Catalina

Catalina by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio (publication day July 23, 2024) is a novel about an undocumented young woman from Ecuador, Catalina, who was brought to the United States at 5 years old to live with her grandparents in Queens, and goes to Harvard.

I think some people will absolutely love it. Catalina is a smartass, a survivor, a perceptive young woman of color in the most privileged of privileged white places–Harvard–and an unpaid intern in publishing. At the same time, she is an orphan who had to adjust to life with her grandparents in the U.S. after having only known her aunt and uncle. She sneaks alcohol from her grandfather’s stash and at the same time says she feels nothing for them. She follows the political progress of the DREAM Act (it’s set mostly in 2010-2011) religiously because it’s her future. Her grandparents are Jehovah’s Witness, which also leads to conflict with her attitude and life as a college student.

I was intrigued, and kept reading, but I didn’t really like Catalina. I don’t always want to read about “hot mess” protagonists, and Catalina is truly a hot mess. At the same time, she has had tremendous pressure placed upon her, so it’s not surprising that she acts out.

My grandparents lived hunched over, arms linked; climbing up in this world meant standing on their backs, and they let me know it. “All of this is for you,” my grandfather would say as my grandmother massaged Tiger Balm into his hands. “As long as you get an education, everything will have been worth it.”

Midway through her senior year and while she’s clinically depressed, her grandfather, the sole wage-earner of the family, gets a deportation order that he ignores, until Catalina gets the mail and finds a “Notice of Automatic Removal” — he has failed to appear and he will be deported. It may be too late, but she has to help.

Scattered throughout are powerful insights about being a descendant of the indigenous people of the Americas, like this one:

Going to the American Museum of Natural History as a local has always been a bit of a mindfuck. You cannot remove tourists from the experience because they are part of it. Watching busloads of white American children make their way through the halls of annihilated peoples made me feel like I was on an amusement park ride in hell.

I’ve seen Catalina on a couple of “Most Anticipated” lists already, and I would expect it to be critically-acclaimed. It’s well-written, and deserves any accolades it receives. It’s also completely weight-neutral, which I appreciated. It will probably also be popular with book groups, as it will catalyze lots of discussion. But Catalina — both the character and the novel itself– were too chaotic for me to really appreciate. I am glad that I read it, though, and would recommend it if it sounds interesting to you at all.

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