I really enjoyed this. Since high school I've considered myself an atheist who believed anything attributed to the supernatural can be explained with science (like the author's dad when he first met her mom lol). But this book really made me consider that some things may just be unexplained and even if they do have some rational explanation (or are just random coincidences), they can mean a lot to the people they're happening to. Like Mami may not literally have clones showing up everywhere like the author describes, but they are a comfort to those who see them regardless, and that's all that matters.

I just really like how Rojas Contreras described things. She has a very poetic way of writing that still feels straightforward to me, not crossing the line into purple prose. The audiobook narrator really enhanced the writing as well to the point where I kept thinking it was the author narrating. I learned a lot about Colombia that I didn't know before. The author repeatedly said that she doesn't write for a white audience and doesn't want to overexplain things but I think she did just enough explaining for an outsider to understand the basic context (with a starting point to Google) without alienating her main audience. She also talked a lot about the effects of Spanish colonization of Colombia that shows how even people today have been influenced by it. I really liked learning about the curandero secrets as the author called them, as well as all the eerie parallels between her and her mother's life. The whole section about

her sister's eating disorder

where she talks about the dichotomy between typical Western medicine and traditional indigenous medicine and having to bridge that gap for her mom was absolutely brilliant and eye-opening for me.

My main complaint about this is that it seemed like it started to lose steam near the end, as the author started repeating a lot of things already explained in the first half. It felt a little condescending tbh but it would have been avoided with some stronger editing. I think this book would have been 5 stars for me if it was about 30ish pages shorter. The whole mirror section (part 3) felt very superfluous, kind of like the author just wanted to write some poetic essay summarizing the rest of the book before finishing. I also started to lose track of all the many relatives by the end, but I think that was a factor of listening to this on audio. I did find it odd though that the author said in the beginning that the book was in chronological order except for one chapter when that wasn't the case at all?? Like she literally jumped around time throughout the entire book lol. I do think it was very effective and probably more meaningful that way but it threw me off that she described it as the opposite in the beginning.

Hoping to eventually add some of my favorite quotes here when I have the time because there were sooo many good ones. This is such a quotable book. I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to expand their horizons, especially to those like me who don't believe in the supernatural.

Content / Sources: 4.5

Structure / Organization: 3.5

Analysis: 5

Writing Style: 5

Themes: 5

Rating: 4.5

There’s so much in this book that I want to quote. Maybe the reason is that I, too, am someone who thinks about the relationship between self and story. Maybe I’m looking for a new way to understand the world and the self and the boundary between them, or lack thereof. “Everything survives,” Rojas Contreras writes, and it’s both a comfort and a warning. I’m gonna be thinking about this one for a while.

This memoir is unlike any memoir I have ever read. I’m not sure any words will properly describe this book or how I felt reading it. Ingrid from Colombia, tells a rich history of a violent and dangerous place to living as an adult in the US. In this books she takes us through her families history. Ingrid’s writing is impeccable and incredibly good. You get sucked into all of the places she goes and people she meets. While a very intense read, I’m glad I read this.