First, a note about the structure of the novel. Students should be made aware that the novel is written in reverse chronological order, so that the characters' feelings and thoughts about their contemporary lives are found at the beginning of the novel, and the events that led them to this state are described as the story unfolds.
The novel is the story of one immigrant family's abrupt departure from a live of privilege and wealth in the Dominican Republic to the struggles to reestablish themselves in the middle class of a new country. The story of each daughter of the family is told individually, yet the other sisters often appear as significant characters in each other's lives, a...
