If you’ve ever wanted to be a Spanish-speaking fly on thewall in a single Latina’s house, The Dirty Girls Social Clubis your chance to be just that. Former Los Angeles Times and BostonGlobe staff writer, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez gives a brief lookinside the lives of six upwardly mobile Latinas in their latetwenties.
Situated in Boston, Lauren, Sara, Rebecca, Elizabeth, Usnavysand Amber, are college friends that kept a standing promise to meeton a regular basis to maintain the close ties of their friendship.They refer to their group as the “Buena Sucia SocialClub.” Sucia is Spanish for “dirty girl.”It’s an inside joke that the ladies, especially Lauren,enjoy.
The characters take turns narrating the chapters.Valdes-Rodriguez does a good job of keeping the narrative voices ofthe characters in agreement with their personalities. Oftentimes,conversations and thoughts are laced with Spanglish (a blend ofSpanish and English) giving them a fun and realistic feel. Whatisn’t realistic, however, is the way Valdes-Rodriguez feelscompelled to resolve all of the conflicts and create a happy endingfor her characters.
By the end of the novel, the women have all gone throughpersonal turmoil and have either resolved it or have the money toembark on a lofty entrepreneurial venture. Though the novel’sprimary characters are strong, the peripheral male characters areweak and polar. There is no middle ground with them; they areeither evil idiots or benevolent geniuses.
Lauren is the first character to narrate the novel and has thestrongest presence. Each chapter opens with an excerpt from hercolumn at The Boston Gazette. The half-white, half-Cuban Laurenspeaks poor Spanish and often feels the need to prove herLatina-ness around her girlfriends. At the paper, she secretlyresents being the voice of every Spanish-speaking person in Boston,on top of all the assumptions her co-workers have about Latinculture.
Rebecca is a super-organized, high-powered magazine publisher.There is a chapter that is marked with a time stamp before everyaction she takes, emphasizing Rebecca’s meticulousmicromanaging. Though she has a successful career, her marriage isa disappointment. Rebecca has to decide between the principles ofher Catholic upbringing and her happiness.
Usnavys is a Puerto Rican woman that grew up in a roughneighborhood and worked her way to a lucrative career as a publicrelations representative. She is very proud of her heritage, andshe’s also very proud of her success. Tiffany & Co.,Manolo Blahnik and Chanel are the staples of her wardrobe. Usnavysis all about show and impressions. Her materialistic nature bringsher dangerously close to losing a man that loved her for 10years.
Sara is the Martha Stewart of the group (the homemakerextraordinaire, not the inside trader). As the mother of twin boysmarried to her college sweetheart, she seems to have apicture-perfect life. However, she quietly hides the scars ofspousal abuse. After a fight lands her in the hospital, Sara isforced to stop looking at her life through rose-coloredglasses.
Amber, a singer of “rock en Español”is thebrooding artist of the bunch. She married another musician namedGato. The couple is deeply ingrained in the Mexia movement andculture. After Amber lands a major record deal, her husband, whowas once her biggest supporter, suddenly turns jealous anddistant.
Another journalist in the novel is Elizabeth. She is the morninganchor of the local news and a neighborhood celebrity.Valdes-Rodriguez describes Elizabeth as a look-alike of singerBeyonce, which makes her very popular with the men of Boston.
Elizabeth’s crisis is actually what triggers the crisis inSara’s life. After her career in television is jeopardized,Elizabeth finds herself wanting to return to her homeland ofColumbia.
There are times that this novel is laugh-out-loud funny,heart-wrenching and just plain compelling, and that’s whatmakes it worth reading. Its girl-power characters and sisterhoodthemes put it in the ranks with Terry McMillan’s Waiting toExhale, except with the sucias, you can learn how to tell someoneoff in Spanish.
St. Martin’s Press wants to be sure that everybody gets achance to sit in with the sucias. The novel is available inhardcover, paperback, audiocassette and audio CD. It’s evenavailable in digital format, downloadable at Amazon.com.
The good thing about it being for sale on Amazon.com is that youhave the option to view the first few pages to see whether thesucias are really buenas, or if you think it’s all justbasura.
