by Achy Obejas
First published 2016
An eight-year-old girl lives in Santo Domingo, scanning every street corner for her father's return from the United States. She dreams he will bring her gold chains, new cars, polo shirts, and Nike sneakers as proof of his American success. When Papi finally appears, he delivers luxury but also danger. He deals drugs and moves through her world like a horror movie villain, unpredictable and threatening. Yet his presence makes her feel alive and powerful in ways she cannot understand. The girl finds herself caught between her love for this unreliable man and the violent adult world he represents. Rita Indiana tells this story through a child's eyes, mixing her imagination with the harsh reality of crime and machismo. Achy Obejas translates the original Dominican Spanish into English that moves with the rhythm of merengue music. The result captures a daughter's complicated love and the way children make sense of forces beyond their control.
Genres: literary-fiction, crime, contemporary, family-drama
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: unreliable-narrator
Setting: Santo Domingo, United States
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
153 pages · Kindle Edition · The University of Chicago Press
Content warnings: drug-use, violence