Book Review Lucky Broken Girl

Behar, R. (2017). Lucky broken girl. NY: Delacorte

Lucky Broken Girl is a semi- autobiographical novel based on the author’s life as Ruth Behar. Ruth is growing up in 1960’s NYC. She is Jewish Cuban immigrant from Cuba. The novel focuses on the year Ruth was in a full body cast following a horrific accident. The writing is richly detailed. The diversity of the characters is wonderful. It allows the reader to paint a vivid image of the characters in the novel. Ruth and her family are Cuban but are also Jewish so they demonstrate a wealth of cultural identity. Ruth’s grandparents left Europe during the events that led up to World War II and then had to leave Cuba during the revolution. Ruth and her family are Cuban but are also Jewish so they demonstrate a wealth of cultural identity. Ruth's grandparents had left Europe during the buildup to the World War II and then had to leave Cuba during the revolution. Knowing the family background made me appreciate the authentic family dynamics, a father who is proud and optimistic about living in the US, a mother who misses her life in Cuba. I wonder how many middle aged immigrant readers would be able to make a self-to text connection. The middle of the book was a little slow dragging there wasn’t much movement along the plot line. I did listen to the audio book version of this novel and the author’s voice was a bit mono tone. Despite that the novel had an overwhelming theme of hope and forgiveness. Ruth Behar received the Pura Belpré Award for Author in 2018 for Lucky Broken Girl.

Below is a link to the author’s website

http://www.ruthbehar.com/