Enchanted air Two cultures, two wings : a memoir

Margarita Engle

Book - 2015

"In this ... memoir, Margarita Engle, the first Latina woman to receive a Newbery Honor, tells of growing up as a child of two cultures during the Cold War"--Amazon.com.

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Subjects
Genres
Autobiographies
Published
New York, NY : Atheneum Books for Young Readers [2015]
©2015
Language
English
Main Author
Margarita Engle (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
192 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN
9781481435222
9781481435239
  • Love at first sight
  • Magical travels
  • Winged summer
  • Strange sky
  • Two wings
  • Cold War time line.
Review by New York Times Review

FROM THE VERY first sentence, Margarita Engle's memoir "Enchanted Air" takes wing. "When my parents met, it was love at first sight," Engle writes. "They were standing on the terrace of an art school in an elegant palace now known as the Museo Romántico, the Romantic Museum." Since her Cuban mother and American father did not speak the same language, they "communicated by passing drawings back and forth, like children in the back of a classroom. . . . Sketches, signs and gestures had to substitute for words." After this opening the book moves into verse, and a generation coming of age on Snapchat and Instagram will find the power Engle is able to pack into each exquisite phrase to be deeply satisfying: Old women love fresh air, but they are also Afraid of aires, a word that can be a whoosh of refreshing sky breath, or it can mean dangerous spirits. The child in this memoir is a bird, lifted each year from her home in California to Cuba, where she spends blissful summers. Then in April 1961, the Bay of Pigs invasion occurs and she cannot return to Cuba. She is cut off from her extended family, the melody of her second language, the "crocodile-shaped" country she loves. This pattern of shifts, abrupt, unexpected change, doors to homelands opening and closing, the young Margarita comes to understand, goes back for generations: When Mami tells her flowery tales of Cuba, she fills the twining words with relatives. But when I ask my Ukrainian-Jewish-American grandma about her childhood in a village near snowy Kiev, All she reveals is a single memory of ice-skating on a frozen pond. Apparently the length of a grown-up's growing-up story is determined by the difference between immigration and escape. "Enchanted Air" is at its heart a book about travel. Some of it is specific: how we travel between languages, cultures and countries. But because Engle is such a gifted writer, this is a book that generously gives every reader a ticket to ride as she explores what it means to journey toward adulthood, traversing from one side of her family to the other, from the natural world of "tropical jungles, wild green parrots" that "remind me of island skies" to the back of the car on a family road trip when all her family can afford is a long, hot, adventure-seeking drive to Mexico. ANYONE WHO GREW up watching Sonia Manzano as Maria on "Sesame Street" might expect her coming-of-age memoir to be a celebrity production focused on sunny days and sweeping the clouds away. But as the book's subtitle, "Love and Chaos in the South Bronx," reveals, Manzano worked hard and endured much before she made her way onto the screen and into our hearts on the classic PBS television show. Her Nuyorican culture is a through-line here, but Manzano neither overromanticizes nor overworks the language or the details. There are no cloying metaphors about life being sweet like azúcar (sugar); nothing is spicy like salsa. She has from beginning to end a sophisticated, wellintegrated view of her world. It simply is, and she assumes that the reader stands on the same side of the mirror as she does. You are drawn in by her language, her honesty, the way she moves the story along. You are dropped into her world from the very beginning and she assumes you get it, or you will quickly catch up to what it means to see life through a young Latina's lens. When, as a girl, she is challenged by her cousins about why Santa Claus leaves some of their presents at her house, Sonia thinks: "Saves time. . . . If Santa had to wait for us Puerto Ricans to stop partying on Christmas Eve and go to bed, he'd never finish delivering gifts and we would hold up the whole world getting presents." Having already written a wonderful fiction debut, "The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano," Manzano brings a novelist's attention to detail and a gift for writing powerful scenes to "Becoming Maria." Growing up in a home with a violent, alcoholic father and a mother who put up with a lot to build a life with this man she loves, Sonia struggles to figure out how to follow her own path away from the madness of her home. She finds refuge in a theater arts program for teenagers, which leads, miraculously, to a scholarship at Carnegie Mellon's prestigious theater program. While the 1960s are the political backdrop to Engle's ethereal memoir in verse, Manzano transports us to that decade in a way that is both informing and entertaining. It's fascinating to watch her play with identity as a high school girl in New York then. She sits around interpreting Beatles' lyrics with her friends: "I am the walrus- What do you think it means?" "Qué se yo? How should I know?" We get a strong whiff of the 1960s, too, in how Manzano dresses up, and in the process, culturally code-shifts from a "garter-wearing Kitty from 'Gunsmoke'" to a "sari-wearing East Indian girl" to a "solemn intellectual beatnik." On her first day at Carnegie Mellon, she decides to don a "Native American counterculture look, putting my hair in two long braids, wearing a headband, a sandalwood necklace and a denim shirt." The effects of the counterculture are more than cosmetic. The book is recommended for readers 12 and up, but parents should know that in high school Sonia and her friends smoke pot. And when her dear friend gets pregnant, Sonia urges her to consider her options: "Vanessa, it doesn't have to go that way! You're just a kid! You can end this pregnancy. It's the '60s! We are free now." (Vanessa decides to keep the baby.) And the counterculture theme continues as Sonia is cast as one of the student-actor-creators of an experimental Off Broadway play called "Godspell." Manzano is such a familiar figure in our pop culture that it would be almost easy to miss that she is an ink-slinging storyteller with serious smarts and unquestionable literary gifts. Her words are bright on the page. "Becoming Maria" is a powerful book that will appeal to teenagers and grown-ups alike (it would be a great choice for mother-daughter book clubs). There is a phrase in Spanish that Manzano uses: Búscate la vida. The literal translation is "Look for your life." But like so many expressions, it means more. It also means go for it, take some chances, swing for the fences and see what happens. It is the message at the heart of both of these memoirs by Latinas. We must all look for our lives. Memoirs thrill us because they show us someone opening up the vault of personal experience and saying, This is how I did it. This is how I looked for my life, and this is what I found. VERONICA CHAMBERS is the author of "Mama's Girl" and a co-author, most recently, of "Wake Up Happy," by Michael Strahan.

Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [November 24, 2015]
Review by Booklist Review

*Starred Review* Reflecting on her childhood in Los Angeles and her Cuban heritage, Engle's memoir in verse is, indeed, nothing short of enchanting. Descriptions of Cuba as a tropical paradise and the home of her beloved abuelita come alive in the spare free-verse poems. She evocatively addresses weighty issues, such as her mother's homesickness, being bicultural, the challenge of moving homes and schools, the Cuban Revolution, and negotiating an identity that is being torn apart by politics and social attitudes at complete odds with her feelings and experiences. With characteristic precision, Engle captures a range of emotions and observations salient to a young girl: belonging (to Cuba or the U.S.?), daydreaming (about riding a horse), questioning (the absurdity of Cold War politics), needing (to run, play, fly), wishing (she could fit in), fear (of FBI agents), and more. In addition to the arresting content that provides many opportunities for learning, the craft of this memoir lends itself to creative exploration in the classroom. Poems might be examined in isolation, juxtaposed with others, or used as writing models. The book's poignancy and layered beauty make it a worthy addition to any collection and a fitting companion to Jacqueline Woodson's Brown Girl Dreaming (2014) and Thanhha Lai's Inside Out and Back Again (2011).--Chaudhri, Amina Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 6-10-A deeply personal memoir-in-verse filled with Engle's trademark intricately woven lyricism. The author's memories focus on the first 14 years of her life, beginning with idyllic summers spent in her mother's homeland of Cuba and ending during the aftermath of the Cuban Missile Crisis and subsequent travel ban. Engle captures the heart of a quiet, young girl torn between two cultures. This historical memoir/love poem to Cuba couldn't be more timely. With the recent easing of relations with Cuba, teachers can use the text as an accessible entry point into the history behind this very current event. And while the narrative unfolds over 50 years ago, Engle's experiences will still resonate with adolescents and teens today. Any child who has felt like an outsider will recognize themselves in Margarita's tale. When the Cuban Missile Crisis ended and everyone's focus shifted, \the author was left confused, empty and unfulfilled by her school's seemingly senseless focus on what felt like irrelevant historical events. What American child with ties to a country experiencing turmoil couldn't relate to the lingering after-effects of far off events in our era of two-minute news bytes? VERDICT A more than worthwhile purchase for any library in need of a universally applicable coming-of-age tale, a fantastic new memoir-in-verse, or a glimpse into Cuba's past.-Jill Heritage Maza, Montclair Kimberley Academy, Montclair, NJ © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review

Well known for her portrayals of historic Cubans in verse novels such as The Surrender Tree (rev. 7/08) and The Poet Slave of Cuba (rev. 7/06), Engle explores her own past in this collection of emotionally rich memory poems. The daughter of a Don Quixoteobsessed American artist of Ukrainian Jewish descent and a beautiful homesick Cuban emigree, Engle begins with joyful visits to her mothers homeland as a child. Roaming the countryside, she falls in love with the lush beauty of a land so wild / and green that the rippling river / on my great-uncles farm / shimmers like a hummingbird. Engle effectively contrasts the smoggy air of sprawling Los Angeles with the enchanted air of that small, magical-seeming island, and at first going between the two cultures is fairly seamless: In one country, I hear the sweet words / of another. / Dulce de leche means sweet of milk. / Guarapo is sugarcane juice. But then theres the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and suddenly all is different. Moving through elementary and middle school, the wistful young Margarita struggles to find her American self in a country that views her mothers homeland as the enemy. Ending with a note of optimism -- All I know about the future / is that it will be beautiful -- Engles personal reverie gives young readers an intimate view of a complicated time and life. A timeline is appended. monica edinger (c) Copyright 2015. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

"It really is possible to feel / like two people / at the same time, / when your parents / grandparents / memories / words / come from two / different / worlds." Poet and novelist Engle has won a Newbery Honor, the Pura Belpr Award, and the Amricas Award, among others. Of Cuban-American descent, she has mostly written about Cuba and Cuban history. This time she brings readers her own childhood. Employing free verse, she narrates growing up in Los Angeles in the 1950s and early '60s torn by her love of two countries: the United States, where she was born and raised, and Cuba, where her mother was from and where she spent vacations visiting family. Woven into the fabric of her childhood is the anxiety of deteriorating relations between the two countries as the Cuban revolution takes place, affecting both her family and the two countries at large. This is also the time when Engle discovers books and her own poetry as safe places to retreat to. Though it is a very personal story, it is also one that touches on issues affecting so many immigrants, as when she wonders: "Is there any way that two people / from faraway places / can ever really / understand each other's / daydreams?" As so many of our children are immigrants or children of immigrants, we need more of these stories, especially when they are as beautifully told as this one. (Cold War timeline, author's note) (Poetry/memoir. 10 up) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Enchanted Air FLIGHT The first time my parents take me soaring through magical sky to meet my mother's family in Cuba, I am so little that I can hardly speak to my island relatives-- my abuelita, my old grandma, who still loves to dance, and her ancient mamá, my great-grandma, who still loves to garden, working just as hard as any strong young man. Already, this island is beginning to seem like a fairy-tale kingdom, where ordinary people do impossible things. Excerpted from Enchanted Air: Two Cultures, Two Wings: A Memoir by Margarita Engle All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.