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    The Flowers
    The Flowers
    The Flowers
    Audiobook9 hours

    The Flowers

    Written by Dagoberto Gilb

    Narrated by Ramon de Ocampo

    4/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Dagoberto Gilb has won the PEN/Hemingway Award and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Sonny Bravo is a young Mexican American struggling to become a man while living with his mom and step-father in a small urban community known as the Flowers. There the assorted residents teach Sonny life lessons, even as racial tensions simmer in the city around them. "Hilarious and thought provoking ..."-Publishers Weekly
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRecorded Books, Inc.
    Release dateSep 19, 2008
    ISBN9781436146043
    The Flowers

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    Reviews for The Flowers

    4/5

    15 ratings2 reviews

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    • 4/5
      The Flowers, by Dagoberto Gilb, is a coming of age story about 15 year old Sonny Bravo, a Mexican American boy living with his mother and new step father.This is a very well written story that deals with the issues of being first and second generation American of Latino descent and feeling not quite one thing, not quite the other, not sure which you even want to be, yet life goes on.If you, like me, enjoy the magical realism of many Latino books, there isn't any here. I didn't take stars off because of what this book isn't, but I did wish he'd used some of it, because I did want something magical to happen for Sonny.The writing is well done, and the use of both Spanish and English in the dialogue helps flesh out the characters and story. Don't let the sprinkling of Spanish words scare you, the context clues explain them very well. The device just keeps the themes in the forfront of the story.The book isn't action packed, which makes the end seem to come up out of no where, and I personally left it thinking "what on earth is he going to do now?" Most of the characters are very well drawn and rounded, especially the Latino characters, but the Anglos come across more stereotypical an unlikeable, always wanting something from the Latinos in the story and not quite treating them like human beings.Again, this is very well written, and I enjoyed it. Some of the scenes (there are no chapter breaks, only scene breaks) are beautifully written, to the extent I may add one or more to my American Dreams unit with my students. The book did have some draw backs, manly in the characterization of the Anglos, and the ending that felt really unresolved. Otherwise a good book.
    • 5/5
      Gilb is genius at taking the smallest of moments and looking at them in breathtaking, authentic, surprising ways. This book is no exception. His tender, sensitive, witty protagonist transcends the ordinary over and over, even when he thinks about music and noise and sees the corresponding light and color. Gorgeous writing throughout.