmeralda is passionate about the artistic development of young people and has traveled the world as a public speaker encouraging literacy, memoir writing, and storytelling. Her books have been translated into fifteen languages.

Reviews for America's Dream

[booklover217 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"To her, the scar is not invisible. It irritates her when people pretend it's not there. It's a reminder of who she is now, and who she was then....They're there to remind her that she fought for her life, and that, no matter what how others may interpret it, she has a right to live that life as she chooses."America's Dream by Esmeralda Santiago was November's pick for #ReadPuertoRican book club. In this one, Santiago highlights Puerto Rican women while at the same time giving you important Puerto Rican history such as: U.S. occupation and bomb testing in Vieques, birth control and sterilization of Puerto Rican women, and rise of tourism from the slave system and haciendas. Santiago's main focus was on machismo and domestic violence. Although this book published in 1996, it relevant still today as Puerto Rican femicide and gender violence led to a state if emergency being declared in Puerto Rico as gender based violence continues to rise and has historically been a huge problem in the Caribbean. Santiago gives us a nuanced perspective on domestic abuse through America Gonzalez's eyes. She shows us how difficult it is to get help while being in and even after leaving the relationship. She shows us the push-pull mentality as Puerto Rican women grapple with wanting to pursue freedom through feminism but at the same time upholding the very same beliefs that are the cause of their oppression. For many women poverty forces the cycle of violence and machismo to continue. She shows how mother-daughter relationships are strained through mixed messaging and not being able to openly talk about machismo without feeling like they're assimilating or abandoning their culture. She shows us the ways they cope with abuse and trauma, from total denial of depression, numbing through alcoholism and learning how to be in survival mode on a daily basis. What I found interesting about Santiago's writing is how she places the status of women within the greater context of the colonial status of Puerto Rico. The state of ambivalence the women display directly mirrors the mentality of Puerto Ricans when is comes to their relationship with the U.S. They've been abused for so long, they've almost become passive. They know they need to change in order to survive but the roots of trauma and abuse are embedded so deeply through Puerto Ricans that at times, it feels almost impossible to come up for air. But the Puerto Rican resilience and will to survive has sustained despite all the tragedy. For many change has come from exposure to living in the diaspora but more importantly by holding on to language, refusing assimilation and empowering the next generation to become changemakers. Essentially, the fate of Puerto Rican women depends on the fight for Puerto Rico's sovereignty. América Gonzalez, as a character reminds us that although we may be battered and bruised, we are not broken and there is much work to do in the areas of decolonization, unlearning machismo and gender violence and solidarity in liberation movements. Siempre pa'lante but never forgetting what it means to be a Puerto Rican survivor.

[mamibunny · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book made me laugh and cry. Much of it reminded me of my mother learning and trying to speak English. The story is full of hope and inspiration for anyone who is just trying to make it in this world, regardless of where you come from.