Que Rico

I was hearing a lot about Mayra Lazara Dole's Down to the Bone so I decided to check it out for myself. There's a part of me that's still very much over the "coming out" story.  Not to belittle anyone's experience, I just have an idealistic streak that wants to move to integrated gay characters whose gayness is not the primary issue. I see evidence of this all over the place, but we're not all the way there yet. That said, Down to the Bone is indeed a coming out story, and one that I enjoyed.

It started out rough for me, to tell the truth, because stories told in the present tense they way this one is tend to grate on my nerves. Also Laura, the protagonist, is all over the place. But I got used to the tense, and Laura, aka Scrunchy, aka Looly really won me over because she is such a fun and joyful character. I adored her relationships, the way she treated her family and friends, her sass and her nicknames for everyone. Her typical, occasionally annoying angst and denial and misguided attempts at changing for the sake of her mother's love (tragic and over-the-top, yet believable) is tempered by her innate ability to suck the marrow out of life. She is a feminist and an environmentalist and an artist and a creation of pure love and what's to hate about that? I ended up really wanting to hang out with her and Soli and Tazer and Viva and Gisela and the landscaping crew and little Pedri (whom I hope is not ultimately turned against her).

For every Francisco (Laura's would-be boyfriend who devolved from a chill, gay-friendly dude into a stereotype of the male double standard) there is a nuanced gay or gay-friendly character. I really appreciated that Dole offered a wide representation of what "gay" and "lesbian" and "identifying" can mean, not just one portrayal. So many communities overlap here, gay and straight, and many different shades of culture exclusive to the Miami Cubana, Dominicana and other types of Latina community which I thought was particularly interesting because here is where a whole subset exists that can be credited with pulling Laura up as well as bringing her down. I think the Latina angle is what makes this book stand out for me, that and the irresistible main character. I thought that I was underwhelmed but the fact that I'm still thinking fondly of the book more than a week later indicates otherwise.

As for today I am just about done with the absolutely fabulous Suite Scarlett and will follow it with not one but two novels concerning theater-loving young adults. Oh summer reading, I could eat you with a spoon.

Written material - 2008 Dawn Emerman

Comments

I agree that at first some of the characters feel over the top and yet like a good friend with annoying qualities, you love them in the end. Laura the ever optimist, Viva, the Cuban Shirley MacLaine and a host of others: bi, straight and gender benders. This book draws you and gives you a nice ride till the very end.

My sentiments exactly, Dawn! Also, I too, could've used a loving and energetic Looly when I was going thru the angst and the incredible drain parents can put you thru!It tires me to revisit my own memories and a parent who obsessively asked if I'd been "penetrated", a major no-no in many Hispanic cultures. I also knew of too many friends farmed off to a relative under Franco's Spain, or worse yet, just kicked out of their homes. What Laura endured rings very true and real to me. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the balancd cast of characters. I'd love to party with my own "Tazer". I think this book was long overdue.

[Vicky S. Katz]

Frankly, I was skeptical when a friend really insisted that I read “Down To The Bone”- I thought I had probably read a similar story many times before. Was I wrong! Once I started reading this book, I couldn’t put it down- I savored very page, and I had a hard time saying goodbye to Laura and her friends. I sincerely hope that Mayra Lazara Dole is considering writing a sequel.