This memior provides a great dichotomy between what may be mainstream American and mainstream Peruvian. What I see in bright light are some dichotomies: 1. The dichotmy between caste systems. One is mostly about ancestory and the other mostly about how fair/dark are you. The Peruvian caste system allows for more genetic mix than what the US American caste system allows.2. The dichotomy between how sons are raised. May we in US incorporate some of what Peruvian mothers do. The part I find attract...

My wife had set this book aside after barely starting it, and out of curiosity, I picked it up. Then I could hardly put it down. You can read a summary elsewhere. Memoirs, autobiographies, and biographies are my favorite types of reading. But when you read a memoir that has all of the elements of a gripping novel--well, that's the best. This story of Marie Arana's childhood is like that. Parts seem so fantastic that they must be fiction or fantasy, but they really were part of her life. Since th...

This is one of the best memoirs of a childhood that I've read. It's not only her story, but about her parent's mixed marriage and their struggle to make it work, her love and acceptance of both her countries, America and Peru, and her determination to bridge those gaps and become her own best self. Brilliantly written with humor and honesty and historical research, it's a great read for anyone who loves memoir.

It is well written and thoughtful. I'm not sure its primarily memoir. Parts of it are clearly memoir. But great tracts of this are chapters of historical genealogy for her extended ancestry/ family and connective Peruvian history and politico. Far more than would define only her own self-identity and cultural nuance. It held delicate and exact moldings of her parents' personalities, their emotional style, their intellect, their talents and their influence upon their children. Those were the best...

American Chica is not How the Garcia Girls Lost their Accents nor is Marie Arana another Julia Alvarez. More’s the pity. That said, I’m an easy grader and mostly love to read anything that is not macabre, fantasy, or sci-fi. I find biculturalism and bilingualism irresistible topics and personally fascinating b/c of my own bicultural-bilingual experiences. So what in my humble opinion is not to like about American Chica? ¡Nada en absoluto! I flew through the book devouring every detail and was to...

I grew up in the inner suburbs of Washington , DC. with many bicultural friends. While I myself was not, I often wished I could fit seamlessly into two cultures (as I supposed my friends did). Marie Arana, born of a Peruvian father and an American mother, captures both the richness and the difficulties of being bicultural, and moving between two continents. She has written a gripping memoir that reads much like a novel, without ever being self-indulgent. Her writing style is detached, as if she

This memoir was filled with interesting stories, history, and poignant observations about the adventures and difficulties of having a mixed background. I was the first person in my family to be born in the U.S. Although both of my parents are from the same country, I identified greatly with the author's feeling of not belonging in either country, always an "other." In Colombia, I am a foreigner; in the U.S., I am a minority. I am too "Americanized" for my family, having adopted values of America...

Being that I am a first generation american myself, (my Mother came here at 8 yrs old from Medilion Columbia) I have been there with the feelings of "Who Am I", "How Should I live my life? Traditional or American?, Spanish at home English 99.9% of places I go... I have always felt like 2 very Differnt people and I was very happy to find such a warm, telling book about "my feelings"

Trapped at home in the polar vortex, this was a great way to spend my time. Beautifully written (and I had to look up the meanings of words!) and expertly told, this memoir kept its focus on Arana's childhood and parents rather than getting lost in a long telling of her entire life. I loved the cast of supporting characters, from grandparents to cousins.

The author writes about growing up in America and Peru and how she had to almost have a dual personality to adjust to the differences of the 2. I could relate, because I grew up traveling between 2 cultures as well, even though it wasn't as drastic as hers was. A really interesting book.

poetical and lyricalfascinating history of perucompelling narrativecomplex family story and historywow!

Were you able to experience the chance to be raised and to grow up in two completely different environments? Arana was able to really capture the difference between two cultures and the difficulty of finding her place. “American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood” by Marie Arana is an amazingly detailed biography about her life, how she was raised and her family ancestry. Arana is able to capture being raised by two completely different cultures and beliefs and the many hardships that she and her

Marie Arana writes eloquently about her childhood in Peru and candidly describes her life there as a child in the 1950s. I enjoyed reading about the Peruvian way of life in the Arana family and the insights into the culture of Peru with its social and political components. Having recently traveled to South America I was especially interested in learning more about these things, it adds a dimension to the travel experience that makes it so much fuller for me. I like to read books written by autho...

A memoir from Marie Arana about growing up with an American mom and a Peruvian dad and growing up in both countries. She tells not only about her life and her parent's unconventional marriage but also about being bi-cultural and how she was never fully accepted as an American or a Peruvian. I was going to give this book four stars but there are times when it went too deeply in to Peruvian politics which took away from the story.

(reposted from my blog)This was a pure and simple impulse read. I happened to be scanning the biography section of the library, saw this book, read the back blurb and took it away with me.American Chica is a wonderful read; Arana was trained as a journalist, and her beautifully detailed descriptions and carefully-chosen similes point out the many ways in which her parents' trans-continental marriage and her privileged upbringing in Peru, then the dramatic change to middle-class surroundings in t...

Amongst many other things, Marie Arana, author of American Chica: Two Worlds, One Childhood, is a brilliant storyteller. American Chica, her memoir, tells the story of a childhood, growing up with a Peruvian engineer and aristocrat for a father and an American musician as a mother. She begins with slowly discussing and dissecting her family structure: her perfect sister and her adventurous brother, her two parents who seem, at times, so different from each other, and her role. In the end, it’s n...

