Mamey, A Spanglish Novel, follows the story of Dena and her mother Gloria, who has passed away. Dena is on her way back to the Dominican Republic to bury her mother and stay for the novena, which are nine days of prayer dedicated to the deceased. After something happens at Gloria’s funeral, Dena is left with more questions about her mother than answers, where she decides to figure out her mother’s secretive past while trying to reconnect with her country.
The story, told in dual timelines, follows Gloria from her youth into adulthood, giving a glimpse into what shaped her into the person she became. Growing up in rural Dominican Republic, Gloria had to work to help her family survive, even though she had a different idea for her future. Things changed for her when she met a boy at her family’s farm. After a series of events unfolded, Gloria had to make decisions that were ultimately sacrifices that changed her and her family’s destiny.
First off, I loved that this story was written in Spanglish. As a Dominican woman who speaks Spanglish, this felt so at home for me. Really, the entire book felt like home. It’s not often where you can read a book about people like you, in a way you understand intimately without much additional context. I was very familiar with the nuances of the culture shown in the story, where that level of familiarity added depth to how I read the story; it felt like I was reading about distant family members. Also, the story takes place in the campo, which my own family’s home is in one, so that just added to the homey-ness of this story.
Mamey is centered around grief and Dena is clearly struggling with the loss of her mother. Throughout the story, we get glimpses of how her relationship was with her mother but also a clear picture into what shaped Gloria into the woman she was. Dena realizes how similar she actually is to her mom, something I felt like she was both proud of and ashamed by. Gloria was a complicated woman who held so much inside as a method of self control and pride that ultimately ate her up from the inside out. I loved the flashbacks in the story that helped contextualize Gloria from childhood to adulthood, giving glimpses into secrets Dena will likely never find out. With grief being the central theme, it becomes clear that it’s not just Dena who is going through it, but Gloria as well. Gloria held onto her grief of many different things which again, ate her up from the inside.
Overall, I truly enjoyed reading Mamey. As someone who struggles with their Spanish, I was both worried and intrigued by a novel written in Spanglish but it ended up working out well. I felt so at home reading this and seeing my culture authentically on the page. It’s easy to see that Anny Caba put her heart and soul into this and is a fantastic debut novel. I’ll be keeping an eye out for her next novel!
