Tell It to Me Singing

Tell It to Me Singing by Tita Ramírez (publication date 7/9/2024) takes its title from a Cuban and Dominican greeting “dímelo cantando” which translates directly as “tell it to me singing” but means “tell me everything!” It is a fitting title for this book that reads like a telenovela with unexpected twists and turns.

As the book opens, Mònica’s mother is being wheeled into heart surgery, and she tells her that her father is not Rolando Campo, as she’d believed her entire life, but Juan, Mònica gets no additional information from her, and after surgery, her mother is in a coma for several weeks, during which time Mònica doesn’t know what to think, whether it was the drugs her mother was on or something real. Their Friday nights had always been spent watching her mother’s favorite telenovela together, and the stories do seem to overlap.

Mònica is 6 months pregnant, engaged but not married to the father of her child, Robert, as they hadn’t been together for even a year before she got pregnant. In the background is her several-year relationship with Manny, who had re-enlisted in the army several times so that Mònica didn’t feel like he would ever be there for her. Mònica’s parents had emigrated to Miami from Cuba during the Mariel boat lift and created a good life for their children, along with the Cuban-American community there.

Alternating chapters are told from Mirta’s historical perspective, where we find out what really happened before Mònica does.

It’s a page-turner, if a little overdramatic. The family dynamics seemed realistic but some of the twists and turns were not. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it, and thought Mònica’s need to be alone to figure things out for herself showed how emotionally healthy she was and how she would put her child’s needs first.

The author used anti-fat bias at one point where Mònica thought of an old, fat woman she saw naked at the gym, and imagined herself old and fat and thought of which love interest she’d rather be with if she ended up looking like that–which I thought was unnecessary, gratuitous, and disrespectful. The point could have been made without resorting to Mònica’s fear of becoming fat and perceived lack of desirability that would be associated with such a state.

Overall, I would recommend with reservations. The descriptions of Cuban food and culture were well-done, as were the relationships between Mònica and her family. But that instance of anti-fat bias was disappointing.

Thanks to NetGalley for an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.