I originally started this book thinking (for some reason) that the author was Puerto Rican as I am currently studying the migration of Puerto Ricans to America for a project. So I was a bit surprised to read that this author is actually from a Peruvian-American family. However I am already entranced by the beginnings of her life. Her style, her story, is very similar to the memoir I just read called When I Was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago, as well as writings by Sandra Cisneros, Rita Moren...

Marie Arana writes an engaging memoir of her childhood growing up in her father's Peru and, later, her mother's United States. Life is a happy one for little "Marizi". She comes from an old, affluent family of European descent which includes a house full of servants and every privilege granted to a family of status. A typical child, Marizi is very fond of role playing, drama, getting into mischief and learning a thing or two from the servants. Life centers around her mother and father--the dashi...

American Chica refers to the fact that the writer has an American mother and a Peruvian father. Her early life was spent in Peru, where she was somewhat unaware of how miserable her mother was, and her adolescence spent in the U.S., where she learned to understand the profound differences between her mother and her father's Peruvian life and family. Both had merit; however, they did not blend well.The book is her dissection of who she is and how she came to be. The most interesting parts tell of...

Though Marie Arana is Peruvian, not Chilean, her writing style really reminded me a lot of Isabel Allende's. American Chica is a memoir, but it's not a straightforward memoir; she meanders between her own experiences and investigating her family. A big focus of American Chica is Arana's identity. Her father is a Peruvian, and here mother an American, and she's not sure whether she's South American or a "gringa." Through different phases of her life, she alternates between the two. In Peru, she's...

It's autobiography, so in a sense you're stuck -- her life was what it was. I would have liked a slightly different emphasis. Most of her attention was given to her time in Peru, in Cartavo and Lima, and then an extended visit to her mother's family in Wyoming. The time after she returned to USA just was given a few pages at the end -- sort of a "oh, I became an American girl, but kept some of the Peruvian stuff too". I was left thinking that somehow it was a little more complicated than that. A...

Well written recounting of her confusion and difficulties as the offspring of a tempestuous marriage of a Peruvian father and American mother. Both families have something to hide. Each parent's difficulty in adjusting to or understanding the culture and expectations of the other results in lurches back and forth between the refined traditions of Peruvian family life and the rude practicality of the American West. Arana effectively brings in the mysticism and superstitions of the Peruvian experi...

I really liked this memoir. The author looks with humorous detachment at herself, the result of a tricky union between a man from Peru and a woman from the US. Arana’s mother lived in Peru for years, but was never all that comfortable there, and her father was woefully homesick whenever he lived away from his homeland. They were more attached to their own cultures than to each other, but still they managed to raise three children together. Arana, the youngest, saw herself as a hybrid early on. S...

"American Chica," by Marie Arana is a memoir all about the author's life. The author, which is the main character, is called Marie. She is half Peruvian and half American. Her life is not easy being from 2 completely different cultures. She feels that she can't be both, she feels she can only be one. Be only American or be only Peruvian. At first, when I started, I thought the beginning was boring and didn't make sense to the book. I even wanted to change the book but then I continued. Then it b...

I think this book can be considered valuable nonfiction book to read. While I was reading, I found myself sharing the experiences living in United States with the author since I have been shared two cultural aspects like what she did. The book tells how the author struggles to fit herself into societies. I liked how she struggles; she tries to understand her family's root. I think she could move forward since she committed to face the truth. One thing that I had trouble with this book was the fa...

first person POVmemoirMarie, the youngest of three children, was born around 1949 (she never really tells us her birth date). Her Peruvian father went to MIT to get a master's in engineering during WWII and met his future wife there. The kids grew up in Peru as part of a large extended family while her father worked for a big American company there. Around the time she was 10 her mother had enough and they moved to New Jersey. Where her mother had "wilted" in Peru she thrived back in the U.S. Bu...

As a Spanish teacher, I am constantly addressing the ideas of multiculturalism and immigration. Logically, I am drawn to memoirs that can help me to better understand and teach about the immigrant experience. This book is "dense". It not only has a plethora of traditional memoir anecdotes, it also includes detailed descriptions of Peruvian traditions, history and politics. At times, I found it to be wordy and wandering, but there are passages that are beautifully written and very poignant. I esp...

American Chica has been on my To-Read bookshelf for awhile. The wait, however, was well worth it. Beautifully written. I have a beautiful 4-year-old granddaughter whose rich heritage is American and Costa Rican. I have the privilege of taking care of her 3 days a week. Her abuela and abuelo watch her 2 days a week. Since birth she has been encouraged to live in both worlds. In this ever changing world the next generation will need to bring something to the table. They will not survive on just ge...

This book was on my to-read list, and then I saw it in a box by the curb while taking the pups for a walk around the neighborhood. Yea. Beautifully written, set in the context of the political, cultural, and personal aspects of bridging (her concluding central image) two very disparate cultural identities, this memoir hits all of the sweet spots for an excellent read and a profound exploration. I, too, "bridge" two cultures, and while my memory isn't as keen as Arana's, and my childhood was not

Disclaimers: -This was a book that I got for class but then was never required to read due to the teacher being sick for a few days.-That also being said, I never really gravitated towards this kind of book. The modern fiction kind if you will.This book was extremely interesting and I felt expanded my idea of what it means to be a Latin American turning state side and often goes between these two worlds. I also felt it shattered a few misconceptions I had about the culture and then after shatter...